Old County of Moray

(Elginshire)

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

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1834-45: Elgin

Elginshire or Moray, a maritime county on the southern shore of the Moray Firth, forming the central division of the old Province of Moray. It used formerly to consist of two separate though not widely detached parts, a portion of Inverness-shire having, by one of those zig-zag arrangements that may be traced back to the days of feudal jurisdiction, got between the two portions. In 1870, however, by 'The Inverness and Elgin County Boundaries Act,' a part of the united parishes of Cromdale and Inverallan, including the village of Grantown, was transferred from Inverness to Elgin, and portions of the parishes of Abernethy and Duthil from Elgin to Inverness. The population of the former district was (1861) 3377; and of the latter in the same year 2750, so that Elginshire gained somewhat in population by the change. The new arrangement has proved in many ways advantageous, and has rendered the county more compact. Elginshire is bounded on the N by the Moray Firth, on the E and SE by Banffshire, on the S and SW by Inverness-shire, and on the W by Nairnshire; and on the centre of the western border it surrounds two small detached portions of the latter county. Its greatest length from NE to SW, from Lossiemouth to Dulnan Bridge in Strathspey, is 34 miles; its greatest breadth from E to W, from Bridge of Haughs near Keith to Macbeth's Hillock on the Hardmuir to the W of Forres, is 291/2 miles. The coast-line along the shore at high - water mark measures 30 miles, and a straight line from the mouth of the Spey on the E to the sea near Maviston sandhills on the W measures 26 miles. The total area, according to the Ordnance Survey, and inclusive of inland waters and foreshores, is 312,378.810 acres. Roughly speaking, the county forms a sort of triangle, with a sharp apex to the NW, and somewhat blunt corners to the S and NE, and in this triangle the northern and western sides measure 25 miles, and the south-eastern side somewhat more - all the measurements being in straight lines. Over 25 miles of the accurate boundary on the E is traced by the river Spey, and over 24 on the W by the watershed along the north-eastern prolongation of the Monadhliath Mountains; but everywhere else, except along the Moray Firth, the boundary is purely artificial. Starting from the NE corner the boundary-line follows the principal channel of the Spey for the time being for about 2 miles, and then strikes south-eastward through Gordon Castle part of which is in Elginshire and part in Banffshire till it reaches Bridge of Haughs about 3/4 mile to the W of Keith. It then skirts the S side of the Highland railway to near Mulben station, where it turns abruptly away to the S, and takes in a part of the long slope of Ben Aigan. Returning to the Highland railway, it skirts the N side of the line as far as the bridge over the Spey. From this point it follows the course of the Spey for many miles up as far as Inveraven church, when it leaves the river, and takes in a part of Inveraven parish, measuring about 21/2 miles by 1 mile, passes back along the river Aven, and again up the Spey for a mile. It then strikes to the SW along the watershed of the Cromdale Hills, but returns to the Spey about 2 miles due E of Grantown, and keeps to the river as far as Dulnan Bridge. It then turns up the Dulnan for about a mile, and from that point proceeds in a direction more or less northerly (not taking minor irregularities into account), until it reaches the Moray Firth about 5 miles W of the mouth of the river Findhorn. The lower part of the county is flat, and remarkable for its amenity of climate, high cultivation, and beauty of landscape, in which respects it holds the highest position in the northern lowlands. The only exception is a part between the mouth of the Findhorn and the western boundary, which is covered by a mass of sand constantly in motion in the slightest breeze of wind, and known as the Culbin Sands. Culbin was at one time almost the richest and most fertile part of the county, but now some 3600 acres are little better than an arid waste. In 1693 the rental was worth what might be represented by £6000 of our present money, but in 1694 or 1695 sand began to blow in from the shore, and rapidly overwhelmed the whole district. From the Findhorn eastward to Burghead, the tract along the coast is also barren and sandy, and from Lossiemouth eastward to the mouth of the Spey there are a series of great gravel ridges formed from the boulders brought down by the Spey, which have been in the course of ages carried westward by the inshore current, and thrown up by the sea. The district adjoining the coast along the parishes of Urquhart, St Andrews-Lhanbryd, Drainie, Duffus, Spynie, Alves, Kinloss and Dyke, and Moy is rich and fertile with heavy loam and strong clay soils, and is so flat that it might be mistaken for a portion of England set down there by accident. High wooded ridges running through Alves, Elgin, and St Andrews-Lhanbryd separate this from another flat district, not, however, of so great extent as the last, nor so level, extending through Speymouth, Elgin, and Forres, and sweeping up to the S to the beginning of the hill country, which occupies the S part of the county, where the land is mostly covered with heather and given over to grouse and the red deer, and where cultivation, when carried on at all, is under much harder conditions of soil and climate than in the rich and fertile ` Laigh of Moray.' There are, however, along the courses of all the streams numerous, though small, flats or haughs of great fertility. The soil of the arable lands of the county may be classified under the general names of sand, clay, loam, and reclaimed moss. Sand, or a light soil in which sand predominates, extends, with inconsiderable exceptions, over the eastern half of the lowlands, or most of Speymouth, Urquhart, St Andrews-Lhanbryd, and Drainie, the eastern part of Spynie, part of Elgin, and the lower lands of Birnie and Dallas. A clay soil prevails throughout Duffus and Alves, part of Spynie, and small strips in the sandy district. A loamy soil covers extensive tracts in Duffus, Alves, and Spynie, and nearly the whole of Kinloss, Forres, Dyke, the lower lands of Rafford and Edenkillie, and the alluvial grounds of the highland straths. A clay loam covers a considerable part of Knockando. Moss, worked into a condition of tillage, occurs to a considerable extent in Knockando, and in strips in the flat districts in the low situations. It is superincumbent on sand, and is so peculiar in quality as to emit, on a hot day, a sulphureous smell, and to strongly affect the colour and formation of of rising grain: it occurs also on the flats and slopes of the lower hills of the uplands, peaty in quality, but corrected by the admixture of sand. The far extending upland regions are prevailing moss and heath. Though the low district has a northern exposure, the climate is so mild that the hardier kinds of fruit-all the varieties of the apple, and most of the varieties of the pear and the plum-may, with very little attention, be grown abundantly; and fruits of greater delicacy the apricot, the nectarine, and the peach-ripen sufficiently on a wall in the open air. The wind blows from some point near the W during about 260 days in the year, and in summer it is for the most part a gentle breeze, coming oftener from the S than from the N side of the W. Winds from the NW or N generally bring the heaviest and longest rains. The district has no hills sufficiently elevated to attract the clouds while they sail from the mass of mountains in the S towards the heights of Sutherland. The winter is singularly mild, and snow lies generally for only a very brief period. In the upland districts rain falls to the amount of 5 or 6 inches more than the mean depth in the low country, and there the seasons are often boisterous and severe, and unpropitious weather delays and, by no means seldom altogether, defies the efforts of the former. Rather more than half the county is drained by the Spey and its tributaries. Of the latter the most important are the Aven and the Dulnan, neither of which have, however, more than a very small portion of their course within the county. The middle part of the county is drained by the river Lossie. It rises n car the centre of the upper part of the shire, and has a very sinuous course in a general north-easterly direction, till it enters the sea at Lossiemouth. Its principal tributaries are the Lochty or Black Burn, the Burn of Glen Latterich, and the Burn of Shogle. The western part is drained by the Findhorn and its tributaries. The whole course of the Findhorn is very beautiful and picturesque, till it expands, near the mouth, into the open sheet of Findhorn Loch or Findhorn Bay. There is at the mouth, between the village of Findhorn and the Culbin Sands, a dangerous and much-dreaded bar. The principal tributaries are the Divie and the Dorbock. The latter issues from Lochindorb, and flows parallel to the western boundary of the county, at a distance of about a mile, along a course of about 10 miles, when, after uniting with the Divie, the streams fall into the Findhorn near Relugas. The principal lochs are - Lochindorb, which lies among the mountains, near the point where Elgin, Nairn, and Inverness unite. It is 2 1/8. miles long and 5 furlongs broad at the widest part. The Loch of Spynie, now only 5 furlongs long by 1 ½ furlong wide, was formerly an extensive lake 3 miles long and ¾ mile wide, but by the drain age operations carried on from time to time between 1779 and 1860, the whole of the loch was drained excepting a mere pool a little to the W of the old Castle of Spynie. The present sheet of water has been reformed by the proprietor of Pitgaveny. Loch-na-Bo (4 x 1 ½ furl.) lies 1 mile to the SE of the village of Lhanbryd. It contains a large number of excellent trout. The banks are prettily wooded, though up to 1773 the surrounding tract was merely a barren heathy moor. There are a number of chalybeate springs in the county, but none of them are at all distinguished for their medicinal properties. The surface of the county rises gradually from N to S, the ridges getting higher and higher till between Creag-an-Tarmachan and the Cromdale Hills, a height of 2328 feet is attained. The principal elevations going from E to W and from N to S are Findlay Seat (1116 feet), Eildon or Heldun Hill (767), Hill of the Wangie (1020), Knock of Braemory (1493), James Roy's Cairn (1691), Cairn-an-Loin (1797), Craig Tiribeg (1586), Carn Sgriob (1590), Creag-an-Righ (1568).

Geology. - The geology of the Morayshire plain has given rise to considerable controversy. For a time, indeed, the age of the reptiliferous sandstones N of the town of Elgin was one of the most keenly disputed points in Scottish geology. They had been classed for many years with the Old Red Sandstone formation; but when Professor Huxley announced in 1858 that the Elgin reptiles had marked affinities with certain Triassic forms, geologists began to waver in this belief. The subsequent discovery of the remains of Hyperodapedon a typical Elgin reptile-in beds of undoubted Triassic age, in England and in India, caused some of the keenest supporters of the old classification to abandon it altogether. It must be admitted, however, that the stratigraphical evidence is far from being satisfactory, owing to the great accumulation of glacial and post-glacial deposits.

