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Wednesday 19 July 2023

Lossiemouth to Elgin, Scotland '23 Part 4

Lossiemouth, Duffus, Spynie Palace and Elgin

(For Elgin Cathedral, see the 2021 post Elgin and Craigallechie)

A Brief Introduction


Scotland
Moray
After driving north from Falkirk, we spent a week, as we did last year, in a borrowed cottage (thank you Jenny and Bob) in the delightful fishing village of Findochty, beside the Moray Firth. For no obvious reason Findochty is pronounced ‘Finechty.’ Our ‘outings,’ to Banff & Macduff, Pitmedden & Haddo House (near Oldmeldrum) and Lossiemouth & Elgin are described in this and the previous two posts. The rest of the time we pottered happily about Findochty and Buckie. Some of that pottering fed into improvements (and one enlargement) of last year's Findochty, Portknockie and Cullen post.

Elgin is 40 minutes drive west of Findochty,Lossiemouth is 10 mins north of Elgin

And here is a larger map of the area relevant to this post. For purposes of scale Lossiemouth to Elgin is 5 miles as the crow flies.

The Elgin/Lossiemouth

15-July-2023

Lossiemouth

On Saturday we drove to Lossiemouth to have lunch with Norma and Wilson, who live in nearby Forres. We first met in North Korea in 2013.

We entered Lossiemouth driving up the road towards the harbour. Blasted from the solid rock in the 1830s when Lossiemouth developed a grandiose plan to be the port of Elgin, the harbour was subsequently home to some 80 fishing boats. Fishing now employs only 55 (says Wikipedia) of the town’s 7,000 citizens, the main local source of employment is RAF Lossiemouth just to the south west, while others commute to Elgin.

Lossiemouth Fisheries and Community Museum

Opposite the marina, housed in stores once used for fishing gear, is one of the volunteer-driven local museums that can be found all over the UK - we should make more of these excellent institutions.

Here they have artefacts…

Lossiemouth Museum

and models and photographs, which bring alive the Lossiemouth of the past.

Lossiemouth Museum

Lynne was disappointed electronic problems prevented her from driving the ‘fishing boat’…

Not driving the fishing boat, Lossiemouth Museum

… but enjoyed the archive, reading through several investigations into long ago shipping disasters,

Lynne in the archive, Lossiemouth Museum

At the end of the long, thin museum is a facsimile of Ramsay MacDonald’s study. Born in Lossiemouth in 1866, the illegitimate son of a farm labourer and a housemaid, MacDonald was among the founders of the Labour Party in 1900 and became the UK’s first Labour Prime Minister in 1924. His minority government lasted only months, but he returned in 1929 and from 1931 to 1935, led a coalition government, unsupported by the Labour party – causing his expulsion from the party he helped create.

Ramsay MacDonald's study, Lossiemouth Musuem

The volunteers in such museums always have time to chat.with visitors, and as we were doing that we were joined by Norma and Wilson who had walked past on their way to the Restaurant

The Harbour Lights, Lossiemouth

It was good to see Norma and Wilson again, and conversation flowed freely. I failed to take a photograph of the proceedings, which is becoming a regrettable tradition, so here is a picture of them from 2021.

Lynne (left) with Norma and Wilson outside their home in Forres

The Harbour Lights describes itself as a ‘daytime café;’ it has brunch and lunch menus and is fully licensed. Scotland in general and Moray in particular offer plenty of choices for lunch but a good dinner can be a problem. My crayfish, spinach and mango salad was beautifully balanced and delightfully fresh.

19-July-2023

Duffus

Seven km south-west of Lossiemouth, Duffus, originally New Duffus, is a planned village built on a grid pattern in 1811. The casual visitor is directed to the Church of St Peter half a mile away and is pretty much all that survives of Old Duffus.

The Old Church

The ‘old church,’ is actually an 18th century rebuild of the original, completed in time to be abandoned for the new village and its new church. It is memorable, neither outside…

Duffus old church

…nor in…

Inside Duffus old church

…but one late medieval porch has survived….

Late medieval porch, Duffus old church

… as has the Parish Cross. Historic Scotland describe it as a tall and elegant shaft on its original stepped base. In other words, it is no longer a ‘cross.’

