Stonehaven - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

STONEHAVEN (locally Stanehive), a police burgh, seaport and county town of Kincardineshire, Scotland, 15 m. S.S.W. of Aberdeen by rail. Pop. (1901), 4577. It consists of two quarters, the old town picturesquely situated on the south bank of the Carron and the new on the land between this stream and the Cowie, the two being connected by the bridge which carries the main road from the south to Aberdeen. The principal buildings are the market-house and town hall, and the industries include distilling, brewing, tanning, the making of net, rope and twine and woollen manufactures. The harbour, a natural basin, is protected on the south-east by cliffs and has a quay. The trade is mostly in coal and lime and the exports are chiefly agricultural. The town is an important centre of the fishing industry, and has become a favourite watering-place. On the decay of Kincardine, the original capital, Stonehaven became the county town in 1600, and suffered heavily during the covenanting troubles, Montrose setting it on fire in 1645. The Slug Road to Banchory-Ternan, or Upper Banchory (pop. 1475), 15 m. distant, a favourite residential resort of Aberdeen citizens, begins at Stonehaven. It pursues mainly a north-western direction, at one point being carried over the shoulder of Cairn mon-earn (1245 ft.).