The oldest rocks in the county belong to the great crystalline series composing the central Highlands, of which excellent sections are exposed in the Findhorn between Coulmony and the Sluie, in the Divie, the higher reaches of the Lossie, and in the streams draining the western slopes of the valley of the Spey. They consist mainly of alternations of grey micaceous gneiss, quartzites, and mica schists, the prevalent type being gneissose; and with these are associated, in the neighbourhood of Grantown, an important bed of crystalline limestone. In the Findhorn basin they form a wellmarked syncline, extending in a SE direction from the bridge of Daltulich to the junction of the Dorbock with the Divie. This trend, however, is quite exceptional, for when we pass eastwards to the valleys of the Lossie and the Spey, they assume their normal NE and SW strike. As the prevalent dip of the strata is towards the SE, it is evident that there is a gradually ascending series in that direction. In the valley of the Spey they plunge underneath the quartzites, which are so well displayed at Boat of Bridge, on the slopes of Ben Aigan, and at Craigellachie; and these are overlaid by the grand series of schists containing actinolite, andalusite, and staurolite that cover wide areas in Banffshire.

The Old Red Sandstone strata, which come next in order, rest on a highly eroded platform of these crystalline rocks. From the manner in which they wind round the slopes of the hills formed by the metamorphic series, sweeping up the valleys and filling ancient hollows, it is evident that the old land surface must have undergone considerable denudation prior to Old Red Sandstone times. Within the limits of the county there are representatives both of the upper and lower divisions of this formation, which differ widely in lithological character and organic contents. The members of the lower division are displayed on the banks of the Spey N of Boat of Bridge. At the base there is a coarse brecciated conglomerate, which, though it attains a thickness of about 500 feet on the right bank of the river, thins away to a few feet when traced to the N. This massive conglomerate is overlaid by red sandstones, shales, and clays in the neighbourhood of Dipple, and from the limestone nodules embedded in the shales numerous ichthyolites have been obtained. This fossiliferous band, commonly known as the fish-bed, forms an important horizon in the Lower Old Red Sandstone of the Moray Firth basin. There can be little doubt that the outcrop at Dipple is on the same horizon as the well-known bed in the Tynet Burn, about 3 miles to the NE, which is one of the most celebrated localities in the North of Scotland for well-preserved ichthyolites. Amongst the species obtained from these localities are the following: - Cheiracanthus Murchisoni, Diplacanthus striatus, Osteolepis major, and Glyptolepis leptopterus. Like the succession in Tynet Burn, the Dipple fish-bed is overlaid by coarse conglomerate passing upwards into red pebbly sandstones, which are well seen at the bridge of Fochabers. The sandstones on the left bank of the Spey, above the fish-bed have yielded some large specimens, which are probably fragments of Pterygotus. This fossil, which is characteristic of the Upper Silurian and Lower Old Red Sandstone formations, has been found in the flagstones of Forfarshire, Caithness, and Orkney. N of the bridge of Fochabers the succession in the Spey is obscured by alluvial deposits; but in the Tynet and Gollachie sections there is an ascending series to certain contemporaneous volcanic rocks, which are of special importance, inasmuch as they are the only relics of volcanic activity during this period in the Moray Firth basin. From the persistent NNW inclination of the strata in the Spey and Tynet sections, we would naturally expect to find the members of the lower division extending westwards across the Morayshire plain. But with the exception of the great conglomerate filling the ancient hollow of the vale of Rothes, which may justly be regarded as the equivalent of the conglomerate in the Spey, there is no trace of the members of the lower division till we pass westwards to Lethen Bar in Nairnshire. They are overlapped by the Upper Old Red Sandstone strata, which sweep up the valleys of the Lossie and the Findhorn till they rest directly on the metamorphic rocks. In other words, there is in this area a marked unconformity between the upper and lower divisions, which is equally apparent in the county of Nairn. The boundary line of the upper division extends from Glensheil on the Muckle Burn, eastwards by Sluie on the Findhorn, thence curving northwards round the slope of the Monaughty Hill, and winding up the Black Burn as far as Pluscarden Abbey. From this point it may be traced eastwards across the Lossie to Scaat Craig at the mouth of the Glen of Rothes. In the neighbourhood of Dallas there is a small outlier of thick-bedded sandstones, which, in virtue of the fish scales embedded in them, must be grouped with the upper division.

Lithologically the Upper Old Red strata are very different from the older series. The dominant feature of the division is the occurrence of massive grey and yellow sandstones, full of false bedding, with occasional layers of conglomerate. By far the finest section of these strata is exposed on the Findhorn, between Sluie and Cothall, where the river has cut a deep gorge through them, exposing magnificent cliffs of the massive sandstones. They are inclined to the NNW, at angles varying from 5o to 10o, and in the course of this section upwards of 1000 feet of strata are exposed. At Cothall they pass underneath a remarkable bed of cornstone, containing calcite, arragonite, iron pyrites, and chalcedony, which is overlaid on the right bank of the river by red marls. By means of small faults, which are well seen on the left bank, the cornstone is repeated towards the N. To the S of Elgin the members of this series are exposed on the Lossie and at Scaat Craig where they have a similar inclination; but, owing to the covering of superficial deposits, no continuous section is visible. At Glasgreen, near New Elgin, there is a band of cornstone closely resembling that at Cothall and apparently occupying the same horizon, which can be traced at intervals in a NE direction to the Boar's Head rock on the sea-coast. Again, to the N of Elgin, the younger series extends along the ridge from Bishopmill to Alves. They are admirably displayed in the quarries at the former locality, where they have been extensively worked for building purposes. The fossils obtained from the Upper Old Red -strata consist of fish scales, bones, and teeth, and, though by no means plentiful, they have been found at various localities. They occur in the Whitemyre quarry on the Muckle Burn, in the Findhorn cliffs, at Alves, in the Bishopmill and Dallas quarries, and again at Scaat Craig. The last of these is most widely known. Here they are embedded in a conglomeratic matrix, and show signs of having been subjected to aqueous action. The characteristic fossils of the upper division are Holoptychius nobilissimus, Dendrodus latus, D. strigatus, and Pteriehthys major. In the tract of ground lying to the N of the Quarry Wood ridge, the strata are met with which have given rise to so much controversy. They consist of pale grey and yellow sandstones in which the reptilian remains have been found, and with these is associated a cherty and calcareous band, commonly known as ` the cherty rock of Stotfield. ' This term was first applied to it by the Rev. George Gordon, LL. D., of Birnie, to whose valuable researches, extending over half a century, geologists are specially indebted for the information they possess regarding this district. Along with the calcareous portion of the Stotfield rock there are nodular masses of flint, and throughout the matrix, crystals of galena, iron pyrites, and blende are disseminated. Attempts have recently been made to work the galena at this locality, which have not been attended with success. This rock is also exposed at Inverugie and to the S of Loch Spynie, where, as at Stotfield, it rests on the reptiliferous sandstones. The latter are visible at Spynie, in the Findrassie quarry, and on the N slope of the Quarry Wood. They also extend along the ridge between Burghead and Lossiemouth, being admirably displayed on the sea-cliffs between these localities. In this interesting section one may study to advantage the lithological characters of the strata. Indeed the falsebedded character of the sandstones is so conspicuous that it is no easy matter to determine their true dip. In endeavouring to solve the problem of the stratigraphical position of the beds now referred to, it is of the utmost importance to remember that the reptiliferous sandstones are never seen in contact with the strata yielding Upper Old Red Sandstone fish-remains. Though they occur near to each other in the neighbourhood of Bishopmill and the Quarry Wood, there is no continuous section showing their physical relations. Along the boundary line at these localities, the strata in both cases dip to the NNW, and to all appearance the angle of inclination is much the same. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that the advocates of the old classification persistently maintained the existence of a perfectly conformable passage between the Upper Old Red beds and the reptiliferous sandstones. The two sets of strata have many points in common, and were it not for the remarkable palæontological evidence, they might naturally be regarded as members of the same formation. The suggestion has been made by Professor Judd, whose contribution to the literature of the subject is by far the most valuable which has recently appeared, that the reptiliferous sandstones are thrown against the Upper Old Red beds by powerful faults. But no trace of these faults is to be seen on the surface along the lines indicated by him, save that on the shore at Lossiemouth, which brings the patch of oolitic strata against the cherty rock of Stotfield. Quite recently, however, Mr Linn of H.M. Geological Survey has discovered fish scales of Upper Old Red age in flagstones, on the raised beach W of Stotfield. These flagstones dip to the NNW at a gentle angle, and it is possible that they may form part of a small ridge of Upper Old Red sandstone protruding through the younger strata. In that case the reptiliferous sandstones may probably rest with a gentle unconformity on the older strata.

The fossils which have invested these beds with special importance belong to three species, viz.: Stagonolepis Robertsoni, Telerpeton Elginense, and Hyperodapedon Gordoni. The remains of these reptiles have been found in the sandstones at Lossiemouth, at Spynie, and in the Findrassie quarry, while in the Cummingston sandstones only footprints have been obtained. The Stagonolepis, which, according to recent discoveries, must have been about 18 feet long, was a crocodile allied to the modern Caiman in form. Its body was protected by dorsal and ventral scutes; and it possessed elongated jaws after the manner of existing Gavials. The Telerpeton and Hyperodapedon were species of lizards, the former measuring about 10 inches and the latter about 6 feet in length. It is interesting to observe that the terrestrial lizard, Telerpeton, differs but little from existing forms, thus furnishing a remarkable example of a persistent type of organisation. The Hyperodapedon bears a close resemblance to the existing Sphenodon of New Zealand. The important discovery of the remains of Hyperodapedon in undoubted Triassic strata in Warwickshire, Devonshire, and in Central India ultimately led geologists to regard the reptiliferous sandstones of Elgin as of the same age. The palæontological evidence from the Elgin sandstones is quite in keeping with this conclusion, for in no single instance have reptilian remains been found in the same beds with Upper Old Red fishes, though the strata have long been extensively quarried, and though careful attention has been paid to any indications of organic remains. On the whole, t hen, the evidence bearing on this long disputed questhen seems to be in favour of grouping the reptiliferous sandstones with the Trias.

