In 1882-4, Frances Groome's Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland described Dyce like this:
Dyce, a village and a parish of SE Aberdeenshire. The village lies near the Don's right bank, 4½ furlongs NNE of Dyce Junction on the Great North of Scotland, this being 6¼ miles NW of Aberdeen, under which it has a post office, with money order, savings' bank, and railway telegraph departments.
Bounded N by Fintray, NE by New Machar, E by Old Machar, S by Newhills, and W by Kinnellar, the parish has an utmost length from E to W of 43/8 miles, an utmost breadth from N to S of 3¼ miles, and an area of 5285½ acres, of which 481/3 are water. ...
The Don, winding 65/8 miles east-south-eastward, roughly traces all the Fintray, New Machar, and Old Machar border, descending in this course from 146 to 104 feet above sea-level; and from its broad level haugh the surface rises to 241 feet near Farburn and 822 on wooded Tyrebagger Hill. Gneiss occurs along the valley of the Don; but the principal rock is granite, which, suited alike for building and for paving, has long been worked for exportation to London. The soil of the low grounds is a fertile alluvium; but, on Tyrebagger, is so thin and moorish as to be unfit for either tillage or pasture. Fully one-half of the entire area is in tillage, extensive reclamations having been carried out within the last thirty years; and plantations of larch and Scotch firs may cover about one-fourth more. Antiquities are several tumuli on small eminences; an ancient Caledonian stone circle, comprising ten rough granite stones, from 5 to 10 feet high, and 8 feet distant one from another, on a gentle acclivity at the SE side of Tyrebagger; a large block of granite, called the Gonk Stone, said to commemorate. the death of some ancient leader, on the NE of Caskieben; and a large, oblong, curiously-sculptured stone, in the enclosure wall of the churchyard. Pitmedden and Caskieben are the chief mansions; and the property is divided among 13, 4 holding each an annual value of £500 and upwards, 3 of between £100 and £500, 1 of from £50 to £100, and 5 of from £20 to £50. Dyce is in the presbytery and synod of Aberdeen; the living is worth £200. The old parish church, of pre-Reformation date, standing inconveniently in the NE, on a rocky promontory washed by a bend of the Don, a handsome new one has been built, a mile nearer the station, in the course of the last ten years, at a considerable cost. There is also a Free church; and a public and an infant and female public school, with respective accommodation for 103 and 100 children, had (1880) an average attendance of 96 and 70, and grants of £80, 12s. and £61, 2s. Valuation (1881) £5717, 4s. 10d. Pop. (1801) 347, (1831) 620, (1851) 470, (1861) 585, (1871) 945, (1881) 1162.—Ord. Sur., sh. 77, 1873.
Dyce through time
Dyce is now part of Aberdeen district. Click here for graphs and data of how Aberdeen has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Dyce itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Dyce, in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/17077
Date accessed: 28th April 2024
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