The Cairngorm Club Journal
THE BLUE HILL. BY ALEXANDER CRUICKSHANK, LL.D., Vice-President, AND ALEXANDER COPLAND, Ex-Chairman. WE do not propose in this paper to write of the lofty Cairn- gorm which dominates Glen More, but to direct attention to the eminence nearer home which has somehow got almost its Saxon titular equivalent. This explanation at once dis- poses of any false expectations—or, at all events, should do so. How, when, and why this part of the Grampian ridge, which passes through the parish of Banchory-Devenick about four and a half miles S.S.W. of Aberdeen—and there shuts out from view the interesting and ancient inheritance of Dugald Dalgetty, namely, Drumthwhacket—obtained its cerulean distinctive title—the Blue Hill—we have been at pains to endeavour to trace, but our success, truth to say, has not been commensurate with the labour and travail we have devoted to the quest. The reason appears to be that those whose business it was to record, for the benefit of future generations, this vital and important explanation have culpably neglected to do so. Our earliest topographical writer, James Gordon, Parson of Rothiemay—whose name we mention with unfeigned respect, generated of admiration for his rare talents and useful geographical works—did not foresee our difficulty, or we feel sure he would have obviated it. He described the " feilds nixt to the gaits of the citie ", [Aberdeen] as being " fruitfull of corns, such as oats, beir, quheat", &c., but, remember, that was within a zone or belt of a mile round the town.
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