On the shore at Lossiemouth, to the N of the fault bounding the cherty rock of Stotfield, a small patch of greenish white sandstones occurs, which, from the series of fossils obtained by Mr Grant, must be classed with the Lower Oolite.

Throughout the plain of Moray there is a remarkable development of glacial and post-glacial deposits. Indeed, owing to the great accumulation of these deposits the striæ left by the ancient glaciers are not readily found. A beautiful example, however, occurs on the hill of Alves, where the direction of the markings is ESE, which is in keeping with the general trend over the plain along the S side of the Moray Firth. The boulder clay in the neighbourhood of Elgin, and in fact in the upland districts generally, presents the usual character of a tenacious clay with striated stones. It occasionally contains intercalated masses of sand and gravel of interglacial age, indicating considerable climatic changes during that period. A remarkable example occurs on the left bank of the Dorbock opposite Glenerney, where, in a drift section about 100 feet high by aneroid measurement, three boulder clays are exposed which are separated by rudely stratified sands and gravels, the whole series being capped by stratified sands and finely laminated clays. An important feature connected with the history of the glacial deposits in the Elgin district is the occurrence of numerous blocks containing secondary fossils. They occur in the boulder clay, and they are likewise strewn over the surface of the ground. From an examination of the fossils it is evident that the boulders belong to the horizons of the Lower and Middle Lias, the Oxford clay, and the Upper chalk. The most remarkable example of a transported mass occurs at Linksfield, which demands special attention on account of its enormous size. Unfortunately the section is now covered up, but from the excellent descriptions of Mr Duff and Dr Malcolmson, there can be no doubt that the succession of limestones and shales yielding fish-remains, Cyprides and Estherice, rests on boulder clay and is covered by it. The fossils obtained from this transported mass do not fix the age of the beds with certainty, but they probably belong to the horizon of the Rhætic or Lower Lias formations.

Throughout the district there are widespread sheets of sand and gravel, and along the banks of the Spey, the Lossie, and the Findhorn there are high-level terraces which are evidently of fluviatile origin. They are grandly developed in the Findhorn basin along the borders of Elginshire and Nairnshire, and their characteristic features may be most conveniently described in connection with the post-glacial deposits of the latter county. The 100, 50, and 25 feet raised beaches are well represented within the limits of the county. The lowest of these forms a belt of flat land stretching from Lossiemouth westwards by Old Duffus Castle to the plain S of Burghead. It is evident, therefore, that the ridge between Lossiemouth and Inverugie must have formed an island in comparatively recent times. This sea-beach also forms a broad strip of low-lying ground between Burghead and the western limit of the county, and at various points it is obscured by great accumulations of blown sand, of which the most remarkable are the Culbin sandhills. As these deposits are continued into the adjoining county of Nairn their striking features and their mode of formation will be described in connection with that county. Between Lossiemouth and the Spey the present beach is bounded by a series of ridges which are evidently due to wave action. They consist of alternations of gravel and shingle, the stratification of which usually coincides with the external form of the mounds. They run parallel with the existing coast-line, and occur at no great distance from each other; indeed so rapidly do they succeed each other as we advance inland, that upwards of twenty of them may be counted in regular succession. An interesting example of a `kitchen midden' occurs on the old margin of the Loch of Spynie on the farm of Brigzes. From the interesting description given by Dr Gordon, it is clear that the two mounds must have attained considerable dimensions; the latter measuring 80 by 60 yards, and the smaller 26 by 30 yards. Among the shells composing the refuse heap are the periwinkle, the oyster, the mussel, the cockle, the limpet, and of these the first is by far the most abundant. The occurrence of these mounds along the inner margin of the 25-feet beach furnishes interesting evidence of the elevation of the land since its occupation by man. On the other hand the submerged -forest, which occurs to the W of Burghead, clearly points to the depression which preceded the recent changes in the relative level of sea and land. The cultivation of the county is, on the whole, in a highly advanced condition. In 1870 there were 552 farms not exceeding 5 acres each; 532 of from 5 to 20 acres; 378 of from 20 to 50 acres; 312 of from 50 to 100; and 285 above 100 acres. Most of the farms are held on lease of nineteen years. The farm steadings have of late years undergone great improvement, and on the majority of the large and middle sized farms there are comfortable and well-fitted dwelling-houses. Most of the farms, too, have acquired additional value by the enlargement of fields, the removal of dilapidated dykes, the covering-in of ditches, the reclamation of waste portions, drainage and the growth of hedge fences or the erection of wire paling, as well as by the extensive and marked improvements in farm implements, and by the introduction of the reaping machine. Some farms are cropped on the seven and some on the six shift course, but the majority of the farmers adhere to the five. The acreage under woods and plantations is 45, 368, and according to the Board of Trade Agricultural Returns the total acreage ` under all kinds of crops, bare fallow, and grass ' is 103, 376, including 5165 acres under permanent pasture or grass not broken up in rotation.

The cattle in Elgin are fewer in proportion to the cultivated acreage than in any other county N of Forfarshire, but estimated by the excellence of individual animals, they have more than average merit. They are mostly a cross breed between the short horned and polled breeds, produced with great attention to the high character of the bulls. This cross breed is believed to be hardier, to grow more rapidly, and to take on flesh more readily than any other variety. There are also a number of well-known herds of shorthorns, and though pure polled cattle are not very numerous, the Morayshire herds are very celebrated, and can generally manage to hold their own at the leading shows in Scotland and England, and even in France. Morayshire sheep are also well known. Leicesters are the standard breed for the lower part of the county, and the blackfaced sheep for the higher ground, where the conditions of existence are too severe for the Leicesters. Some farmers keep crosses, and at Gordon Castle there are Southdowns. The manufactures of the county are comparatively inconsiderable. Whisky is one of the chief products, there being seven distilleries in full operation within the county. Besides the wool manufactories at Elgin and Coleburn, in the Glen of Rothes, there are others at St Andrews-Lhanbryd, Forres, and Miltonduff. Tan works have long existed in Elgin and Forres. Shipbuilding on a small scale is carried on at Kingston, at the mouth of the Spey. There used to be a considerable herring fishing at Lossiemouth, Hopeman, and Burghead, but for a number of years the home fishing has been almost a complete failure, and most of the boats prefer to go to some of the larger ports at Aberdeen, Peterhead, or elsewhere. Each of the three seaports just mentioned has a tidal harbour, and there is a coasting trade, particularly in slates, coal, and pit props. There are chemical works at Forres and Burghead. Black cattle and field produce are the principal articles of export, but in some years the cattle are in little or no demand, and the field produce is all required for home consumption. There are large quantities of salmon sent S from the valuable fisheries at the mouths of the Spey and Findhorn, and from the fixed net fishings along the intervening coast. Timber from the Strathspey Forests has also long been exported. The principal ports are in order from E to W, Garmouth, Kingston, Lossiemouth, Burghead, and Findhorn, but they are all small, none of them being more than a sub-port. At Burghead, cargoes are discharged in connection with the chemical works at Burghead and Forres. Numerous fairs for live stock are held at Elgin, Forres, Findhorn, Lhanbryd, and Garmouth, but they are less valued by the farmers than the fairs of Banffshire. The county is intersected by a number of railways. The Inverness and Keith portion of the Highland rail way enters the shire near Keith, and passes through it from E to W, by Lhanbryd, Elgin, and Forres. There are branch lines to Burghead (from Alves station), and to Findhorn (from Kinloss); but the latter is not in the meantime being worked. At Forres, the Forres and Perth section branches off and passes through the county from N to S, till it leaves it about 4 miles S of of Grantown, close to the point where the Dulnan and Spey unite, and therefore almost at the most southerly point of the shire. Starting from Elgin, as its northern terminus, the Great North of Scotland railway system has a branch line from Elgin to Lossiemouth. The main linc passes southward through the Glen of Rothes, passes Rothes, and leaves the county when it crosses the Spey at Craigellachie. At Craigellachie the line branches, one part passing on to Keith and Aberdeen, and the other turning up Spey-side. The Spey-side section runs for the first 6 miles on the Banffshire side of the river, but at Carron it crosses to Elginshire, and with the exception of about 3/4 mile near Ballindalloch, remains in Elginshire till it passes into Inverness-shire, about 2 miles E of Grantown. It joins the Highland railway system at Boat of Garten. There was at one time a branch line connecting the Great North (Morayshire) system at Rothes with the Highland system at Orton, but it has not been worked for a number of years. A bill has now (1882) passed through Parliament, granting powers for the construction of a railway along the coast, from Elgin to Portsoy. This line will, when made, intersect the county from Elgin eastwards as far as Fochabers. The roads all over the county are numerous and excellent. A survey, made in 1866, gave the total length of roads within the county at 439 miles. In 1864 tolls were abolished all over the shire, except at the Findhorn Suspension Bridge, near Forres, where there was at that time a special debt of £2000 still remaining. The royal burghs are Elgin and Forres; the other towns, with each more than 1000 inhabitants, are Branderburgh, Burghead, Fochabers, Grantown, Hopeman, Rothes, and Bishopmill; and the smaller towns and principal villages are Lossiemouth, Findhorn, Garmouth, New Elgin, Kingston, Archiestown, Lhanbryd, Mosstodlach, Urquhart, Stotfield, New Duffus, Cumingston, Roseisle, Kinloss, Crook, Coltfield, Rafford, Dallas, Edenkillie, Dyke, Kintessack, and Whitemyre. The principal seats are Gordon Castle (partly in Banffshire), Darnaway Castle, Innes House, Castle-Grant, Duffus House, Ballindalloch Castle, Altyre, Roseisle, Roseislehaugh, Inverugie, Muirton, Orton House, Springfield, Inverugie, Dunkinty, Easter Elchies, Wester Elchies, Dumphail, Seapark, Kincorth, Dalvey, Westerton, Blackhills, Milton Brodie, Newton, Doune, Sanquhar House, Drumduan, Dallas Lodge, Relugas, Logie, Grange Hall, Brodie House, Orton, Auchinroath, and Burgie.

