Braemar
Braemar
is a district in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, extending from Ballater
in the East. to Glen Dee in the West., a distance of 24 miles.
with a breadth varying from 3 to 6 miles. It is drained throughout
by the river Dee, both banks of which are bounded by hills
varying from 1000 to nearly 3000 ft. in height.
The
whole area is distinguished by typical Highland scenery, and
is a resort alike for sportsmen and tourists. The villages
and clachans (Gaelic for hamlet) being situated at an altitude
of from 600 to more than 1000 ft. above the sea, the air is
everywhere pure and bracing. The deer forests comprise the
royal forests of Balmoral and Ballochbuie, Glen Ey Forest,
Mar Forest and Invercauld Forest.
At
various points on either side of the Dee, granite castles,
mansions and lodges have been built, mostly in the Scottish
baronial style, and all effectively situated with reference
to the wooded hills or the river. The chief of these are Balmoral
and Abergeldie Castles belonging to the crown, Invercauld
House, Braemar Castle, Mar Lodge and Old Mar Lodge.
Castleton
of Braemar is the foremost of the villages, being sometimes
styled the capital of the Deeside Highlands. Its public buildings
include halls erected by the duke of Fife and Colonel Farquharson
of Invercauld to commemorate the Victorian jubilee of 1887.
Not far from the spot where the brawling Clunie joins the
Dee the earl of Mar raised the standard of revolt in 1715.
His seat, Braemar Castle, reputed to be a hunting-lodge of
Malcolm Canmore, was forfeit along with the estates. The new
castle built by the purchasers in 1720 was acquired at a later
date by Farquharson of Invercauld, who gave government the
use of it during the pacification of the Highlands after the
battle of Culloden in 1746.
