Braemar, Scotland

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.

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