The county is governed by a lord-lieutenant, a vice-lieutenant, 27 deputy-lieutenants, a sheriff, 3 assistant sheriff-substitutes, and 114 magistrates. The ordinary sheriff court is held at Elgin, on every Monday for proofs in civil causes, on every Thursday for ordinary business of civil causes, and on every or any Tuesday, as occasion requires, for criminal causes. The commissary court for Elginshire and Nairnshire is held at Elgin. Sheriff small debt courts are held at Elgin on every Wednesday; at Forres, six times a year; at Grantown, four times a year; at Rothes, four times a year; at Fochabers, three times a year. The police force, in 1881, exclusive of that for Elgin burgh, comprised 16 men; and the salary of the chief constable was £230. The number of persons apprehended or cited by the police in 1880, exclusive of those in Elgin burgh, was 239; the number of these convicted, 224; the number committed for trial, 22; the number not dealt with, 124. The annual committals for crime, in the average of 1836-40, were 19; of 1841-45, 35; of 1846-50, 41; of 1851-55, 39; of 1856-60, 59; of 1861-65, 58; of 1865-69, 48; of 1871-75, 20; and of 1876-80, 22. The prison is in Elgin, and is one of those still retained under the new Prisons' Act. The annual value of real property, in 1815, was £73, 288; in 1845, £98,115; in 1875, £208,167; in 1882, £228,073. Elgin and Nairn shires return a member to parliament; and the Elginshire constituency, in 1882, was 1746. Pop. (1801) 27,760, (l821) 31,398, (1841) 35,012, (1861) 43,322, (1871) 43, 128, (188l) 43, 788, of whom 20,725 were males, and 23,063 females. Houses (1881) 8611 inhabited, 391 vacant, 71 building. The registration county gives off part of Cromdale parish to Inverness-shire, and parts of Inveraven and Keith to Banffshire; takes in part of Dyke and Moy from Nairnshire, and parts of Bellie, Boharm, and Rothes from Banffshire. It comprehends nineteen entire quoad civilia parishes, and had in 1871 a population of 44, 549, and in 1881 a population of 45, 108 All the parishes are assessed for -the poor. Fourteen of them, with one in Banffshire, form the Morayshire Combination, which has a poorhouse at Bishopmill. One is in the Nairn Combination. The number of registered poor, for the year ending 14 May 1881, was 1230; of dependants on these, 641; of casual poor, 283; of dependants on these, 221. The receipts for the poor were £12, 736, 0s. 8 1/2 d., the expenditure was £12,602, 19s. 9d. The percentage of illegitimate births was 13.6 in 1871, 17.1 in 1878, 13 in 1879, and 16.8 in 1880.

The county comprises the sixteen entire parishes of Alves, St Andrews-Lhanbryd, Birnie, Drainie, Duffus, Elgin, Speymouth, Spynie, and Urquhart, constituting the presbytery of Elgin; Dallas, Edenkillie, Forres, Kinloss, and Rafford, in the presbytery of Forres; Knockando, in the presbytery of Aberlour; and Cromdale, in the presbytery of Abernethy. It shares with Ban shire the parishes of Bellie and Keith, in the presbytery of Strathbogie and Boharm; Inveraven and Rothes, in the presbytery of Aberlour; and with Nairnshire the parish of Dyke, in the presbytery of Forres. There are quoad sacra parishes at Burghead and Lossiemouth, and mission churches at Advie and Knockando. The whole are within the jurisdiction of the synod of Moray. In the year ending 30 Sept. 1880, the county had 62 schools (51 of them public), with accommodation for 10,202 scholars, 7466 on the registers, and 5800 in average attendance. The certificated, assistant, and pupil teachers numbered respectively 91, 5, and 74.

The territory now forming Elginshire belonged to the ancient Caledonian Vacomagi, and was included in the Roman division or so-called province of Vespasiana. It formed part of the kingdom of Pictavia, and underwent many changes in connection with descents and settlements of the Scandinavians. In the Middle Ages it formed the middle part of the great province of Moray [see Moray], although it early became a separate part of that province. It seems to have been disjoined from Inverness as early as 1263, for in that year Gilbert de Rule is mentioned in the Registrum Moraviense as sheriff of Elgin. The sheriff of Inverness still, however, at times exercised a jurisdiction within the county of Elgin; and the proper erection of the county and sheriffdom was not till the time of James II., the earlier sheriffs having probably had much narrower limits to their power. The principal antiquities are the so-called Roman well and bulls at Burghead, standing stones at Urquhart and elsewhere, cup-marked stones near Burghead and near Alves, the cathedral, etc., at Elgin, Spynie palace, Birnie church, the abbey of Kinloss, the priory of Pluscarden, the Michael kirk at Gordonstown, the old porch of Duffus church, Sueno's Stone at Forres, remains of Caledonian encampments on the Culbin Sands, a sculptured cave near Hopeman, castles at Elgin, Forres, Lochindorb, Rothes, and Duffus, and the towers at Coxton and Blervie. See Shaw's History of the Province of Moray (Edinb. 1775; 2d ed., Elgin, 1827; 3d ed., Glasgow, 1882); A Walk Round Morayshire (Banff, 1877); Watson's Morayshire Described (Elgin, 1868); Leslie and Grant's Survey of the Province of .Moray (1798).

