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In a short perambulation of
some of the main roads, we may conveniently start at the east "neuk" of the
county, in the parish of Gamrie. Close by the picturesque village of Pennan,
Banffshire receives from Aberdeenshire a road that, somewhat in switchback
fashion, traverses the coast of Gamrie, and near Macduff joins the more
important turnpike that comes from Central Buchan. At the east end of Banff
Bridge the road bifurcates, going in one direction by Turriff, Fyvie, and
Oldmeldrum, to Aberdeen, and in the other across the bridge. At the parish
church of Banff it gives off another branch, which goes southward by
Aberchirder and Bridge of Marnoch to Huntly and Donside, while the main road
continues westward through Banff.
At Ordens, in the parish of
Boyndie, the road again divides. One road follows the coast by Portsoy,
Cullen, Inchgower (for Buckie) and Fochabers to Elgin, Forres and the north.
This road all the way to Moray is probably one of the most level in the
county, the only serious gradients being as it passes through Cullen and
onward to the Baads. The other line of roadway from Ordens goes through
Ordiquhill and Grange, skirting a shoulder of the Knock Hill, to Keith,
thence, steadily ascending, to Duff-town. At the Square, while a line
branches off to the Cabrach, the main roadway climbs through Glenrinnes to
Glenlivet and thence through Kirkmichael, either by the picturesque,
birch-lined Avenside road or by the lonely, storm-driven moor of Faemusach
to Tomintoul, where it goes in one direction by a more or less precipitous
way to Grantown-on-Spey by the Bridge of Brown, and in another, by one of
General Wade's roads, over the mountainous Lecht Hills to the upper reaches
of the valleys of the Dee and Don.
A main line of road extends
also from Portsoy to Huntly, leaving the county at Avochie; another,
starting from near Cullen, traverses Deskford and Grange and joins the
Banff-Keith turnpike about a mile from the latter town; while a third
extends from Portgordon to Keith, all these three running in a more or less
direct line from the sea southward.
The railway companies serving
Banffshire are the Great North of Scotland and the Highland. The latter
traverses a small part of the county from Keith by Mulben into Moray. This
Company had also a branch line from Keith by Enzie and Buckie to Portessie,
but the rails were lifted to satisfy war needs and so far they have not been
replaced.
The Great North of Scotland
Company manages the other railway lines. In 1858 the railway reached Keith
from Huntly; and in June 1863 the first train was run from Dufftown up
Speyside, by way of Craigellachie. In the early sixties the line from Grange
to Banff and Portsoy was opened. This line was extended in 1886 by Cullen
and Buckie to Elgin. In i 86o the railway from Turriff reached Gellymill,
near Banff, and twelve years later was carried across the face of the Hill
of Doune to Macduff.
These communications by rail
are with the south and the west. To the east, railway communication is not
satisfactory, with the result that the distance between Macduff and its
nearest large neighbour to the east, Fraserburgh, 25 miles by road, is, by
rail, about 8o miles, in the form of a triangle by Inveramsay, Dyce and
Maud.
Many of the outlying places
are now expeditiously served by motors. |
