1812

Potarch Bridge was built by Thomas Telford. This reduced traffic using the ford and ferry at Kincardine O’Neil (the 13th Century bridge had long since disappeared) but the overall increase in traffic that resulted brought prosperity to the village.

1826

The whole of Deeside suffered a famine.

1848

Queen Victoria stopped in Kincardine O’Neil. Nowadays we quite often see members of the Royal Family as they pass through the village on their way to and from Balmoral, but they don’t stop anymore!

1850

There was still a cattle market.

1856

The Morrice school (it was an all female school) was built in memory of Rev W Morrice.

1857

The Deeside railway was built and bypassed Kincardine O’Neil going, instead, through the hamlets of Torphins and Lumphanan. Kincardine O’Neil thus became somewhat of a backwater for the next century. It missed out on the expansion that other Deeside settlements saw at this time as a direct result of the advent of the railway. The houses that line the main street were not heavily modified by later development and thus the architecture reflects that of the late 18th and early 19th Century rather than a later style. This is the main reason for Kincardine O’Neil being an area of Outstanding Conservation Interest.

1858

The Auld Kirk’s roof was deemed unsafe.

1860

The Dinnie Stones. These two stones were used to counterbalance masons when working over the edge of Potarch Bridge. Large iron rings are fitted to the top. The stones are not equal in weight nor regular in shape. In total they weigh 785lbs. In 1860 local strongman Donald Dinnie carried these stones, one in each hand across the width of the road and back. The stones are there to this day, at the Potarch Hotel

1862

Present church was built.

1866

The Episcopal Church building was consecrated in 1866. The church was founded a few years earlier but there was no building – it was simply a mission.

1878

The Village suffered a diphtheria epidemic.

1895

Present day Kincardine O’Neil Primary School was opened. The previous school was in two school rooms attached to the Old Schoolhouse, now a dwelling-house. One of the school rooms still stands, The Roomie, as does the wall that surrounded the school.