Moray, Province of, an extensive district lying to the S of the inner portion of the firth just described. It is almost co-extensive with one of the seven provinces into which, during the Celtic period, we find the whole of modern Scotland divided. The northern boundary was the Moray Firth and the river Beauly as far as Kilmorack; from this point the line passed to the S along the watershed between Glen Farrar and the streams flowing to Loch Ness. After rounding the upper end of Glen Clunie it turned eastward along the watershed between Glen Loyne and Glen Garry, and between the river Garry and the streams flowing to the river Oich; then SE by the lower end of Loch Lochy, as far as the SW end of Loch Laggan, and on to Beinn Chumbann, whence it followed the line between the modern counties of Inverness and Perth, by Loch Ericht, the Athole Sow, and Carn-na-Caim, to Cairn Ealar. From that hill it followed the boundary of Inverness-shire and Banffshire, along the Cairngorms, and down the Water of Ailnack. Here, however, it left the county boundaries and followed this stream to the Aven above Tomintoul, and then followed the course of the Aven to the Spey, and the latter river back to the Moray Firth. The province thus included within its limit the whole of the counties of Elgin and Nairn, the greater part of the mainland division of the county of Inverness, and a portion of the county of Banff. In later times the signification has sometimes been considered as rather co-extensive with the sway of the Bishop of Moray, and so with the jurisdiction of the modern synod, but this must hold true as applying more to ecclesiastical authority than to territorial limits. At one time the province must have stretched across the island from sea to sea, for, in one of the statutes of William the Lyon, Ergadia, i.e., Arregaithel, or the whole district W of the watershed between the German Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, and extending from Loch Broom on the N to Cantyre on the S, is divided into ' Ergadia, which belongs to Scotia, ' and ' Ergadia which belongs to Moravia. ' This part afterwards fell into the hands of the Earls of Ross. The Highland line, marking the division between the Highlands and the Lowlands, passed across the province in a general north westerly direction from the junction of the Aven and Spey to the mouth of the river Nairn; the part to the NE of this line being peopled with Lowlanders, who suffered continually from the peculiar ideas entertained by their Highland neighbours regarding meum and tuum. Peopled by an alien race, whose introduction will be noticed afterwards, greatly more peaceable, and less acquainted with the use of arms than the inhabitants of the Highland districts, the rich and fertile plain of Moray was regarded by the Highland Caterans as open and ever available spoliage ground, where every marauder might, at his convenience, seek his prey. So late in fact as the time of Charles I., the Highlanders continually made forays on the country, and seem to have encountered marvellously little resistance. In 1645 we find Cameron of Lochiel apologising to the laird of Grant for having carried off cattle from the tenant of Moyness, and giving the reasons that he ' knew not that Moyness was ane Graunt, but thocht that he was ane Moray man,' and that the spoilers did not intend to hurt the laird of Grant's friends but to take booty from ' Morray land quhare all men take their prey.' The Moray people, it has been remarked, appear to have resembled the quiet saturnine Dutch settlers of North America who, when plundered by the Red Indians, were too fat either to resist or to pursue, and considered only how they might repair their losses; and the Celts, looking on the Low. landers as strangers and intruders, thought them quite fair game, and could never comprehend how there could be any crime in robbing a ' Moray man.' So late as 1565, as appears from the rental of the church-lands in that year, the inhabitants of the ' laich ' remained entirely a distinct people from the Highlanders, and all bore names of purely lowland origin. Nearly all the interest of Moray as a province, and often all the associations of the name are connected with its lowlands in the N. These have long been famed for mildness and dryness of climate, though the rivers that wind through them, having their sources among mountains high enough to arrest the moisture brought in from the Atlantic by the south-west winds, are sometimes liable to sudden freshets. The great floods of 1829, so admirably recorded in Sir Thomas Dick Lauder's The Moray Floods, form an extreme example. Probably no part of Scotland, not even East Lothian, can compete with Moray in regard to the number of spontaneous testimonies which have been borne to the richness of its soil. An old and common saying asserts that Moray has, according to some versions, 15, according to others, 40 days more of summer than most other parts of Scotland. Holinshed (practically an Anglicised form of Bellenden's translation of Boece's Chronicle) says, ' In Murrey land also is not onelie great plentie of wheat, barlie, otes, and suchlike graine, besides nuts and apples, but likewise of all kinds of fish, and especially of salmon. ' George Buchanan extols the province as superior to any other district in the kingdom in the mildness of its climate and the richness of its pastures. ' So abundant, ' he says, ' is this district in corn and pasturage, and so much beautified as well as enriched by fruit trees, that it may truly be pronounced the first county in Scotland. ' Whitelock. in Cromwell's time, says, 'Ashfield's regiment was marched into Murray-land, which is the most fruitful country in Scotland. ' William Lithgow (l583-l645), after glancing at Clydesdale and the Carse of Gowrie, says, ' The third most beautiful soil is the delectable plain of Moray, whose comely gardens, enriched with cornes, plantings, pasturage, stately dwellings, overfaced with a generous Octavian gentry, and toped with a noble Earl, its chief patron, may be called a second Lombardy, or pleasant meadow of the north.' Sir Robert Gordon of Straloch, describing the province in 1640, says, ' In salubrity of climate, Moray is not inferior to any, and in richness and fertility of soil it much exceeds our other northern provinces. The air is so temperate, that when all around is bound up in the rigour of winter, there are neither lasting snows nor such frosts as damage fruits or trees. There is no product of this kingdom which does not thrive there perfectly, or, if any fail, it is to be attributed to the sloth of the inhabitants, not to the fault of the soil or climate. Corn, the earth pours forth in wonderful and never-failing abundance. Fruits of all sorts, herbs, flowers, pulse are in the greatest plenty, and all early. While harvest has scarcely begun in surrounding districts, there all is ripe and cut down, and carried into open barnyards, as is the custom of the country; and, in comparison with other districts, winter is hardly felt. The earth is almost always open, the sea navigable, and the roads never stopped. So much of the soil is occupied by crops of corn, however, that pasture is scarce; for this whole district is devoted to corn and tillage. But pasture is found at no great distance, and is abundant in the upland country, and a few miles inland; and thither the oxen are sent to graze in summer when the labour of the season is over. Nowhere is there better meat nor cheaper corn, not from scarcity of money but from the abundance of the soil. ' Notwithstanding, however, this fertility, years of comparative scarcity were by no means infrequent. During the summer of 1743, the dear year, ' so memorable all over Scotland, thousands of the people of Moray wandered among the fields devouring sorrel, the leaves and stems of unfilled pulse, and whatever could mitigate the pangs of hunger, while many died of actual starvation or diseases brought on by want of food. Even so late as 1782, the noted year of the ' frosty har'st, ' or harvest, the province suffered severely from famine. When the era of agricultural improvement set in, and many districts, becoming aware of their poverty, made a sudden an d strenuous movement towards wealth, Moray was content to live on its fame, and so soon lost its pre-eminence, which it has, however, since regained, as may be seen from the notices of the agricultural condition of the counties of Elgin, Nairn, and Inverness. Some portions were long rendered barren by a curious layer known as ' Moray Coast ' or ' Pan.' This was a thin stratum of sand and gravel which, by the infiltration of black oxide of iron, had become a hard compact mass, capable of damaging ploughs when brought into contact with it. It at the same time occurs at the distance of about a foot from the surface, and offers unconquerable resistance to the attempts of trees or shrubs to penetrate it with their roots. The only method of de ling with it is to lay it bare, break it up with a pickaxe, and expose the fragments to the slow influence of the weather. The physical characteristics and present condition of the province are discussed in the articles on the counties of Inverness, Elgin, Nairn, and Banff, and it remains here to notice historical details connected rather with the district as a whole than with the individual counties into which it has been broken up.

At the beginning of the Christian era we find the eastern part of Moray inhabited by the Vacomagi, to the W of whom were the Caledonii with, according to Ptolemy, a town called Banatia, on the E side of the river Ness; another called Ptoroton, on the promontory where Burghead now stands; and a third called Tuessis, on the bank of the Spey; and subsequently we find the district included in Northern Pictavia, of which the capital was situated somewhere near Inverness. The Pictish nation seems to have been formed by a union of various Celtic tribes or tuaths which united to form mortuaths or confederations, and these mortuaths again to form a larger confederation embracing the whole realm. The mortuaths were governed by Mormaers, and seem to have corresponded to the districts that afterwards became the provinces governed by the original great territorial Earls of Scotland. That the country N of the Firths of Forth and Clyde was, during the Celtic period of its history, divided into seven- provinces is certain, and there are, in the older records, accounts of them by name. One dating from the 12th century tells us that the region formerly known as Alban, was divided by seven brothers into seven parts. ' The principal part was Engus and Moerne, so-called from Engus, the eldest of the brothers. The second part was Adtheodhle and Gouerin. The third Strathdeern and Meneted. The fourth Fif and Fothreve. The fifth Mar and Buchen. The sixth Muref and Ros. The seventh Cathanesia Cismontane and Ultramontane.' The seven brothers were the seven kings of these districts, and are regarded by Dr Skene as the Eponymi of the people of the seven provinces. The tuaths themselves seem to have corresponded with the smaller divisions that appear as thanages, and so we may identify the localities of some of them by the thanedoms of Dyke, Brodie, Moyness, and Cawdor, along the shore of the Moray Firth between the river Nairn and the Burn of Lethen; the great district of Moravia proper between the Lethen and the Lossie; and along the Lossie farther E was Kilmalemnock, the greater part of which now forms the parish of St Andrews-Lhanbryd and Essy. Cromdale and Rothiemurchus seem also to have been thanedoms. The Mormaers were also styled Ri or King, and one, termed the Ardri, always held a loose sway over all. The succession was tanistic, that is, hereditary in a family but elective as to the person, the senior male capable of ruling being chosen in preference to the direct descendant; and it seems even to have been regulated by that particular form where the supreme power passed alternately from one to the other of two branches of a family. It will be seen from what has been said already, that at this early date Moray and Ross were united and formed but one province. The oldest form of the name seems Moreb or Muireb, and Morovia and Moravia also occur.

In the latter part of the 9th century Harald Harfager having swept the northern seas of the Vikings, made offer of the Jarldom of Orkney to one of his most noted warriors Rögnvald, who, however, preferring -to return to Norway, obtained Harald's consent to making over the dignity and dominion to his brother Sigurd. Though the tenure of the Jarldom was conditional on his suppression of Viking plundering, this ruler seems to have had somewhat elastic notions as to how far this was binding in the case of raids made on other countries than Norway, and consequently we find him invading Scotland, and making himself master of a considerable portion of the North. According to one account, he held ' all Caithness and much more of Scotland- Maerhaefui (Moray) and Ross-and he built a burg on the southern border of Maerhaefui. ' He did not, however, long enjoy his conquests, for, as has been noticed in the article Forres, he died of a wound inflicted by the tooth of the dead Mormaer Melbrigda or Malbride, whose head he was carrying fastened to his saddle. On Sigurd's death the Jarldom reverted to the descendants of Rögnvald, and they were, for long, so much occupied with family fends that probably they were unable to bestow much thought or attention on a turbulent province, and so, during the greater part of the 10th century, Moray must have been more or less free from the Norse dominion and under the independent rule of its native Mormaers. According to the Landnamabok, Thorstein conquered the whole of the north, and forced more than half of Scotland to acknowledge him as king, but his conquest, if ever firm, must have been of but short duration. The people of Moray were, however, only relieved from attack on the N to have to meet it from the S. The kings of Alban had begun to dream of a united Scotland under one ruler, and in the beginning of the 10th century Donald II. was slain at Forres, whither he seems to have penetrated on a military expedition. His son, Malcolm I., was, according to the Ulster Annals, slain at Fetteresso by the men of the Mearns in 954, but later annalists attribute his death to the men of Moray, and fix it at Ulern or Vlern near Forres, which used formerly to be identified with Auldearn, but which is more probably Blervie, which is close to Forres. The locality was very fatal to the family, for Duff, Malcolm's son and successor, is also said to have been killed at Forres by the governor of the castle in 967. His body was concealed in a deep pool under a bridge near at hand, and till it was found the sun did not shine on the spot.

