Darnaway Castle

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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Darnaway Castle, a noble mansion in Dyke and Moy parish, Elginshire, in the valley of the Findhorn, 1¼ mile W of that river's left bank, and 2½ miles SSE of Brodie station, this being 3½ miles W by S of Forres, under which there is a post office of Darnaway. Crowning a gentle eminence, and overtopping a vast extent of forest, it commands a magnificent view, and was built about 1810, being a large, oblong, castellated pile of very imposing appearance-a seat of the Earl of Moray, who owns 21,669 acres in Elginshire, valued at £9420 per annum. Of the castle founded here by Randolph, Earl of Moray, early in the 14th century, nothing is left but the banqueting hall, which, forming a back wing to the modern mansion, measures 89 feet in length by 35 in width, and has an arched oaken roof, somewhat similar to that of the Parliament House in Edinburgh. It contains a portrait of the ` Bonny Earl of Moray ' who was murdered at Donibristle; and in it Queen Mary held her court in 1564. The park is finely wooded, upwards of ten millions of trees having been planted towards the close of last century, to fill up gaps in Darnaway Forest, which extends into Edinkillie. See Moray, Dyke, Donibristle, Doune, and CastleStuart.—Ord. Sur., sh. 84,1876.

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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