St Andrews-Lhanbryd, a parish containing the village of Lhanbryd in the NE of the county of Elgin and immediately E of the burgh of Elgin. It is bounded N by the parish of Drainie, SE by the parish of Urquhart, E by the parish of Speymouth, S by the parish of Rothes, SW by the parish of Elgin, and W by the parishes of Elgin and Spynie. At the centre of the W side the boundary is formed by the river Lossie for 1 5/8 mile below the bend at Roy's Pot; at the NW corner for 7/8 mile by the Spynie Canal; and near the SE corner for ¾ mile by one of the head-streams of the Red Burn; elsewhere the line is artificial. The shape of the parish is highly irregular. There is a compact northern portion measuring fully 5 1/8 miles from the point where the parishes of Drainie, Urquhart, and St Andrews meet on the N to Mains of Cotts on the S, and with an average breadth of about 2 miles. From the SE corner of this a long straggling projection passes southward by Cranloch, and after narrowing to about 200 yards at Oldshields, broadens out again into the triangular portion of Teindland about 2 by 1 ¼ miles. The extreme length of the parish, from the point already mentioned on the N, south-south-westward to the extreme southerly point at the top of Findlay Seat (861 feet), is 8 ½ miles; and the total area is 9359.544 acres, of which 162.983 are water. The surface is flat in the N, undulating in the center - many of the hillocks being covered with thriving plantations -and the southern prolongation is a rough moorland, the highest point of the parish being over 1000 feet, at the SW corner of this projection. The drainage -is carried off by the river Lossie, which, entering near the centre of the W side, flows first eastward and then northward through the parish in a course of about 5 miles; by the Lhanbryd or Longhill Burn, which flows along the centre, and by the Red Burn in the extreme S. In the N end of the parish is all that remains of the old Loch of Spynie, now reduced to a portion 5 furlongs in length by 1 ½ in breadth; and at the point where the southern prolongation is given off is Loch-na-bo (4 x 1 ½ furl.), and two smaller lochans beside it. The soil is a sandy loam, which is, however, fertile. About 4000 acres are under tillage, about 700 under wood, and much of the rest is waste ground. The underlying- rock is mostly an impure limestone, and masses of rocks of Jurassic age are found scattered through the soil and subsoil. On the west side, N of Elgin, at Linksfield, a curious patch of rock, supposed to be of Rhætic age, was once laid bare, but the section is no longer visible. The parish is traversed across the centre for 3 ½ miles by the great main road from Inverness to Aberdeen, and the Forres and Keith section of the Highland railway is a little to the S of this road. Two sections of the Great North of Scotland railway system also pass through the northern and western portions of the parish. To the SE of Lhanbryd station are the remains of a stone circle, and many fine flint and stone weapons have been found at several places. The portion of the parish to the N was the chapelry of Inchbroom, that to the E was the chapelry of Lhanbryd - the church of St Bridget - and that to the W the chapelry of Kilmalemnoc, the last two dating from Culdee times. On the rising ground on the centre of the W side, on the road from Inverness to Aberdeen, formerly stood a stone cross marking the point where Elgin Cathedral first became visible. The adjoining farm is still called Stonecrosshill. The old churches of Lhanbryd and St Andrews are gone, but the churchyards remain, the former at the village and the latter at a bend of the Lossie near Kirkhill. The tower of Coxton is separately noticed. Besides the village of Lbanbryd lying along the road from Inverness to Aberdeen near the E side of the parish, St Andrews contains also part of the burgh of Elgin. The village, which has a station on the Highland railway, 3½ miles E of Elgin, has a number of wellbuilt houses, the whole place having been re-arranged and laid out in 1854 under the direction of the trustees of James, second Earl of Fife. There is a post office under Elgin. The churchyard near the centre of the village contains one or two old monuments. There is a wool mill, and besides the industries connected with the Elgin portion - comprising an iron-foundry, large wool mills, and a saw and flour mill - there is a distillery at Linkwood on the SW, which was greatly enlarged and extended in 1875. The residences are Pitgaveny House in the N and Dunkinty House on the SW. The Former - the locality of which is identified by Dr Skene with the Bothgouanan where King Duncan was killed - is a four-story edifice, ` after a Portuguese model; ' and the latter is a good building with Scottish baronial features, erected in 1876-78.
The principal landowner is the Earl of Fife, and 4 others hold each an annual value of £500 or upwards, 3 hold each between £500 and £100, 3 hold each between £100 and £50, and there are a few of smaller amount. The parishes of St Andrews and Lhanbryd were united in 1780, and the conjoint parish is in the presbytery of Elgin and the synod of Moray. The church is near the centre of the parish, and the living is worth £364 a year. Under the school board St Andrews-Lhanbryd and Cranloch schools, with accommodation for 175 and 100 pupils respectively, had, in 1884, attendances of 134 and 49, and grants of £152, 0s. 4d. and £45, 8s. 10d. The latter is a combination school for the parishes of Elgin and St Andrews-Lhanbryd. Valuation (1860) £6654, (1884) £7894. Pop. (1801) 799, (1831) 1087, (1861) 1402, (1871) 1346, (1881) 1396, of whom 675 were males and 721 females. Houses (1881) 269 inhabited, 6 uninhabited, and 1 being built.—Ord. Sur., shs. 95, 85, 1876.
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errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from
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different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original
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