Towards the end of the century, however, matters once more changed as regarded the Norse. The Mormaer then was Melbrigda, son of Ruaidhri, who in the quarrel for power between Liotr and Skùli, the greatgrandsons of Rögnvald, seems to have sided with the latter. Both leaders were slain, but Liotr's party triumphed. That ruler was in 980 succeeded by his nephew, Sigurd the Stout, who, either from a desire to avenge his kinsman's death, or from wish for greater power, proceeded vigorously to assert the old rights, and, after a severe struggle, succeeded in wresting the province from ' Findlaec, son of Ruadri, Mormaer Moreb, ' brother of the Melbrigda just mentioned, and the Finnleikr Jarl of the Sagas. Sigurd fell in 1014 at the battle of Cluantarbh or Clontarf, fighting against Brian Boroime, King of Munster, and after his death, Findlaec once more became ruler of Moray, and reigned till 1020, when it is recorded that he was slain by the sons of his brother Melbrigda, one of whom, Malcolm, succeeded to power and ruled till his death. As both he and Findlaec are, in the Ulster Annals and in Tighernac, designated as Ri Albain, their dominion probably extended at this time beyond the limits of Moray proper, a supposition which is confirmed by the Book of Deer, in which it is recorded that this Malcolm gave to the clerics of Deer lands, situated, probably, in the neighbourhood of their monastery, and so in a district usually under the rule of the Kings of Alban. Malcolm was succeeded by his brother Gilcomgan, who was burned in his rath in 1032, probably by Maelbaethe, who is better known to us as Macbeth. From a notice in the Saxon Chronicle the province was then quite independent, and the Mormaer had the power of a Ri or King. It is there stated that King Cnut in 1031 invaded Scotland, and received the submission not only of the King of Scots but also of two other Kings, Maelbaethe and Iehmarc; and as Drumalban and the river Spey formed the boundaries of Scotland proper these two rulers would represent the districts lying beyond.

What was the real cause of the great contest that arose on the death of Malcolm ii. in 1034 will probably never be exactly settled, but, the male line being extinct, it in all probability originated in rival claims set up by Malcolm's grandsons. A daughter of Malcolm was the second wife of Sigurd the Stout, and the mother of his youngest son Thorfinn, who was, at his father's death in 1014, a boy of five years old. His grandfather created him Earl of Caithness, and by 1034 he held considerable power in the Orkneys besides. When Malcolm died, Duncan, who was the son of his eldest daughter, claimed the kingdom, and his claim was admitted by the southern part of the realm, but Thorfinn disputed his right to any part of the north. According to the sagas, Duncan, who there figures as Karl Hundason, desired to exact tribute and homage from Thorfinn, and on his refusal to render either, bestowed the title of Earl of Caithness on his nephew, or one of his leading supporters called Moddan, and about 1040 sent him northward with a large army to take possession of the region. Thorfinn, supported by Thorkel Fostri his foster-father and by his Norsemen, defeated Moddan, and driving him back beyond the Moray Firth, made war ' far and wide in Scotland. ' Duncan, bent on vengeance, got together a fleet and collected a very large army, ' as well from the south as the west and east of Scotland, and all the way south from Satiri [Kintyre]; and the forces for which Earl Modan had sent also came to him from Ireland. He sent far and near to chieftains for men, and brought all this army against Earl Thorfinn. ' The fleet was defeated in the neighbourhood of Duncansbay Head; and no better fortune awaited the army in the great struggle that took place somewhere between Burghead and Forres when

' The wolves' bit [sword] reddened its edges
In the place called Torfness.
A young ruler was the cause.
This happened on a Monday.
In this congress south of Eckial,
The thin [well-sharpened] swords sung,
When the valiant prince fought
Against the ruler of Skotland.'

Torfness seems to have been Burghead, where was probably the burg already referred to as having been built by Sigurd; while Eckial or Ekkial, which was by Worsaae, and afterwards by Dr Joseph Anderson in his edition of the Orkeyinga Saga, identified with the Oykel on the border of Sutherlandshire, is now by Dr Skene, and with much greater probability, considered to be the Findhorn-and indeed some of the accounts expressly say that the battle was fought ' south of Breidafiord, ' the Norse name for the Moray Firth. The Irish division was defeated almost at once; and a long and fierce contest between the Norwegians and the Scots, headed by Duncan himself, ended in the victory of Thorfinn and the flight of the Scottish king. What the fate of the latter was the writer of the saga does not seem to have known, for he adds doubtfully, ' some say he was slain, ' but by other writers it is recorded that he died at or near Elgin, and some of them even fix the place at Bothgouanan, which Dr Skene identifies with Pitgaveny. In the Register of St Andrews it is recorded that ' Donchath Mac-Trini abbatis de Dunkeld et Bethoc filiæ Malcolm-Mac-Kinat interfectus a Macbeth-MacFinleg in Bothgouanan et sep. in Iona;' but whether he died of his wounds or was murdered may be left somewhat doubtful, though the probabilities seem in favour of the latter. Be that as it may, Macbeth, who as Mormaer of Moray fought on the side of Duncan against the old enemies of his lands, at once after his defeat passed over to the side of the conqueror; and the new allies overran the kingdom as far S as the Firth of Forth, whereby Macbeth became able to style himself King of Moravia and of Scotland.

When Malcolm Ceannmor, the son of Duncan, came to his own again, Macbeth was slain in 1056 or 1057, and Lulag, son of the Gilcomgan already mentioned, succeeded as Mormaer of Moray, and for a short time maintained a claim to be styled King of Scotland. He does not seem to have been able to hold the lowlands against Malcolm, but to have retired to the mountain fastnesses of Lochaber, to a stronghold on Loch Deabhra, the glen leading to which is still known as Glen-Ri, near which he was slain in 1058. He was succeeded by his son Maelsnechtan or Maelsnechtai, who still maintained the independence of his native district, and who appears in 1078 again opposing Malcolm, who after the death of the great Thorfinn in 1064 seems to have made another powerful effort to gain a firm hold of the north. According to the Ulster Annals, and contrary to the usual fate of his race, Maelsnechtan died ' in peace ' in 1085 or in 1086. During the troubles that took place between the death of Ceannmor and the accession of Alexander I., the semi-independence of the province probably became more or less complete; and so it is not to be wondered at that we find the latter king, somewhere between 1114 and 1120-the Ulster Annals say 1116-compelled to assert his power by force of arms, and with such vigour and success that the Mormaer- probably Angus-was driven across the Firth into the mountain fastnesses of Ross and Sutherland. The death of Alexander and the accession of David I. provoked a fresh outbreak, headed by Angus, with whom was associated Malcolm, his brother, or, according to other accounts, an illegitimate son of Alexander i. This Angus was the son of a daughter of Lulag, who succeeded Macbeth, and therefore a nephew of the Maelsnechtan already mentioned, but, in accordance with the new feudal system, then slowly developing, he appears as Earl of Moray, so that Maelsnechtan was the last of the Mormaers. The leaders probably relied somewhat for success on the fact that, at the time (1130), David was in England, and that therefore much might be accomplished before he had time to oppose them; but in this they were deceived, for David's cousin, Edward, son of Siward, Earl of Mercia, raising a force, met and defeated them in the parish of Stracathro in Forfarshire, on the SW bank of the West Water, a little above its junction with the South Esk, and, following up his success, entered Moray and obtained possession of the whole district. Angus was slain in the battle, and with him became extinct the line of the old Celtic Mormaers. From his title of earl, and the fact that the Saxon Chronicle, in noticing the event and recording his death, declares that ' there was God's right wrought upon him, for that he was all forsworn, ' it may be inferred that he had previously sworn allegiance to David. For the next two hundred years the district seems to have been considered too fiery and dangerous to be entrusted to the control of any single ruler; and, though various Custodes Moraviæ are mentioned in the intervening period, not till the reign of Robert Bruce was there another Earl of Moray. The hold thus acquired David vigorously confirmed by the erection of royal castles and the creation of king's burghs, while an equally powerful agent in the work of civilisation and pacification was brought into play by the establishment of the Priory of Urquhart and of the Abbey of Kinloss. He seems also to have resided in the district at different times, and to have been successful in personally winning the favour and allegiance of his turbulent northern subjects, for at the Battle of the Standard in 1138, the rearguard, led by the king himself, consisted of Scots and Moray men.

The death of David was the signal for fresh troubles, and on the accession of his grandson, Malcolm IV., Malcolm Macheth, who claimed to be sprung from Earl Angus, raised the Celtic population in revolt, and aided by the petty prince of Argyll, to whose daughter he was married, made a vigorous effort to regain his patrimony. Somerled was, however, compelled to make peace in 1159, and in 1160 Malcolm entered Moray and inflicted signal punishment on the rebels. Many of the inhabitants of David's burghs were probably strangers, and now his successor determined to carry this policy still farther by dispossessing large numbers of the natives, scattering them throughout the country, and giving their possessions to settlers on whose fidelity he could rely. Fordun speaking of his treatment of the inhabitants, says that he ' removed them all from the land of their birth, and -scattered them throughout the other districts of Scotland, both beyond the hills and on this side thereof, so that not even one native of that land abode there, and he installed therein his own peaceful and peculiar people, ' who would seem to have been Flemings. This must, however, be somewhat of an exaggeration. ' Such a story of wholesale transmigration, ' says Cosmo Innes, ' cannot be true to the letter. Some old institutions unquestion-ably survived the measure; and a native rural population in the condition of that of Scotland in the -12th century could have no political sentiments, nor be called to account for political conduct. That there was some revolution, however, seems proved by charter evidence, and by the sudden appearance at that time, in- the records of the province, of a great number of Southerns obtaining grants of land in Moray, for whom room must have been made by some violent displacement of the former lords of the soil,.. and thus it came to pass that Berowald of Flanders obtained the lands of Innes all from Spey to Lossie, except the priory lands of Urquhart. ' This clearance would seem to have affected the low district along the shore of the Moray Firth more than the other districts, and the latter were from 1174 to 1187 in a chronic state of disaffection and rebellion, part of the Celtic population and the Norse settlers claiming that the family of Macheth should be restored to their former position, and that a northern chief, Donald Ban or MacWilliam, descended from Malcolm Ceannmor and the Norwegian princess Ingibiorg, was of the nearer line of the royal family, and therefore the rightful sovereign; while those who cared but little for this were alienated through anger at the disgraceful bargain of William the Lyon with the English. Though the first active outbreak seems to have taken place in 1181, it was not till 1187 that the King found time to attend to the North, but in that year he entered Moray at the head of a large army, and, fixing his headquarters at Inverness, detached a body of troops to lay waste the western parts of the province. In the decisive battle, which took place in the upper valley of the Spey, at a place called Mamgarvia, probably in Laggan, MacWilliam was slain. From the number of charters granted by William at different times and different places in Moray, he seems to have been often in the north, and, as he followed up his success by reducing Ross to subjection, and bringing Sutherland and Caithness directly under the power of the crown, he kept the North quiet for the rest of his reign. Hardly, however, had Alexander II. succeeded, when, in 1215, Donald Ban, son of the Donald who was killed at Mamgarvia in 1187, having obtaining assistance from Ireland, rebelled and burst into Moray at the head of a large army. He was, however, attacked and defeated by Ferquhard Macintagart, the lay possessor of the extensive lands of the old monastery at Applecross, and the pretensions of both the Mac Williams and the Macheths were finally extinguished by Alexander in 1222, from which time onward the historical events are all connected with national matters. Alexander seems to have had a great liking for the ' Laich of Moray,' and we find him keeping Yule at Elgin in 1231; and again in 1242,

' The Kyng and the Qwene alsua,
And ane honest court wyth tha.
That ilk yhere in Murrawe past.'

