1179 Charter for Aberdeen, granted at Perth, by King William.

1699 Legislation passed requiring the labouring population to work on the county roads for 6 days a year.

1750 Start of the dispersal of Farm Touns into single farmsteads and new planned villages.

1770 Duke of Gordon re-develops Huntly to attract textile industries.

1793 Start of French Wars (till 1815) - does much to stimulate farming.

1795 Turnpike Bill passed - allowing the construction of toll roads in Aberdeenshire.

1798 Opening of first turnpike road (Aberdeen to Drum).

1800 Opening of second and third turnpike roads (Aberdeen to Ellon and Inverurie).

1801 Population of Aberdeen 27,608. Aberdeenshire 123,082. Foundation stone of Union bridge laid.

1802 Pilot's boat capsized at Newburgh - 8 drowned. Riot in Castle St., Aberdeen, on the King's birthday - 4 killed, 10 injured.

1803 A Boulton & Watt 20 hp steam engine installed at Forbes, Low & Co's cotton works - the first steam engine in the area. Numerous shipping casualties in great gales in December.

1804 HMS York lost off the Buchan coast.

1805 Aberdeen / Inverurie canal opens. Over next forty years responsible for rapid development of farming in the Garioch. Opening of Union Street.

1807 Construction of Fraserburgh harbour begun.

1808 Castle Forbes partly destroyed by fire.

1809 Drum Castle damaged by fire. Aberdeen Bridewell prison opened. Aberdeen Ropeworks levelled to the ground by a gale.

1811 There are now 300 miles of turnpike roads with 87 toll bars allowing easier movement of produce and fertiliser throughout the county. Extension to Aberdeen North Pier begun.

1813 Loss of the Oscar and 41 lives at Girdleness, Aberdeen.

1815 Waterloo

1818 Foundation stone of Fraserburgh South Pier laid.

1820 Assembly Rooms (later to become the Music Hall) erected, Union Street, Aberdeen.

1821 Census of Aberdeenshire - population 156,385. Coronation of King George IV. Steamship service between Aberdeen & Leith. Aberdeen Lunatic Asylum opened.

1823 Bon-Accord Square laid out by the architect Archibald Simpson.

1824 Aberdeen Gaslight company formed.

1825 Aberdeen 'Town and County Bank' founded. 'Aberdenn Fire and Life Assurance Company' founded (later became Scottish Provincial).

1826 The "year of the short crop" and water famine.

1827 Foundation stone laid for new bridge over the Don (designed by Thomas Telford). Death of the Duke of Gordon. Steamship service between Aberdeen and London begun.

1828 Parish of St. Nicholas divided into six parishes by decree of Court of Session.

1829 Tremendous flood in Aberdeen, August 3rd and 4th.

1830 New bridge of Don opened - cost £26,000. Wellington suspension bridge (river Dee) opened.

1831 The Anatomical Theatre in St. Andrew Street, Aberdeen, burned by a mob.

1832 Cholera epidemic in Aberdeen.

1833 Girdleness Lighthouse (Aberdeen) finished.

1836 Death of the last Duke of Gordon.

1834 Mr Alexander Macdonald invents machinery for cutting and polishing granite.

1838 Coronation of Queen Victoria.

1840 Queen Victoria married Prince Albert.

1843 Disruption of the Church of Scotland. The first meeting of the Aberdeen Free Church Presbytery.

1844 A coach link from Aberdeen, joining the railway at Newcastle, means London can now be reached in "the astonishingly short space of 36 hours".

1845 London mail speeded up - now takes just 44 hours.

1847 First operation at Aberdeen Hospital under anaesthetic.

1849 Queen Victoria attends the Braemar Gathering.

1850 Railway link from the south to Aberdeen (Ferryhill station) opened. Trawling by sailing boat tried in Aberdeen bay.

1852 Start of railway development in Aberdeenshire. Balmoral estate bought by Prince Albert.

1853 Queen lays foundation stone of Balmoral Castle. Deeside railway (Aberdeen - Banchory) opened. Great North of Scotland Railway Company buys the Inverurie canal and lays track along its route.

1854 Cholera epidemic in Aberdeen - 178 people die. Railway service to Huntly opened. Guild Street railway station opened. Electric telegraph reaches Aberdeen.

1855 Balmoral Castle completed.

1856 Railways extended to Keith (Banffshire) and Oldmeldrum.

1857 There are now 450 miles of turnpike roads. The last public execution in Aberdeen. Start of Deeside railway extension (Banchory - Aboyne).

