Place:Kennethmont, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Watchers
NameKennethmont
Alt namesKinnethmontsource: Family History Library Catalog (alternate spelling)
Kirkhill of Kennethmontsource: village in parish
TypeParish
Coordinates57.351°N 2.72°W
Located inAberdeenshire, Scotland     ( - 1975)
Also located inGrampian Region, Scotland     (1975 - 1996)
Aberdeenshire (council area), Scotland     (1996 - )

Scottish Record Office Number: 212
(used by ScotlandsPeople, see Research tips, below)

Churches: Kennethmont Church, Kennethmont, Church of Scotland


Cemeteries: list available from the Aberdeen & NE Scotland FHS (link under Research tips)

Old Parish Register Availabilty (within FamilySearch):
Baptisms: 1728-1854
Marriages: 1768-1854
Deaths: none in FamilySearch

NOTE: Civil registration of vital statistics was introduced to Scotland in 1855. Prior to that date births, marriages and deaths had been recorded in local churches in the Old Parish Registers (OPRs). The OPRs were collected by the Registrar for Scotland in Edinburgh as civil registration started. Although local churches continued to record bmd after 1855, these registers were not collected and stored by the Registrar for Scotland. Some may have found their way into local archives. FamilySearch and ScotlandsPeople both keep records prior to 1855, but only ScotlandsPeople retains microfilms of the original parish books.

Missing intervals in OPRs dates may be due to non-collection of volumes (possibly through loss or damage), or the events being recorded in another book held in the parish.


the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Kennethmont or Kinnethmont is a village approximately eight miles from Huntly, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. In the 2001 census it had a population of 432; a later estimate (published 2013) raised this to 470.

It has a railway station located 3/4 mile from the village of Kirkhill of Kennethmont which is on the Aberdeen to Inverness Line. The railway was opened as part of the Great North of Scotland Railway in 1854. The B9002 road which traverses Kennethmont from east to west was formerly a turnpike or toll road constructed in the early 19th century.

Image:Kennethmont_PJ.png

Kennethmont is bounded on the north by the parish of Gartly, on the east by Insch, on the south by Leslie aud Clatt, and on the west by the water of Bogie and the parish of Rhynie. The extreme length of the parish east to west is 6 miles, and from north to south is 3½ miles. The parish area is estimated to be 8,468 acres.

Leith Hall

Leith Hall is a country house in Kennethmont. It was built in 1650 and was the home of the Leith-Hay family for nearly three centuries. Since 1945 it has been run by the National Trust of Scotland (NTS). Leith Hall is set in a 286-acre (1.16 km2) estate with scenic gardens.

The north wing of the house was constructed in 1650, on the site of the earlier Peill Castle, by James Leith of New Leslie where he had lived in the now no longer standing Castle Croft. The east wing was added in 1756, and the south wing was built in 1797 by General Alexander Leith Hay (1758-1838). The west wing, containing the entrance front, was added in 1868 to complete the courtyard.

In 1745, Andrew Hay of Rannes hid at Leith Hall after the Battle of Culloden where he fought for Bonnie Prince Charlie, later escaping to France.

During the First World War Leith Hall became a temporary Red Cross hospital and housed over 500 patients. In 1945 the house and grounds were presented to the NTS. The Leith family is briefly discussed in Wikipedia.

Ardmore distillery

Ardmore distillery is a single malt Scotch whisky distillery located in Kennethmont since 1898. Its most well known product is Teacher's Whisky, named after the family who built the distillery.


Further notes on Kennethmont can be found in Samuel Lewis's A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland (1851) and A New History of Aberdeenshire, Alexander Smith (Ed), 1875], both available on GENUKI, and in F. H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4), available on the Gazetteer of Scotland website

Population Growth

Areaacressq mihectares
1801-19008,47113.243,428
1901-20018,46813.233,427
YearPopulationDensity per sq miDensity per hectare
180178459.20.23
18511,10883.70.32
190192069.50.27
195164548.8 0.19
200143933.2 0.13

Populations 1801-1951 from A Vision of Britain through Time (http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk).
2001 population from Scotland’s Census (https://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk).

Research Tips

There was formerly a note on this page that the parish was linked to the Presbytery of Alford, Synod of Aberdeen, Scotland. It would appear that since 1975 the organization of the presbyteries and synods has been revised. Readers are reminded that the Church of Scotland is Presbyterian in nature while in England the Church of England is Episcopalian. (See Wikipedia. )

  • official civil (from 1855) and parish registers (from when first produced) for births, marriages and deaths for all of Scotland
  • original census images for all years available (1841-1911).
  • references to wills and property taxes, and
  • an extensive collection of local maps.

This site is extremely easy to use. There are charges for parish register entries and censuses. The charges are reasonable and payable by online transfer.

  • The Statistical Accounts of Scotland Online provides access to digitised and fully searchable versions of both the Old Statistical Account (1791-99) and the New Statistical Account (1834-45). These uniquely rich and detailed parish reports, usually written by local Church of Scotland ministers, detail social conditions in Scotland and are an invaluable resource for anyone interested in Scottish history.
  • Scotlands Places
  • Gazetteer of Scotland includes descriptions of individual parishes from F. H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4)
  • The FamilySearch Wiki
  • GENUKI which provides, amongst other data, complete quotations from A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland (1851) by Samuel Lewis, John Bartholomew's A Gazetteer of the British Isles (1877), and A New History of Aberdeenshire edited by Alexander Smith (1875)
  • A list of Burial Grounds in Scotland is now available on the website of the Scottish Association of Family History Societies.
  • Aberdeenshire and Moray Records. Town Council minutes, accounts, letters, plans and harbour records provided by Aberdeenshire Council plus other local records.
  • Aberdeen and North-East Scotland Family History Society is one of the largest and most reputable family history societies in Scotland and has a long list of publications referring to individual parishes.