He founded and endowed many of the religious houses in the district, and was a great benefactor to several of the burghs. Alexander III. does not seem to have visited the province very often, though he appears to have been here shortly before the battle of Largs. One of the claimants for the crown, after the death of Alexander III., was John Cumyn, who had, on the death of his uncle, Walter, Earl of Menteith, in 1258, become Lord of Badenoch, but otherwise Moray does not seem to have been connected with the contest of succession that then arose, nor with events in the inglorious reign of John Baliol. After that ' Tulchan ' monarch was deprived of the crown, Edward I., having set himself to subdue the kingdom, marched north with a large army, and, crossing the Spey on 25 July 1296 near Bellie, entered the province and advanced as far as Elgin, whence detachments of his force were sent to occupy the castles of Forres, Nairn, Inverness, Dingwall, and Cromarty. Finding, however, that the country was quiet, and that all the leading nobles were favourably disposed towards his rule, he extended his march no farther, but returned southwards by Rothes and so through Banffshire and Aberdeenshire. Traditionally, Wallace passed along the sea-coast and crossed thence to Cromarty where he destroyed the castle, but it seems doubtful whether he was ever so far north, though a revolt against the English rule was stirred up by Sir Andrew Moray, the younger of Petty and Bothwell, and seems to have spread over the whole district. This was in May and June in 1297, and we find him associated with Wallace down to the close of the year, after which he disappears from history during the rest of the reign of Edward I. On the second English invasion in 1303 Edward again penetrated to Moray, but this time advanced to Kinloss and thence southward into Badenoch where he spent some time at Lochindorb Castle.

After the close of the war of independence we find Bruce erecting the district once more into an Earldom, in favour of his nephew, Thomas Randolph, and the King himself seems to have been several times in the north, but almost nothing is known of his movements. During the troubles that followed his death Moray remained stanch to his son, and seems to have been partly held by Sir Andrew Moray on his behalf; and later David II. himself came to Inverness in 1369 in order to have an interview with John, Lord of the Isles, some of whose turbulent subjects had been in rebellion. In 1371 King Robert II. granted to Alexander, his fourth son by his first wife, Elizabeth Mure, the whole lands of Badenoch which had belonged to the Comyns, and at a later date in the same year he was appointed King's Lieutenant in the north. Two years later he was made Earl of Buchan, and as he was Earl of Ross in right of his wife, he was for a time the most powerful noble in the country. He scarcely, however, maintained the dignity of his position, for, better known as the Wolf of Badenoch, he thoroughly deserved the title, and some of his exploits will be found noticed in the articles on Elgin, Forres, and Lochindorb.* Hardly recovered from the effects of the Wolf's deeds the lower part of the province again suffered in 1402 from an inroad of Alexander, third son of the first Lord of the Isles, at the head of a large following; and in 1411 his brother Donald, second Lord of the Isles, passed through on his way to the battle of Harlaw. After the progress of James I. through Moray in 1427 (see Inverness) Donald, the then Lord of the Isles, assembled a force and advanced with it as far as Lochaber, but there he was met by the royal forces and his army dispersed. He afterwards made submission, but his lieutenant, Donald Balloch. in 1431, again advanced to Lochaber with a large body of followers. This led to another royal visit to the north, but the route is not clear. The time indeed does not seem to have been a pleasant one in the regions, for a writer in the Chartulary of Moray says that ' in these days there was no law in Scotland, but the more powerful oppressed the weaker, and all the realm was one mass of robbery. Murder, plundering, fire raising went unpunished, and justice was banished from the land.,

* The inscription on his tomb in Dunkeld Cathedral was made to record that he was a man 'bonce memoriœ!'

One of the Douglases being Earl of Moray, we find the province concerned in the contests that arose in 1452 with the 'banded earls' (see Elgin). The earl did not succeed in getting his vassals to join him in any number when he took part in the Douglas rebellion of 1454-55, but after his death James Douglas stirred up Donald, Lord of the Isles, with whom he had taken refuge, to invade the mainland, where ' at last he past to Lochaber, and therefrom to Murray, where he invaded . . . with great cruelty, neither sparing old nor young, without regard to wives, old, feeble, and decrepit women, or young infants in the cradle, which would have moved a heart of stone to commiseration; and burned villages, towns, and corns, so much thereof as might not goodly be carried away, by the great prize of goods that he took.' These disorders caused James II. to come north in 1455 and set the Earldom of Moray, which was now bestowed on his infant son David, in thorough order. He remained here for two years, and part of the country was thrown waste to provide a forest for his hunting. In 1464 James III. was here; and in 1474 or 1475 John, Lord of the Isles, surrendered to the Crown the sheriffdoms of Inverness and Nairn, which were in 1492 granted to the Earl of Huntly, whose influence in the north was supreme from this time till the Reformation. James IV. must frequently have passed through the province on his way to and from the shrine of St Duthac at Tain, which he often visited; and in the Treasurer's accounts for 1504 we find payments recorded to ' the maidens of Forres that dansit to the king, ' and others ' that dansit ' to him at Elgin and Darnaway. During the time of James V. and the minority of Queen Mary, the whole of the north and north-west was in a very disturbed state, and the portions of Moray about Badenoch and Lochaber and to the NW of the Great Glen were in an almost continual state of warfare; and in 1556 the Queen Regent, Mary of Guise, advanced to Inverness to try to settle matters, but her attention on her return to the south being almost immediately drawn off by the beginnings of the Reformation, matters were but little improved, the cause being in part the disturbances created by the Lord of the Isles, in part the quarrels among the clans themselves, and in part the bad government of Huntly.

No sooner, however, had Queen Mary assumed the government, than, acting probably under the advice of the great Earl of Murray, she determined to adopt severe measures, and, setting out in 1562, reached Elgin on 6 Sept. Her doings at Inverness, where she was from the 11th to the 15th of the same month, are noticed in that article; and Huntly's power was broken almost immediately afterwards at the battle of Corrichie in Aberdeenshire. Fresh feuds again broke out in consequence of the murder of ' the bonny Earl of Moray ' by the Earl of Huntly at Donibristle in 1592, and these were prolonged and intensified by the proceedings in 1594 against the Earls of Huntly, Angus, and Errol, who were charged with plotting with Philip of Spain for the restoration of the Catholic religion in Scotland. It was on this occasion that mass was said for the last time in Elgin Cathedral, though groups of worshippers of the old faith are said to have by stealth frequented corners of it down to the reign of Queen Anne.

In 1603-4 the district seems to have suffered severely from plague, for the magistrates of Elgin sent to Edinburgh for Thomas Ahannay and two servants ' for clenging of the infected parts, together with the bodies of the persons infected,' and the sheriffs of Elgin, Nairn, and Inverness were authorised by the Lords of Council to assess for the expenses, amounting to 600 merks. The province suffered considerably during the civil wars in the time of the Stewart kings, partly in consequence of the people generally declaring for the cause of the Solemn League and Covenant, and partly from the district becoming the scene of one of the campaigns of Montrose and his ally, Lord Lewis Gordon, who indeed obtained the unenviable notoriety of being classed by a rhymer of the period with two of the worst plagues of an agricultural country:-

' The gule, the Gordon, and the hoodie-craw
Are the three warst evils Moray ever saw.'

