Kincardineshire

Abstract

KINCARDINESHIRE, though one of the smaller of the Scottish counties, is a compendium of Scottish geographical types, for it includes typical areas of highlands, lowlands, and of the eastern coastal districts. Kincardine is interpreted as “the end of the high lands “and it is used for various localities in Scotland; the name is appropriate to this county, as it includes the eastern end of the Grampians. The chief lowland area is the plain known as “the Howe of the Mearns “which is the eastern end of the Vale of Strathmore. The coast is very variable in character, and unusually picturesque; part of it consists of soft beds which are undergoing rapid abrasion by the sea; elsewhere occurs an alternation of hard rocks which project in headlands such as that surmounted by Dunnottar Castle, and of soft bands which have been worn back into bays. The interest of the coastal scenery is enhanced by the numerous stacks and caves. The headlands act as groynes, and their protecting effect was shown in the case rendered classic by Lyell, who recorded the destruction of the village of Mathers, on a single night in 1795 owing to the sea breaking through a ledge of limestone which had been weakened by quarrying. Fishing villages are numerous along the coast, and one of them, Findon, has given its name to t?ie “finnan haddock.” The population is lowland and included the ancestors of Burns. The sections on the geology and meteorology of the country are wdl up-to-date; the author, for example, attributes the mild climate of Scotland to the south-west winds and not to the discredited Gulf Stream.

Kincardineshire.

George H.

Kinnear

By the late. Pp. xi + 122. (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1921.) Price 4s. 6d. net.