Cowie, a fishing village and a stream of Kincardineshire. The village, in Fetteresso parish, stands on the N side of Stonehaven Bay, and ¾ mile N by E of Stonehaven town. Anciently it was a free burgh, under charter of Malcolm Ceannmor, who, on a rock overlooking the sea, is said to have built a small fortalice- the Castle of Cowie. Of this some vestiges remain, while its First Pointed chapel, which afterwards belonged to Marischal College, Aberdeen, is a picturesque ruin, with a burying-ground still in use. Cowie House, hard by, is a seat of Alex. Innes, Esq. of Raemoir (b. 1812; suc. 1863), who owns 4750 acres in the shire, valued at £2847 per annum. Cowie Water, rising on the western border of Glenbervie parish at 1000 feet above sea-level, winds 13 miles eastward through the rocky and wooded scenery of Glenbervie and Fetteresso parishes, and at stonehaven falls into Stonehaven Bay. It is fairly stocked with small trout; is subject to high freshets, which often do considerable damage; and is crossed, ¾ mile NNW of Stonehaven, by the grand fourteen-arched Glenury Viaduct of the Aberdeen railway, which, in one part 190 feet high, commands a fine view of the river's ravine, the vale and town of Stonehaven, Dunnottar Castle, and other features of the surrounding landscape. --Ord. Sur., shs. 66, 67, 1871.

(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)