Probably, however, the author had more than Lord Lewis in his mind when he thus irreverently spoke of the descendants of the ' Cock of the North.' In Sept. 1644 Montrose came northward by Aberdeen, and ' begins to marche touardis Spey side, bot could not win over the water, the boitis being drawin on the uther side, and Moray convenit in armes; ' and so he turned back, only, however, to return again after his victory at Inverlochy. In the following year he marched rapidly on the low country, and ' merchit bak throw Lochquhaber with displayit baner touardis Innerniss with incredibill diligens; and fynding the toune stronglie fortifeit and garisonis lying about or rather within the toune,.. thairfoir merchit peceablie by Innerniss doun throw the countrie of Moray; ' and of such of the proprietors as would not join him he ' plunderit, spolzeit, and brynt ' the houses and lands, and ' sent out pairteis throw the countrie with fyre and plundering.' The Committee of Estates sitting at Elgin broke up, and many of the townspeople fled, with ' thair wyves, barnes, and best goodis, ' to Spynie and other strongholds. The Marquis reached Elgin on 19 Feb., and was joined by Lord Lewis Gordon shortly after. He received 4000 merks to save the town from being burned; ' bot his soldiouris, especiallie the Laird of Grantis soldiouris, plunderit the toun pitifullie, and left nothing tursabill oncareit away, and brak doun bedis, burdis, insicht, and plenishing. ' Thereafter he marched southward, but returned again in May, following up Hurry and his Covenanters, who preceded him by two days, and whom he shortly afterwards defeated at the battle of Auldearn. This victory was but the prelude to fresh plundering and spoiling, during which Elgin was partially burned, and then the Royalist army passed on its way southward to the final disaster at Philiphaugh. Much, however, as the district thus suffered, the adherence of the men of Moray to Presbyterianism was political rather than religious, and they consequently never showed that zeal for the cause which marked the people of the southern and western counties of Scotland. The other historical events connected with the province, such as the landing of Charles ii. at Garmouth and the battle of Cromdale, are noticed in detail in conjunction with the different places with which they are more particularly connected, and need not now be further alluded to. In 1746 the Highland army on their northward retreat broke up into three divisions, one of which followed the Highland road by the upper waters of the Spey, and by Duthil on to Inverness; a second marched by the braes of Angus and Strathdon to Elgin, where they were joined by a third body, which had retired along the great coast road; and the whole army was reunited at Inverness. The Duke of Cumberland entered the province on 12 April, and on the 16th was fought the Battle of Culloden, the last in which opposing armies met in array on British soil. After their defeat the Highlanders retired south-eastward by Moy and Badenoch to the place of their final dispersion at Clova. The clan distribution to the SW of the Highland line was: the Grants, Shaws, and Macphersons along Strathspey; the Mackintoshes along the upper portions of the valleys of the Findhorn and Nairn; the Frasers to the SE and N of Loch Ness, and also in Strath Affric and Glen Cannich; the Chisholms in Strath Farrer and Strath Glass; the Grants to the NW of Loch Ness; and to the S of them the Glengarry Macdonalds.

The division into the present shires seems to have taken place in the second half of the 13th century, but for long after that their boundaries were somewhat variable. From the time of Queen Mary no Scottish or British sovereign visited the province till 1872, when Queen Victoria passed through on her way to Dunrobin Castle on a visit to the Duke of Sutherland, and she again traversed the ' laich ' on her way to Loch Maree in 1877.

The Earldom of Moray was long one of the most important in Scotland. The first Earl, Angus, was, as we have seen, in direct descent from the old Celtic Mormaers; but after his death in 1130 no Earl was allowed to exist for nearly two centuries, the management of the province being kept in the hands of the Crown, or committed for brief periods to different Scottish nobles, as when, during the early part of the 13th century, we find Malcolm, Earl of Fife, thus acting at one time, and William Cumyn at another, each being simply styled Custos Moraviæ This state of matters came to an end about 1313 or 1314, when Robert Bruce granted the whole of the province to his nephew and trusted friend Sir Thomas Randolph. The charter, which bears no date, but which must have been granted shortly before the convention at Ayr in 1315, defines the estate as including the lands of Fochabers and Boharm beyond the Spey, thence extending up that river to Badenoch, including Kincardine, Glencairn, Badenoch, Maymez, Locharkedh, Glengarry, and Glenelg, passing along the NW border of Argyllshire to the western sea, bounded on the N by the Earldom of Ross to the river Farrar, and thence down that stream and the Beauly to the Moray Firth. The estate and the title of the Earldom were, according to the original principle of peerages, inseparable, the title becoming extinct upon the alienation of the estate. Randolph died in 1332, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Thomas also, who was killed at Dupplin in 1332, 28 days after his succession. The second son, John, who then succeeded, was taken prisoner by the English at the battle of Kilblain in 1335, but was exchanged for the Earl of Salisbury in 1341. Becoming Warden of the West Marches, he accompanied David Ii. on his expedition into England, and -was killed at the battle of Durhanm in l346. There being no male heir the Earldom then reverted to the Crown, but Patrick Dunbar, who was married to the daughter of the first Earl-Black Agnes, whose name is well known in connection with her defence of Dunbar Castle-was generally styled Earl of Mar and Moray. His second son, John Dunbar, who was married to Marjory, daughter of Robert II., was made Earl of Moray in 1372; but his domains were lessened by the large districts of Badenoch, Lochaber, and Urquhart, which were constituted into a lordship for the King's son, Alexander, better known as the Wolf of Badenoch. The succeeding Earls were Thomas, the son of John, his son also called Thomas, and James, the cousin of the third Earl, with whom the male line became again extinct, * and the succession passed to Archibald Douglas, the husband of the younger of the two daughters left by Thomas Dunbar. Supported by the influence of his brother, the Earl of Douglas, he obtained the Earldom in 1446; but having joined the family rebellion of 1452, and being killed in 1455, the title and possessions again passed to the Crown, with whom they remained till 1501, when the honour was granted to James Stewart, an illegitimate son of James iv., who died in 1544 without issue. From 1548 to 1554 the Earldom was granted to the Earl of Huntly, but was again, from 1554 to 1562, in the possession of the Crown. In the latter year it was bestowed on James Stewart, afterwards the well-known Regent, and in his line it still remains. In 1563 he obtained a second charter limiting the succession to heirs male, in 1566 a fresh one opening the succession to heirs general, and in 1567 a ratification by the Estates of the deed of 1563. At his death he left two daughters, and James Stewart, Baron Doune, who married the eldest, Lady Elizabeth, assumed the title of Earl of Moray. This Earl figures in history as the Bonnie Earl of Moray, and is the hero of the ballad of that name.

' He was a braw gallant,
And he played at the gluve
And the bonnie Earl of Moray
He was the Queene's luve '

He was in 1592 murdered at Donibristle by the Earl of Huntly, who was nominally acting on a commission to pursue the Earl of Bothwell and his associates, of whom Moray was alleged to be one, but is supposed in reality to have been instigated to the deed by King James VI. ' It was,' says Sir James Balfour, ' given out and publickly talked that the Earle of Huntly was only the instrument of perpetratting this facte to satisffie the Kinges jelosie of Murray, quhom the Queine, more rashlie than wyslie, some few dayes before had commendit in the Kinges heiringe, with too many epithetts of a proper and gallant man. ' His son and successor was by the King's special efforts reconciled to Huntly, and married his daughter, Lady Anne Gordon. He obtained in 1611 a fresh charter of the Earldom with entail to male heirs only. His grandson, Alexander, fifth Earl, was Secretary of State and Lord High Commissioner between 1680 and 1686. Francis, the ninth Earl (1737-1810), was noted as an agriculturist, and is said to have planted on his estates upwards of thirteen millions of trees. The present Earl, George (b. 1814), succeeded in 1872. The other titles are Baron Doune (1581) and Baron St Colme (1611), both in the pecrage of Scotland, and Baron Stewart of Castle Stewart (1796) in the peerage of Great Britain. The family seats are Darnaway Castle in Elginshire, Donibristle Castle in Fifeshire, Castle Stewart in Inverness-shire, and Doune Lodge in Perthshire.

* The fourth Earl had a son, Sir Alexander Dunbar of Westfield, by his first marriage with his cousin Isabella Innes of Innes, but as she was within the forbidden degree, and died before a Papal dispensation could be procured, this son was deemed illegitimate, and very wrongly barred from the succession.

Of the early religious state of the province almost nothing is known. St Columba's visit to Inverness is noticed in that article, and other traces of the Culdee church and its influence remain in the gifts already mentioned made by some of the early Mormaers to the clerics of Deer as well as in the associations of the names of St Gernadius, St Moran, and St Bride, and other early clerics, with different localities. There are also accounts of old churches not connected with any saint's name at Birnie, Elgin, and Kintrae, near the latter of which is also Inchagarty or ' the priest's island. ' The ancient diocese, of later date, has - been already noticed in the article Elgin. With it the modern Synod of Moray is nearly co-extensive. The latter body meets at Elgin and Forres alternately, on the fourth Tuesday of April, and in either of those towns, or in some place fixed by the members, on the last Tuesday of September. It includes the presbyteries of Strathbogie, Abernethie, Aberlour, Elgin, Forres, Inverness, and Nairn, and contains 52 quoad civilia parishes, 9 quoad sacra parishes, and 3 mission churches. There is also a synod of Moray in connection with the Free Church, including the same presbyteries as in the Established Church. It contains 57 churches. The Episcopal Church has a united diocese of Moray, Ross, and Caithness, with the cathedral and bishop's residence at Inverness, and churches at Aberchirder, Arpafeelie, Craigellachie, Dingwall, Elgin, Fochabers, Forres, Fortrose, Glen Urquhart, Highfield, Huntly, Inverness, Keith, Nairn, Strathnairn, Thurso, and Wick.

See also the works cited under Elgin and Inverness; Cordiner's Antiquities and Scenery of the North of Scotland (1780 and 1787); Sir Thomas Dick Lauder's Account of the Great Floods in the Province of Moray in 1829 (Edinb. 1830, 3d and 4th ed.; Elgin, 1873); Gregory's History of the Western Highlands and Isles of Scotland (1st ed., Edinb. 1836; 2d, Glasgow, 1881); Skene's Chronicles of the Picts and Scots (Edinb. 1867), and his Celtic Scotland (Edinb. 1876-80); A Genealogical Deduction of the Family of Rose of Kilravock (edited by Cosmo Innes for Spalding Club, 1848); Spalding's Memorials of the Trubles in Scotland (Spalding Club, 1850); The Book of the Thanes of Cawdor (Spalding Club, 1859); Ane Account of the Families of Innes (Spalding Club, 1864); and Dr William Fraser's The Chiefs of Grant (1884).

An accompanying 19th C. Ordnance Survey map is available, or use the map tab to the right of this page.

Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer

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