1859 Alford Valley and Aboyne railways opened.

1861 Great autumn floods. Railway from Dyce to Mintlaw opened.

1863 Inverurie Town Hall opened. New Grammar School buildings opened.

1864 Wreck of the Aberdeen Steam Navigation Co.'s steamer Stanley at Tynemouth - 26 lives lost.

1865 Railway to Fraserburgh opened. After several years of falling tolls (due to railways) and crippling debt the turnpikes become toll-free.

1866 Railway to Ballater opened.

1868 Bridewell (West Prison) abandoned.

1874 Extraordinary thunderstorm and floods in August. Aberdeen Tramways opened. Terrific storm in November.

1876 Railway network largely complete. Ferryboat disaster on the Dee, April 5th - 32 lives lost.

1879 Tay Bridge disaster (Dundee).

1880 92nd Highlanders in the Afghan war.

1881 Development of Aberdeen fishing industry begins.

1884 Aberdeen Art Gallery opened.

1885 Rosemount Viaduct erected.

1892 Public Library opened.

1894 Public electric lighting introduced.

1900 1st Volunteer Brigade, Gordon Highlanders ordered to South Africa (Boer War).

History of Skene

Etymology
The name of this parish seems to have been derived from the Gaelic Skian, which signifies "a dagger or knife," which is said to have been the weapon used by the person who killed a wild boar which had attacked the king whilst hunting within the King’s Forest of Stocket, for which service, tradition says, thc progenitors of the family of Skene got as a reward the greater part of the lands in the parish. Hence the name of the family and that of the parish.
Boundaries
The parish of Skene is bounded on the north by the parishes of Kemnay, Kintore, and Kinellar; on the east by Newhills and Peter Culter; on the south by part of Peter Culter; and on the west by Echt and part of Cluny.
Extent
From the lowermost point on the Leuchar burn to the top of Scrapehard on the Kintore boundary, the distance is six miles in a direct line; and from the west of the Brimmond in Newhills, to the Garlogie Mills, the distance is four miles, also in a direct line. The whole area is computed to be 10,500 acres.
Topography
The surface of the parish is gently undulatory, the highest land being upon the northern division. The hill of Kinmundy is 632 feet, the Souterhill is 698 feet, and the ring post on the Keirhill is 744 feet above sea level. The hill of Auchronie, which is on the Kinellar boundary, is 731 feet, and the church is 405 feet. The Bishop-dams bridge, on the eastern boundary with Peter Culter, on the Alford road, is 379 feet; the loch of Skene is 276 feet, and the bridge on the Bogintorry burn, bounding with Cluny also on the Alford road, is 320 feet. On the southern division of the parish the hills, or the rising grounds, are of inferior height; the hill of Wester Carnie being 402 feet, Hillhead of Carnie is 450 feet, and the hill of Ord, in the south-east corner of the parish, is 463 feet. The bridge at the Garlogie Mills, on the Echt road, is 258 feet, and the lowest point in the parish is on the Leuchar burn and about 234 feet above sea level.
[A New History of Aberdeenshire, Alexander Smith (Ed), 1875]

History of Tough

Etymology
In the "View of the Diocese of Aberdeen" the name of this parish is spelled Touch, and "In a roll of missing charters by King David II., is 'Carta to Isabel Toulch, sister to Henry Toulch, of the lands of Toulch, in viscomitatu de Abirdene.'" In the Statistical Account of the parish, 1793, the name is written Tough, and the writer says "that there is no record that it had any other name than its present one, and that those skilled in the Gaelic language say that it signifies 'North- ward." In the Statistical Account of Tongh, 1842, the writer says "the name is derived from the Gaelic language, indicating its northern exposure." He, the writer, further adds that, "in a valuation of the thirteenth century it is, however, written Tullyunch, of which the present name may be a corruption." Except in the prefix to the latter name, viz., Tully, which means a "knoll," and as there is no Gaelic in the word Tough, it can have no topographical meaning in that language, therefore, we must conclude that the name of the parish has been derived from its former territorial owners-- Tough, or Toulch, as above referred to.
Boundaries
The parish is bounded on the north by the parishes of Alford and Keig; on the east by Monymusk, Cluny, and Midmar; on the south by Kincardine O'Neil and Lumphanan; and on the west by Leochel-Cushnie.
Extent
The greatest length of the parish in a direct line from the top of the hill of Benaquhalie on the south, to the burn of Bents, on the north, is four miles; and from the slack of the Tillyfourie Hill, on the east, to the Broomhill of Guise, on the west, it is, also in a direct line, four miles. The whole area is computed to be 7,112 acres, 189 decs.
Topography
Tough lies to the west and north of that long ridge c