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Moray
is "a pleasant country, the soil fruitful,
watered with fine rivers, and full of good towns.
That was the view in 1727 of Daniel Defoe, English
writer and government spy. What he saw was a place
of planned towns and pleasant seats, tranquil
enough for new towns to be planned and lands to
be improved — Aberlour, Fochabers, Tomintoul
and Cullen.
Their vision has bequeathed a legacy of four towns
which retain their handsomeness down the centuries
— Aberlour with its tree-lined broad main
street, and home to Walker’s Shortbread;
Fochabers with Bellie Kirk facing in to the Square,
and home to Baxters of Speyside’s "Highland
Village" open all year;Tomintoul, start of
the mountainous Lecht Road |
and home
to a specialist whisky shop; and Cullen, where the rising
new town is accommodated above the old railway viaducts
and grouped round a square.
| The
fertile and wooded plain that constitutes the
Laich of Moray is intensively farmed, rich land
yielding the best of produce. The fine weather
for which it is noted (long summer sunshine
and crisp clear winters) makes it a natural
home to the RAF stations of Kinloss and Lossiemouth.
One
of the few protruberances is the ruined fortress
of Duffus, dating from 1300 and one of the best-preserved
motte-and-bailey castles in Scotland, and once
the home of the de Moravia family after whom
this area is named. Not far away is Spynie Palace,
seat of the Bishops of Moray until 1686, with
the 15th century tower giving clear views over
Loch Spynie and the Laich of Moray. East of
Fochabers is Coxton Tower, once home to a principal
branch of the Innes family, and still in good
condition. |
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