Dyce

"DYCE, a parish, in the district of Aberdeen and county of ABERDEEN, 7 miles (N. N. W.) from Aberdeen containing 472 inhabitants. This parish was in remote times called the chapelry of St. Fergus, to whom the present church was dedicated; and it is supposed that, with several adjacent parishes, it was anciently connected with the cathedral of Old Machar. . . The river Don runs along the northern and eastern boundaries of the parish, and after a further course of a few miles in a south-eastern direction, falls into the German Ocean two miles north of Aberdeen: the troutfishing during the months of March and April is very superior. . . The farm-houses are in general good and substantial dwellings, and some of them very superior; the steadings are complete sets of buildings of a quadrangular form, slated, and usually supplied with threshing-mills. On the smaller farms. however, the houses and inclosures are of an inferior description, though in a state of progressive improvement. . . The great turnpike-road from Aberdeen to Inverness, via Huntly, runs along the western boundary for about two miles; and the turnpike-road from Aberdeen to Banff crosses the eastern quarter. The centre is intersected by the canal from Aberdeen to Inverury, by which coal, lime, and manure are brought up, and grain and other farm produce sent back. . . For ECCLESIASTICAL purposes the parish is within the bounds of the presbytery and synod of Aberdeen. . Dyce church is an old edifice of uncertain date, small and uncomfortable. It stands at the northern extremity of the parish, upon a rocky point formed by a winding of the river . Don. . . There is a parochial school, in which Latin is taught, with the usual . . of education. . . More"
[From Samuel Lewis A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland (1851) - copyright Mel Lockie 2016]