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A Potted History
KEITH, a post-town in Banffshire. It
consists of the three divisions of Old and New Keith on the right bank of
the Isla, and Fife-Keith on the left bank, but
Old Keith to the NW has been swallowed up by its younger rival, and both are
now collectively known as Keith. It is ¾ mile distant from the Keith station
on the Highland and Great North of Scotland railways, and is by rail 12½
miles NW of Huntly, By road it is 9 miles SE of Fochabers, 10 NW of Huntly,
and 12 SSW of Cullen. Notwithstanding the disadvantage of its distance from
the station, it is a thriving place, the centre of traffic for middle
Banffshire,
and the centre of communication by road between the upper and lower
districts of the county. Old Keith has a considerable antiquity, for it
appears in the
form of 'Geth' in a deed granted by William the Lyon, and in virtue of which
the whole of Strathisla passed into the possession of the Abbey of Kinloss.
The deed was granted at Elgin, but bears no date, though probably it was
about 1177, a year established from other evidence as a time when William
visited the North. It had a jurisdiction of regality, and in virtue of this
and of its trade, it was, at an early period, superior in consequence to
Banff, Cullen,
or Fordyce, then the other towns in the county.
The court of regality sat in the church and, treason excepted, judged all
civiland criminal causes, even including the four Crown pleas. The panels
were
put for trial into a window called 'the Boss Window,' and were committed on
conviction to the steeple which served as a jail. Those convicted on capital
charges were executed on the hill where New Keith has since been built, the
place of execution being in Mid Street, on ground now occupied by the
stable-yard of the Seafield Arms Hotel which is now an Insurance Broker. At
the abolition of the regality jurisdictions in 1748 the value of this one
was
set down at £200.
The old town seems to have extended some distance along the Isla, but being
inconveniently situated it dwindled away. It used to be celebrated for
the Summer Eve Fair, which was up to the beginning of the present century
one of the most important fairs in Scotland. 'It lasted about a week, and
was attended by people from all parts of Scotland. So great was the
gathering that the town of Keith could not lodge the half of them, and they
had to
seek lodgings in country houses and small inns for several miles around.' It
is still held, but is shorn of its former greatness. Old Keith has been the
scene of several noteworthy events. On 30 June 1645, General Baillie here
offered battle to Montrose, who, however, considered the position of the
Covenanters too strong.
Baillie seems to have been drawn up on the ground now occupied by the new
town and along by Begg's Brae, while Montrose approached from
Auchanacie. On this occasion Montrose was in the full flush of victory after
the battle of Auldearn, but in 1650 he was destined to revisit Keith
under different circumstances. He was then a captive unkempt and ragged.
Keith was reached on a Sunday when for some unknown reason divine
service was to be celebrated in the churchyard. The marquis was carried to
the spot, and the minister of Keith-William Kininmonth, once chaplain to
General David Leslie-preached at him from 1 Sam. xv. 33. Montrose '
perceiving the drift of the orator said "Rail on," and submitted in
patience.'
In 1667 a well-known freebooter of the day, Peter Roy Macgregor, made a
descent on Old Keith, and a bloody encounter between his band and
the inhabitants of the district took place in the old churchyard, with a
result so little favourable to the 'caterans,' that Roy was taken prisoner
and
afterwards executed at Edinburgh. In 1745 Major Glasgow, an Irishman in the
French service and acting with the forces of Prince Charles Edward,
surprised a detachment of government troops here and carried off about
eighty prisoners.
New Keith or Keith proper was first laid out about 1750 by the then Earl of
Findlater. It adjoins Old Keith on the SE, and occupies the eastern slope
of what was formerly but a barren moor. It is built on a regular plan, there
being a central square of large size, and three principal streets running
parallel to one another in a N and S direction with cross lancs. The feus
measure 15 yds. by 60, so that a large garden is provided for each. The
principal inn was built in 1823 by the Earl of Seafield (the present
superior), and contains a large hall in which the district courts were
formerly held.
The public hall, presented to the town by the late Mr William Longmore,
banker and distiller, is at the N end of the town. It is a plain, neat
building,
erected in 1872-73 at a cost of £2000. It contains a portrait of Mr
Longmore, presented to him in acknowledgment of his gift. The ground
belonging to
the hall at the W end was also laid out by Mr Longmore at his own expense,
and presented by him to the town to be used as a public bowling green.
To the W of New Keith and S of Old Keith, and close to the feus of the
latter, is a cottage hospital named the Turner Memorial Hospital in
remembrance
of the late Dr Turner, Keith, who was (in conjunction with Mr Longmore) its
chief promoter, though he did not live to see it finished. It is a plain
building
erected in 1880 at a cost of £1200, and contains 17 beds, including 1 for
incurables. The endowment fund amounts to about £4000, of which £3000
were derived from the residue of the estate of the late Dr Taylor, Deputy
Inspector-General of Hospitals and Fleets-a native of Keith-who founded the
Greenskares Bursaries at the University of Aberdeen.
