Newmachar: The Buchan train has gaen a stacher

The  Line around Newmachar was notorious for being blocked by snow, on several occasions over the life of the Buchan Line trains became stuck in drifts in the vicinity. Walking this section in the sunshine and heat of a late September Indian summer it was hard to envisage how bleak it must be on a night of 'blin drift'.

Looking north from Newmachar Station towards the deep cutting through the Hill of Strypes. Here the  line climbs to 450 feet in a cutting almost a mile long and about 50 ft deep in places. The sleepers were an attempt to provide shelter from drifting snow for the crossing loop and shallow cutting just beyond the station. There is now car parking and easy access to the line here.

The deep cutting north of Newmachar, known as Satan's Den,  and the shallower cuttings immediately north and south of the station were notorious for being blocked by snow as this old piece of railway doggerel says:

'The Buchan train has gaen a stacher,

She's got snoored up aboot New Machar

May she be spared to rin more swacher

In Nineteen hunder and seeven,'

More recently during the blizzard of  19th January 1960 the second morning train from Fraserburgh and Peterhead became stuck in a drift 8ft deep. Despite heroic efforts of the railway company it was almost 24 hours before the 57 passengers could be rescued by  a relief train.  50 soldiers from the Gordon Barracks along with railway workers from as far away as Montrose were required to help dig the stranded engine out of the drift. During this blockage a trawler was used to deliver the mail and essential supplies to Peterhead and Fraserburgh.

Cutting south of the station, the banks white not with snow but with the drifting plumes  of rosebay willow herb seed heads

All that remains of Newmachar station

On the horizon just south of the station this stone looking tantalisingly like a symbol stone is nothing more than a cattle scratching post. Already next year's crop is through the ground.

This wide sweep of the line near Newmachar is reputedly due to the insistence  of the Laird of Pitrichie, a major shareholder, that the Line pass as close as possible to Summerhill (as Newmachar was then called) and resulted in the station being inconveniently almost half a mile from the village. However this wide curve enabled the Line to climb from the level of the River Don to the summit of the hill at Newmachar at a manageable gradient and the minimum of heavy engineering work.

A local paper of 12th January 1867 records an earlier snow related accident on this exposed section of the Line:  "On Monday morning an accident occurred on the Formatine and Buchan branch, which fortunately was unattended with loss of life. The 5 am goods train from Aberdeen had proceeded within a short distance of New Machar station when, in consequence of the heavy snow, the engine was thrown off the rails over the embankment, dragging after it the tender. Both were considerably damaged, but the injury done to

the wagons is not serious. Those in charge of the train

escaped unhurt".

Looking to the west towards Newmachar Parish Church

Kingseat Farm
Kingseat derived its name from a King of Scotland, Malcolm Canmore (Malcolm 3rd)  having rested there during his peregrinations in pursuit of Macbeth whom he eventually encountered  and slaughtered at Lumphanan.  Malcolm is said to have rested his army at Kingseat, the stone on which he sat to quench his thirst with water from a nearby well  was still being pointed out to visitors as late as 1894. The king decreed that the water he was given tasted 'better than ale' and henceforth the  well  was given the name 'Better Ale Well'. The story of naming of the well is probably apocryphal but the  name Kingseat appears on Robert Gordon's map of around 1637.

Modern housing development of the site of Kingseat Hospital, hospital buildings have been demolished but the old wall still exists. The track leads to a disused gravel quarry, according to Canmore, the site of Better Ale Well.

Built by  Aberdeen District Lunacy Board between 1901 and 1926 Kingseat Hospital was based on a German model and was designed to give patients, who were housed in 10 separate villas, an environment where they could benefit from fresh air,a tranquil, spacious setting and have opportunity to work on the land. This experimental concept  was considered to be revolutionary at the time and was beneficial not only to the  478 patients housed there by 1905 but also to Newmachar. The excellent facilities for sports and recreation at the hospital were available to members of the wider community and the influx of medical and domestic and ancillary staff boosted the local economy. Eventually clinics such as baby care and chiropody were based at the hospital. During the Second World War the hospital was requisitioned by the Navy and officially became HMS Bacchante, a naval hospital, receiving patients from many incidents including the the sinking of the Royal Oak.   Kingseat reverted to its roll as a psychiatric hospital after the war but closed in 1995 after which most of the hospital buildings were demolished to be replaced by a modern housing development.

Pipes  at Kennedy Transport's storage facility close to the Line - a reminder of the proximity of Europe's oil capital

A steep scramble up the embankment at Standryford Bridge leads on to the B997 an old road with an intersting history and which provides a route back to Newmachar

During the 18th century this was the main route   from Newmachar to the Bridge of Don and onwards into the city of Aberdeen.  An example of a 'Commutation Road 'and now regarded as 'the back road' it is a long  established road with an interesting history. During the 17th century Acts of parliament ordained that property owners were to pay 10sh per £100 value of their property annually for the construction, repair and maintenance of roads and bridges. Less wealthy individuals were expected to contribute   around 6 days of physical labour as road builders. This particular burden could be avoided or commuted by paying 3d per day in lieu of  work. The money engendered by this was used to employ skilled road builders and the roads, including this one, constructed by them were known as 'Commutation roads'.  It appears on General Roy's map of 1747 -1755. 

Cross of Sacrifice in the new cemetery.

Close to the entrance to the cemetery is the Cross of Sacrifice, designed in 1918 by Sir Reginald Blomfield, architect of the  Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing  in Ypres, this simple, elegant cross is present in all cemeteries which contain over 40 Commonwealth War Graves. The cemetery opened in 1905 and the cross was dedicated in 1950.The original war memorial is on a hill to the south west of the village known as 'The Shanny'.

The cemetery contains headstones of 61 naval and  merchant navy seamen who died at Kingseat during the Second World War.

Newmachar church, a plain rectangular building replacing an earlier church of 1639, now much enlarged by a sympathetic modern extension at the east end, dates from  1791 and  occupies an elevated position in the heart of the community it serves. The walls are of dressed granite, although all but the south wall are now harled. The west gable carries a birdcage bellcote, topped by a large  ball finial - a clear landmark visible from the Line. A tall narrow session house adjoins the church. Beneath the bell cote the shallow chancel stands proud of the line of the gable and has a round window with plain glass. The north and south walls both have four arched windows, these include the beautiful Crombie Memorial  window, dating from 1915 and designed by Douglas Strachan this illustrates St Machar and connections with the bishops of Aberdeen.

 The kirkyard well planted with protective yews.

Gravestone of Rev George Moir in a quiet  corner of the graveyard surrounding the kirk he left. 

George Moir  was the much respected parish minister for 3 years until he left the Church of Scotland following the Disruption of 1843. Moir was followed by a large section of his congregation and became the first Free Kirk Minister of Newmachar. Moir and his followers met for worship in the barn at Mameulah until 6^th August of 1843 when the new Free Kirk building, situated by the cross roads in the village and probably the first in Scotland to be ready for use after the Disruption, was functional. The Free Kirk building has been demolished.