Place:Glass, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Glass is a parish in Aberdeenshire, Scotland immediately to the west of the parish of Huntly. The village of Glass is about 8 miles from the town of Huntly. The parish is bounded on the north by the parish of Cairnie, on the east by Huntly and Gartly, on the southwest by Cabrach, and on the west by Mortlach and Botriphnie, both in Banffshire. Prior to 1891 the parishes of Cabrach and Gartly and Glass had been split between Banffshire and Aberdeenshire. In 1891 the whole of Cabrach went to Banffshire and Aberdeenshire acquired the whole of the parishes of Gartly and Glass. About one-third of the population of Glass has been located in Banffshire before 1891.

[Condensed from Samuel Lewis A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland (1851), available on the GENUKI website

"The parish is about eight miles in extreme length, and five miles in extreme breadth, comprising an area of nearly 19,000 acres, of which 4500 are arable, and the remainder meadow, pasture, and waste. Its surface is diversified with hills, which towards the west increase in elevation, forming the boundary in that direction: on the south the parish is bounded by a range of hills which separate it from Gartly and Rhynie.

There are several fertile straths between the hills, of which the vale of the Doveron is the most important: it is inclosed by hills on each side, varying from 1200 to 2000 feet in height above the level of the sea. The river Doveron, which has its source in the hills of Cabrach, flows in a serpentine course through the vale, and leaving the parish, runs for twenty-five miles in an eastern direction, and falls into the Moray Firth at Banff. From the hills issue numerous springs, of which those near the summit are frequently dry during the summer, while those at the base flow without interruption through the lower grounds. In general the soil is a light loam, yielding chiefly oats and barley, with potatoes and turnips: wheat has been sown, but remunerating crops of it have not been produced. The system of husbandry is improved: the farms are of moderate extent, few of them exceeding 150 acres; and the farm-buildings, usually of stone, with thatched roofs, are substantial and commodious. Considerable numbers of sheep were formerly reared in the pastures; but great losses having been frequently sustained during severe seasons, a few hundreds only, of the Highland black-faced breed, are now kept; and the pastures are more profitably stocked with cattle."

Wikipedia provides a list of listed buildings and notes that Blairmore House in Glass was the residence of the family of David Cameron, UK Prime Minister 2010-2016.

Further notes on Gartly can be found in A New History of Aberdeenshire, Alexander Smith (Ed), 1875], also available on the GENUKI website, and in F. H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4), available on the Gazetteer of Scotland website

Population Growth

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 Strathbogie, Synod of Moray, 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. )

• Scotlands People, the website of the Scottish Register Office provides

• 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.