The Munros of Pinetown

THORPEVILLE

Alexander Diack who hailed from the Rayne area came to Kemnay, like many others of that era, to work in the granite quarries, first at Leschangie then at the quarries on Hill of Paradise. In 1875 he took a building lease of ninety nine years for a piece of ground in the village bounded on the west by the road leading from Kemnay Station to Dalmadilly, on the south by the road leading from Fetternear across the railway bridge through the village of Kemnay and on the north and east sides by ground belonging to Alexander George Burnett in the occupation of the tenants of Mains of Kemnay. The ground measured 65 feet on the west or Aquithie Road frontage, 170 feet on north and south sides and 104 feet on the eastern side and contained an area of 51 poles imperial measure which works out around one third of an acre. The annual rental was £2. 5s (£2.25), the tenant being responsible for any taxation or other burdens on the land, computed, that would have given an expected return of £675 on an acre of ground over a century. One proviso written into the lease was that the house be erected twenty five feet back from the Dalmadilly road. Alexander Diack erected a building with commercial premises on the ground floor and living accommodation on the first floor. The date 1876 can be seen on one of the dormer windows. In 1881 the building was occupied by Diack and his wife and family, Robert Reid the shoemaker, Robert Anderson, a watch maker and one of the houses was vacant. At a later date Diack erected the shop at the south end, presently owned by Lingard the butcher, which for a long time housed William Bremner the watchmaker on the corner and Alex S Weir the chemist in the other shop. The property now occupied by the hair shop was erected for Alexander Diack's second son James A Diack who traded as a tailor. Following his retirement around 1919 Alexander Sangster, a tailor who had served his apprenticeship with James A Diack and for some years had traded in what is now the Tandoori, moved in. He eventually traded from buildings to the rear of his house, Tornahaish in Victoria Terrace, and the shop then became a newsagent run by James C Pickford, who was in turn followed by Bert Sutherland who sold out, on his retirement, to William G J Gauld who erected the building which now houses Sidelines. The buildings along the north boundary have had several different uses during their lifetime. At one time they served as a place of worship for the Plymouth Brethren, of which persuasion a number of the Diack family followed. James A Brown the painter used it as a store for his business and for many years it served as the local chipper and café. Part of the east end of the feu was sold off to form an entrance to Melville Place whose original entrance was off Paradise Road and which was only pedestrian.

Reproduced, with permission, from:- Kirkstyle - History of the village of Kemnay - A Description of Alexander Diack's life in Kemnay by Duncan Downie