Birse ( gd, Braois/Breis) is a
parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...
in the
Lower Deeside
Lower Deeside is a region along the River Dee in Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen in Scotland. The boundaries of this area are subject to interpretation, since the usage has altered through historic times; however, the area is generally associated wit ...
area of
Aberdeenshire, Scotland, which includes the communities of
Finzean
Finzean (; gd, Fìnnean) is a rural community, electoral polling district, community council area and former ecclesiastical parish, which forms the southern part of the Parish of Birse, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Finzean was the subject of many ...
and
Ballogie
Ballogie is a rural community and an estate in the Lower Deeside area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Most of Ballogie lies within the parish of Birse, although the northern part extends into the parish of Aboyne
Aboyne ( sco, Abyne, gd, Abèidh ...
. However the name Birse is often used to refer only to the northwestern part of the parish which lies on the south side of the
River Dee, Aberdeenshire
The River Dee ( gd, Uisge Dhè) is a river in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It rises in the Cairngorms and flows through southern Aberdeenshire to reach the North Sea at Aberdeen. The area it passes through is known as Deeside, or Royal Deeside in ...
, opposite the village of
Aboyne
Aboyne ( sco, Abyne, gd, Abèidh) is a village on the edge of the Highlands in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, on the River Dee, approximately west of Aberdeen. It has a swimming pool at Aboyne Academy, all-weather tennis courts, a bowling green and ...
. The south-west part of the parish is a sparsely populated upland area known as the
Forest of Birse
The Forest of Birse is a remote upland area in the upper catchment of the Water of Feugh, which forms the south-western portion of the Parish of Birse, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It also forms the western part of the community of Finzean, but has ...
, which gives its name to one of the houses at
Aboyne Academy.
Etymology and name
The name ''Birse'' was recorded in 1157 as ''Brass''.
The origin of the name is uncertain, although toponymist Simon Taylor has suggested derivation from a possible
Pictish
Pictish is the extinct Brittonic language spoken by the Picts, the people of eastern and northern Scotland from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Virtually no direct attestations of Pictish remain, short of a limited number of geographica ...
cognate of the
Welsh adjective ''bras'', in names meaning "bulky, large, fertile".
However, place-names rarely consist of simplex adjectives.
Images
Image:Housing development in Birse village.jpg, New houses in Birse
See also
*
Corsedardar Hill
References
External links
Historical Boundary Map of Birse Parish
{{authority control
Villages in Aberdeenshire
Civil parishes of Scotland