Abdie
Abdie is a parish in north-west Fife, Scotland, lying on the south shore of the Firth of Tay on the eastern outskirts of Newburgh, extending about 3 miles eastwards to the boundary of Dunbog parish,[1] with which it is now united ecclesiastically[2] and for the Community Council.[3] It is also bounded by Collessie on the south and has a small border with the parish of Moonzie in the south-east.[1][4]
The civil parish had a population of 421 at the 2011 Census[5] and its area is 4850 acres.[6]
The parish contains the hamlet of Lindores on the north side of Lindores Loch, which is 4 miles in circumference and lies near the centre of the parish.[1]
The present church was built in 1826/27, to a design by William Burn,[7] replacing the pre-reformation church, St Magridin's, which stands as a ruin nearby. That church was consecrated by Bishop David de Bernham in 1242 and in pre-Reformation days was controlled by Lindores Abbey, whose remains lie just outside Newburgh.[2][8] Abdie and Dunbog parishes became a united charge under one minister from December 1965, with the church building in Dunbog closing in 1983 upon the ecclesiastical parish of Abdie and Dunbog being linked with Newburgh.[2]
The parish seems originally to have had the name Lindores.[2][9] However, when Lindores Abbey was granted a charter in 1178, the monks kept the old name and thereafter called the parish Abdie (or Abden), from the Gaelic, apainn, meaning "church land; abbey land; abbacy".[2][10]
The parish was originally wider in extent and included the parish of Newburgh, but this was disjoined in 1633. Further in 1891 a detached portion of Abdie in the west was annexed to Newburgh, while another detached portion in the east was united with Dunbog, leaving the main portion as the present parish.[1]
In September 1598 James VI came to Abdie to arrest John Arnot, Goodman of Woodmill, for the murder of John Murray, a servant of Lord Lindores.[11]
Notable residents
- Ninian Imrie FRSE (d. 1820) a soldier and geologist owned the Denmuir estate between Abdie and Dunbog
- The poet brothers Alexander Bethune and John Bethune (1812–1839)
References
- Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland, by Francis Groome, 2nd edition 1896; article on Abdie
- Church of Scotland web site for Abdie and Dunbog Parish www.abdiedunbog-newburgh.org.uk/about/abdie-and-dunbog-parish/ retrieved May 2016
- Fife Community Council web site showing Abdie and Dunbog community council area www.fifedirect.org.uk/CommunityCouncils retrieved May 2016
- Ordnance Survey 1 inch to 1 mile Sheet 48 Perth, publication date 1901 available from National Library of Scotland maps.nls.uk as at May 2016
- Census of Scotland 2011, Table KS101SC – Usual Resident Population, published by National Records of Scotland. Web site http://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/ retrieved March 2016. See “Standard Outputs”, Table KS101SC, Area type: Civil Parish 1930
- Gazetteer of Scotland, publ, by W & AK Johnston, Edinburgh, 1937. Article on Abdie. Places are presented alphabetically
- Buildings of Scotland: Fife by John Gifford
- Third Statistical Account of Scotland, Fife volume,ed. A. Smith, publ. 1952; article on Abdie
- The New Statistical Account of Scotland by the Ministers of the Respective Parishes, Vol. IX Fife-Kinross. Publ. William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh, 1845; article on Abdie
- "Abdie". Fife Place-name Data. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
- John Duncan Mackie, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 13 part 1 (Edinburgh, 1969), pp. 297, 323.