EDINKILLIE, or Edenkeillte, a parish, in the
county of Elgin, S| miles (S.) from Forres; containing
1237 inhabitants. This place derives its name, signifying
in the Gaelic language " the face of the wood", from the
ancient forests of Darnaway and Drummine, of which
the greater part of the former and the whole of the latter
were once within the limits of the parish. A charter
granted by David Bruce is still extant, appointing Richard
Comyne, ancestor of the present proprietor of Altyre,
keeper of the king's forest of Darnaway; and in 1478,
a similar charter was bestowed by James III., upon
Thomas Cummyne, of the same place, investing him
with the office of warden of the forest of Drummine.
The parish is frequently called Brae-Moray. It is about
thirteen miles in extreme length, and seven miles at the
greatest breadth, varying considerably in form, and comprising
an area of nearly 34,000 acres, of which 3400
are arable, 4700 woodland and plantations, and the remainder
meadow, pasture, and waste. The surface is
diversified with numerous hills, the highest of which,
named Knock-Moray, has an elevation of about 1000
feet above the level of the sea, commanding from its
summit an extensive and richly-varied prospect over the
surrounding country. The river Findhorn, which has
its source in the county of Inverness, flows for nearly
seven miles in a winding course through the parish, and
falls into the Moray Firth two miles below Forres: the
Divie rises in the hills in the southern boundary of the
parish, and after a north-east course of almost nine miles,
runs into the Findhorn; and the Dorback, issuing from
the lake of Lochindorb, falls into the Divie near the
church. On the banks of the Findhorn, which passes
through a tract of country remarkable for the picturesque
beauty of its scenery, is an extensive heronry. At Sluie,
on that river, is a valuable salmon-fishery, the property
of the Earl of Moray, which, previously to the improvement
of the fisheries nearer the sea, was amazingly
productive; it is now let at an annual rent of £50, to a
company who employ four men with drag-nets, taking
on the average not more than 700 fish annually. The
river abounds with trout, which are also found in the
Divie and the Dorback.
The lake of Lochindorb, partly in this parish, is celebrated
for the remains of a castle situated on an island
within its limits, of which Edward I. of England took
possession, on his route to Inverness, in 1303, and in
which he resided for some time on his return, and received
the submission of the northern estates of the
kingdom. This castle, in 1336, became the abode of
Catherine de Beaumont, widow of David Hastings, Earl
of Atholl, and was besieged by Sir Andrew Moray, who
had succeeded Douglas in the regency of Scotland during
the captivity of David Bruce; but on the approach
of Edward III. of England, Sir Andrew retreated with
his forces to his castle of Darnaway. Edward placed a
garrison of English in the castle; and the fortress afterwards
passed from the Earl of Moray to the Campbells
of Cawdor. It is now the property of the Earl of Seafield.
In some parts the soil of the arable lands is a brown
loam alternated with a rich black mould, and in others
light, dry, and gravelly; with large tracts of moss. The
crops are oats, barley, wheat, peas, potatoes, and turnips,
with the usual grasses. Of late years the system
of husbandry has been greatly improved; much waste
has been reclaimed and brought into profitable cultivation;
the lands have been well drained, and inclosed
chiefly with sunk fences, faced with stone, and planted
with hedge-rows of thorn intermixed with forest-trees.
The black-cattle reared in the pastures are principally
of the Highland breed, with a few of larger size bought
in autumn, and, when fattened, sold to dealers for the
southern markets; the sheep, of which about S.tOO are
reared, are the black-faced, and about 250 of the Cheviot
breed are annually purchased in September, and fed on
turnips, either for the butcher, or to be sold with their
lambs in the following year. The natural woods consist
of oak, ash, beech, elm, sycamore, Spanish-chesnut,
mountain-ash, poplar, birch, holly, alder, larch, and spruce
and Scotch firs. A large quantity of wood which had
arrived at maturity in the forest has been cut down of
late years, and replaced with young plants, chiefly oaks,
of which about 100,000 are planted every year. The
plantations are still more extensive than the natural
woods, and were principally formed by a late Earl of
Moray, who, between the years I767 and 1791, planted
10,591,000 trees, of which 9,687,000 were Scotch firs,
596,000 oaks, and the remainder various kinds of foresttrees.
The annual value of real property in the parish is £2774.
Dunphail House is an elegant mansion built after a
design by Mr. Playfair in 1829, and situated on a
terrace on the bank of the Divie, in a demesne tastefully
laid out in parterres and shrubberies, and richly embellished
with plantations. The scenery is beautifully
picturesque, and heightened by the ruins of an ancient
castle, which are seen from the house rising above the
trees that surround the base. Relugas House is a
handsome mansion seated in a demesne between the
rivers Findhorn and Dorback; it has been enlarged by
an addition of a noble suite of apartments, ninety-six
feet in length, within the last twenty years, and the
grounds are finely planted. Logic House stands on the
east bank of the Findhorn; and a handsome shootinglodge
has been erected by the Hon. John Stuart, and is
occupied during the season by various members of the
Moray family. The only village in the parish is a
cluster of houses at Conicaval, near the northern extremity.
There are two small inns in the parish. Facility
of communication with Forres and the adjacent
towns is afforded by the road from Forres to Perth, by
excellent roads formed by Sir William G. G. Cumming,
of Altyre, Bart., and others by Charles L. Cumming
Bruce, Esq., of Dunphail: there are substantial bridges
over the Divie and the Dorback, replacing those destroyed
by floods in 1829.
Ecclesiastically the parish is within the bounds of the
presbytery of Forres, synod of Moray. The minister's
stipend is about £180, with a manse, and a glebe valued
at £12 a year; patron, the Earl of Moray. Edinkillie
church, situated on the east bank of the river Divie, is a
plain structure built in 17-11, and repaired in 1813, and
contains 500 sittings. The parochial school is well conducted:
the master has a salary of £34, with a house
and garden, and the fees average £16; he has also an
allowance from the trustees of Dick's bequest. There
are schools at Conicaval and Tullydivie, both supported
by the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge;
and at Halfdavoch is a female school, to the mistress of
which Sir William G. G. Cumming pays £5 per annum.
Some remains still exist, as already noticed, of the
ancient castle of Dunphail, of the foundation of which
there is no authentic record: after the battle of the
Standard, the fortress was besieged by Randolph, Earl
of Moray, and gallantly defended by Cumming, its proprietor.
The Doune hill of Relugas is of very great
antiquity, and is supposed to have been a stronghold to
which the inhabitants of the district retired with their
cattle, on the frequent irruption of the Danes. It is a
conical hill of very precipitous ascent, nearly surrounded
at the base by the Divie, and, where undefended by the
river, strongly intrenched with ramparts of stone. By
some antiquaries it is connected with a chain of signalposts
used in times of danger, and is said to have been
at one time occupied by the Romans, who are thought
to have had a chain of similar forts extending from
Forres to Brae-Mar, and thence to Perth.