Old Duffus parish cross

A watch house was erected in 1830 to guard against grave robbers. Edinburgh University Medical School had problems obtaining cadavers for dissection and grave robbing was not unknown – though the famous Burke and Hare were murderers not grave robbers. The watch house was built during the ensuing ‘moral panic.’ Grave robbing in remote Duffus was highly unlikely.

Watch house, Duffus churchyard

Gordonstoun School

We had parked beside a narrow road, so on leaving the church we continued in the direction we were facing looking for a turning space. We used the gates of a large house, which on closer inspection turned out to be Gordonstoun School.

Gordonstoun educated the late Prince Philip, who enjoyed it so much he sent all three of his sons there. It was an interesting institution (now probably much changed being coeducational and with a female principal) that required its students to be robust physically as well as intellectually.

Whether the three princes enjoyed it is unknown – royals do not tell – but all Prince Philip’s grandchildren went elsewhere.

Duffus Castle

The Mormaers (Earls) of Moray ruled their fiefdom with varying degrees of independence until Oengus of Moray backed the wrong side in a struggle for the Scottish throne and died at the Battle of Strathcaro in 1130. King David I (the man he should have backed) appointed a certain Freskin as his local agent and he built a castle on the boggy plain south-east of Duffus. Scottish Heritage believe it looked like this…

Scottish Heritage plan of Duffus Castle in the 14th century

It has a typical motte and bailey design. Freskin erected a wooden tower on the motte – a man-made mound. The stables, bakehouses and workshops were in the bailey at the base of the motte and protected by a wooden palisade.

It now looks like this….

Duffus Castle

Nothing is known about Freskin except his name, so he was probably Flemish, but the castle was owned by his descendant from 1130 until it was abandoned in 1707.

In 1270 Duffus passed to Sir Reginald le Chen when he married into the Freskin family. The castle was partially destroyed in 1290 and then attacked by Robert the Bruce ten years later, so Sir Reginald decided to build a stone tower.

Militarily his decision was sound - the castle was never attacked again. However building a heavy stone keep on a man-made mound in a boggy plain had predictably long term consequences.

The mound has flattened over time, as the path up from the bailey shows…

Path up the mound, Duffus Castle

…one side of the tower remains largely intact….

One side looks largely intact, Duffus Castle

….while the other is steadily descending the hill.

Part of the tower descending the hill

Duffus eventually had to be abandoned but by then the le Chens had married into the de Moravia family (also Freskin descendants) who were the Earls of Sutherland. In 1707 they had plenty of better castles and the loss of Duffus was inconsequential.

RAF Lossiemouth

The buildings maybe in Lossiemouth, but the main runway stretches almost to Duffus Castle. RAF Lossiemouth is a major base, home to four front line squadrons of Eurofighter Typhoons, two maritime patrol squadrons, an AWACS squadron and a mountain rescue team.

While we were at the castle, Typhoons were taking off and landing (two key skills in all forms of aviation!). They were not doing it quietly.

Typhoon over Duffus Castle

Spynie Palace

The first Bishop of Moray known from written records was Gregoir in the 1120s. He and the other early holders of the office moved between various residences, including Spynie Castle (it was not called a ‘palace’ until the 16th century). It was then a new wooden construction with a surrounding ditch. In 1172 Trinity Church, Spynie became the cathedral and in 1207 Pope Innocent III gave Bishop Bricius de Douglas permission to live permanently in Spynie Castle. In 1222, Holy Trinity, Elgin became the cathedral (we visited that elegant ruin in 2021) but the bishop’s episcopal palace remained at Spynie.

The first stone building appeared in the 13th century and by the late 15th century all the currently existing buildings were in place.

This is Scottish Heritage’s impression of Spynie Castle…

Spynie Castle according to Scottish Heritage

….and this is how it looks from the top of the David Tower.

Spynie Castle: The Little Tower, the South Range and East Gate.
Spot the Loch in the top left hand corner

The Little Tower is on the right, the South Range comes towards the camera from there, and the East Gate is the arched hole in the curtain wall.

While in this photo, the South Range is on the right, the site of the Great Hall slightly left and the Water Tower on the left edge.

