Now "swallowed" up by Aberdeen, politically, Kincardineshire is an ancient county of Scotland, stretching between the southern outskirts of Aberdeen down the coast to a few miles north of Montrose. County town was Stonehaven and other notable towns are Banchory, Inverbervie, Fettercairn (with its associations with MacBeth) and Laurencekirk. The County's long coastal fringe has a large number of old fishing villages, not very busy now but in the past busy vibrant communities , however, today only the fishing has diminished, the communities are still strong. Kincardineshire is a mix of fertile, rich agricultural land to the east, north and south and the fringes of the Grampian Mountains to the west, rising to 2,550 feet (Mount Battock). The County used to be known as 'The Mearns', taken after the name of the farming country around Fettercairn and Laurencekirk. This area is well known in literary circles through the works of Lewis Grassic Gibbon who's trilogy Sunset Son ... < more >