Birse () is a
parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
in the
Lower Deeside area of
Aberdeenshire
Aberdeenshire (; ) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland.
It takes its name from the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Aberdeenshire (historic), Aberdeenshire, which had substantial ...
, Scotland, which includes the communities of
Finzean and
Ballogie. 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 () 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 the region bet ...
, opposite the village of
Aboyne
Aboyne (, ) is a village on the edge of the Scottish Highlands, Highlands in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, on the River Dee, Aberdeenshire, River Dee, approximately west of Aberdeen. It has a swimming pool at Aboyne Academy, all-weather tennis cou ...
. 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 h ...
, 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 an extinct Brittonic Celtic 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 geog ...
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
Parishes in Aberdeenshire