The Great Hall and the Water Tower, Spynie Castle

Next to the Water Tower is a small Water Gate. The loch you obligingly spotted once came right up to the castle wall. Even longer ago the loch was five miles long and linked to the sea, which led to the growth of Spynie as a safe harbour. The sea loch silted up long ago and the settlement of Spynie all but disappeared. Drainage in the 19th century further reduced the loch’s size, so it no longer washes the castle wall.

The Water Gate

John de Winchester (bishop 1435–60) moved the main gate to the east wall and fortified it with a portcullis and machicolations.

The West Gate, Spynie Castle

The David Tower, the most impressive part of the building was started by Bishop David Stewart (1462-76) and completed by Bishop William Tulloch (1476-82).

The David Tower, Spynie

It was a tower of many rooms.

Inside the David Tower, Spynie Castle

Elgin

A City not-City

Elgin, with 25,000 inhabitants, is by far the biggest population centre in Moray – at one time Moray was called Elginshire – and is the largest settlement between Inverness and Aberdeen, so Elgin must be a city. Its inhabitants know it - they called their football team Elgin City – and David I made Elgin a Royal Burgh after defeating Oengus of Moray in 1130 (as you already know) and that settles it. Unfortunately, Terms & Conditions Apply, and the small print says Elgin is not a city, and never has been. Many believe this is merely an oversight and will of course be changed, but Inverness, Stirling, Perth and Dunfermline have all been made cities this century, while Elgin has not.

The Town Centre

The centre is largely pedestrianised with a nice fountain (but no water). Behind it, St Giles Church is interesting. It was built 1825-8 in Greek Revival style to a design by Archibald Simpson, who is said to be partly responsible for the ‘character of Aberdeen’. I am not sure I like this design – but that is just me. Between fountain and church is an 1896 statue of Alexander Falconer by John Hutchison. A local physician and philanthropist, Falconer was undoubtedly a worthy citizen.

St Giles, Elgin (and Alexander Falconer)

Not very far away, The Elgin Drummer by Alan Beatie Herriott celebrates the ordinary man and woman. The 18th century town drummer, went round in the morning to wake the workers and the sculpture commemorates a man who held the post for sixty years until his death in 1822.

The Elgin Drummer

Victorian Elgin was built of a lighter, greyer stone than most Scottish towns, making the buildings look more welcoming. Sometimes the architecture becomes almost ‘baronial;’ the Ex-Servicemen’s Club in the High Street looks like it wanted to be a castle, but the lighter stone makes the design seem more fun than pompous.

Elgin Ex-Servicemen's Club

Two or three centuries ago, many of Elgin’s ordinary citizens lived in a ‘close,’ and Braco Close is one of the few that remain. Each close had a gate and a group of cottages, often whitewashed and traditionally thatched with heather - that was theoretically banned in 1735 as a fire risk, but many could not afford alternative roofing.

Braco Close, Elgin

Elgin Museum

Founded in 1836, Elgin Museum claims to be Scotland’s oldest independent museum. Although it has artefacts from all over the world, it understandably concentrates on the local area.

Everything was professionally displayed, and here are three display cases that caught my eye.

This is one of several cases of local fossils.

Fossils, Elgin Museum

We were encouraged to wonder what happened to the Picts.

Pictish carved stone, Elgin Museum

The Picts dominated this area for at least 500 years, and left many artefacts and carved stones, but no written record. The earliest surviving mention of them is from 297CE, their last known king was in the 9th century. At that time there was a general movement of peoples and it is assumed the Picts just assimilated into the mix that would one day become the population of modern Scotland.

More recently in the days when wild salmon were abundant and farmed salmon unknown, fishermen paddled on rivers in coracles to catch them. The River Spey has fast moving water and Spey coracles were designed to be flat-bottomed, stable and easy to manoeuvre. They were in use from the 18th to the early 20th century and Elgin Museum claims to have the very last one.

The last Spey coracle, Elgin Musuem

That completes this brief visit to Elgin – but I will give one final mention to the ruins of Elgin cathedral, though I have already linked to them twice in this post.

This also concludes our 2023 sojourn on the Moray coast. After visiting three years in succession, we will give it a rest in 2024, but we may well return one day.

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