Place:Glenbuchat, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Watchers
NameGlenbuchat
Alt namesGlenbucketsource: FHLC,GENUKI (alternate spelling)
Badenyonsource: an estate
TypeParish
Coordinates57.248°N 3.066°W
Located inAberdeenshire, Scotland     ( - 1975)
Also located inGrampian Region, Scotland     (1975 - 1996)
Aberdeenshire (council area), Scotland     (1996 - )

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

Churches: Glenbuchat Parish Church, Glenbucket, Church of Scotland
Kirkton of Glenbuchat Old Parish Church, Glenbucket, Church of Scotland

Cemeteries: no information provided by GENUKI

Old Parish Register Availabilty (within FamilySearch):
Baptisms: 1719-1854
Marriages: 1734-1776, 1783-1823, 1819-1854
Deaths: 1738-1752

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.

[Slightly reworded to 21st century standards from F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4), available on the Gazetteer of Scotland website]
Glenbucket or Glenbuchat, a parish on the western border of Aberdeenshire, containing, near its southeast corner, Bridge of Bucket post office. The settlement is 14 ¾ miles west of Alford station, and 44 ½ miles west-northwest of its post-town, Aberdeen. The parish is bounded on the north by Cabrach, on the east by the Glenkindie section of Strathdon, on the southeast by the Culquoich section of Tarland, on the south and southwest by Strathdon, and on the northwest by Inveravon in Banffshire. Its maximum length, from west-northwest to east-southeast, is 7 ¼ miles; its breadth varies between 1 ¼ and 3 ¼ miles; and its area is 11,083 acres.

The north is drained by head-streams of the [River] Deveron. The river and the Allt Sughain and Coulins Burn, rising in the extreme west at 1900 and 2100 feet above sea-level, and running 2 ¼ miles southeastward and 2 5/8 miles east by southward, unite to form the Water of Bucket, flowing 5 3/8 miles east-southeastward through the middle of the parish to the [River] Don, which itself winds about 1 mile north-eastward and south-eastward along all the Tarland border.

Image:Glenbuchat PJ.png

The surface, sinking along the Don to 774 feet above sea-level, thence rises to 1561 feet at * Millbuie Hill, 1831 at * Meikle Forbridge Hill, 2073 at * Creag an Innean, 1901 at * Clashenteple Hill, 1998 at * Ladylea Hill, 1525 at White Hill, 2159 at * Moss Hill, 1886 at the Socach, 1862 at Allt Sughain Hill, and 2241 at * Geal Charn, (asterisks mark those summits that culminate right on the borders of the parish).

Greywacke, mica slate, and serpentine [rocks] prevail throughout the upper portion of the parish; the lower is rich in primary limestone and gneiss, the former of which, containing 70 per cent lime, has been largely worked. The soil of the middle glen is much of it a fertile yellow loam; but that of the higher grounds is mostly poor gravelly clay; whilst near the Deveron's sources are vast deposits of peat.

Glenbucket Castle, near the Don's left bank, ¼ mile W of Bridge of Bucket, is a picturesque ruin, with its turrets and corbie-stepped gables. Built in 1590, it was the seat of the Gordons of Glenbucket, the last of whom [name not given] fought at both Sheriffmuir (1715) and Culloden (1746). From place to place he was hunted, till, letting his beard grow and assuming the garb of a beggar, he at length effected his escape to Norway.

Glenbucket shooting-lodge, 7 miles WNW of Bridge of Bucket, was built in 1840 by the Earl of Fife, on or near the site of the dwelling of 'John o' Badenyon,' the hero of a song by the Rev. John Skinner. One other memory from Glenbucket is that here on the moors of Glencairney, 'among the bonny blooming heather,' died, just as he had hoped to die, the last of the 'old poachers,' Sandy Davidson, 25 Aug. 1843.

The Earl of Fife is almost sole proprietor. Glenbucket is in the presbytery of Alford and synod of Aberdeen; the living is worth £177. The church, 2 miles W of Bridge of Bucket, is an old building, dedicated originally to St Peter, and containing 300 sittings. Two schools, Glenbucket public and Balloch Society's, with respective accommodation for 109 and 35 children, had (1881) an average attendance of 79 and 26, and grants of £57, 3s. and £36, 11s.

[From Wikipedia Glenbuchat Castle is a historic Z-plan Scottish castle built in 1590 for John Gordon of Cairnbarrow to mark his marriage. It is located above the River Don, near Kildrummy, Aberdeenshire. The building is roofless, but otherwise in fairly good repair.

The family sold the castle in 1738, and it remained in private hands until the 20th century. James William Barclay bought the castle in 1901, and Colonel James Barclay Milne, his grandson, placed it in state care in 1946. A local club purchased the surrounding parkland in 1948 and gave it to the state to ensure that the castle's surroundings would remain intact. Both the castle and the surrounding land are managed by Historic Scotland as a scheduled ancient monument.

Further notes on Glenbuchat or Glenbucket 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

Population Growth

Areaacressq mihectares
1801-190011,08417.324,486
1901-200111,09017.33 4,488
YearPopulationDensity per sq miDensity per hectare
180142024.2 0.09
185154231.3 0.12
190140323.3 0.09
195119511.3 0.04
2001603.5 0.01

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.