Other support is derived from church collections and voluntary
subscriptions. There is in the town an abundant water supply introduced in
1879 at
a cost of £5000. The source of supply is 3½ miles distant. The question of
improved drainage is at present (1883) being agitated. The lighting is
carried out by a private gas company, whose works are to the W of the
Longmore Hall. The parish church, still farther to the W, is a handsome
building with a square pinnacled tower 120 feet high, with clock and bell.
It was erected in 1816-19 at a cost of £6220, and was repainted in 1874,
while gas was introduced in 1880. There are 1661 sittings. The Free church
is a plain building of Disruption date, with 700 sittings. The United
Presbyterian church near the square is a plain Gothic building dating from
1853. The walls were heightened, and the interior was greatly improved
in 1876. It contains 500 sittings. The Episcopal church (Trinity) was
formerly a very small and plain building, built in 1808, but has been
replaced
(1882-83) by a fine new Geometric Gothic building, erected at a cost of
£2200, to the NE of the Established church. There will be accommodation
for 300 persons. The Roman Catholic church (St Thomas) in the square, with
450 sittings, was erected in 1831. It is said to be modelled after the
church of St Maria-de-Vittoria at Rome, and has two gigantic statues of St
Peter and St Paul at the SE and NE corners respectively. There is a
fine altar-piece, illustrating the incredulity of St Thomas, presented to
the church by Charles X. of France. There are three buildings used as
schools,
with total accommodation for 781 pupils. The three constitute the Keith
combined public school working on the graded system. There are also an
endowed ladies, school, with accommodation for 50, and a school in
connection with the Roman Catholic Church, with accommodation for 100
pupils.
In the town or its immediate neighbourhood there are a distillery, a carding
mill for the manufacture of blankets, etc., a tweed factory, a brewery, a
manure work, an agricultural implement factory, and grain and flour mills,
and there is also a large trade in dead meat. There is a post office, with
money order, savings' bank, and telegraph departments. There are branches of
the Union, Town and County, and North of Scotland Banks, and
agencies of 25 insurance offices. There is a very large market stance at the
S end of the town, and cattle markets are held on the first Friday of
every month, except in June when the market is held on the first Wednesday
o. s., and in September (Summer Eve Fair) when it is on the
Wednesday after the first Tuesday o. s. There is a feeing market for married
servants on the first Friday of March, and for others on the Friday
before 26 May, on the second Friday of July (for harvest), and on the Friday
before 22 Nov. There is a weekly market every Saturday. Sheriff and
ordinary small debt circuit courts are held in Longmore Hall on the third
Saturday of every month, and justice of peace courts when required. An
effort is at present being made to organise a small provincial museum in
connection with the active field club of the district. There are 5 inns, a
public reading-room and library, an agricultural society, holding a spring
and a summer show, a property investment company, an auxiliary to the
Bible Society, and a lodge of odd fellows (Strathisla). Pop. of New Keith
and Old Keith (1841) 1804, (1851) 2101, (1861) 2648, (1871) 3602, (1881)
4329. Fife-Keith is to the W of Keith, and is separated by the Isla.
The river is crossed by two bridges, one now disused, except by pedestrians,
built in 1609, and the other at present in use, built in 1770. A stone in
the old bridge bears the inscription 'Thomas Murray. Janet Lindsay, 1609,'
the names being traditionally those of a worthy couple who lived close to
the ford that formerly existed, and who were so distressed by the cries of
persons in danger, that they devoted their savings to the erection of a
stone bridge. Close by is the churchyard with a fragment of the old church,
the
rest having been removed in 1819. The new bridge has a stone with the
inscription 'G. III. R. R. S. 1770.' Immediately below is the pool called
'Gaun's
Pot,' where witches were drowned, and into which they were thrown from a
rocky bank on the S side. The village itself has a central square with a
main street passing E and W, and others diverging in different directions.
The Earl of Fife is superior. It was founded in 1817, and has of late years
been making more rapid progress than of yore. The rate of feu-duty is £9 per
acre. Pop. (1861) 897, (1871) 945, (1881) 1196. See also Souter's
Agriculture of the County of Banff (1812); Sim's Legends of Strathisla (1st
ed., Keith, 1849; 2d, Keith, 1851; 3d, Elgin, 1862); A Walk from Keith to
Rothiemay (Elgin, 1862); Sim's Old Keith and I a Stroll to Cairnie (Keith,
1865); and Gordon's The Book of the Chronicles of Keith, Grange, etc.
(Glasg. 1880).
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