FINDHORN, a burgh and seaport town, in the
parish of Kinloss, county of Elgin, 4 miles (N. by E.)
from Forres; containing 806 inhabitants. This place,
the name of which signifies "the mouth of the Erne",
stands in the north-western part of the county, near the
river Erne or Findhorn, which expands into a capacious
bay called Loch Findhorn, on the south-west of the
town, and communicates by a narrow strait with the
Moray Firth. Findhorn is a burgh of barony, the seaport
of Forres, and the property of H. A. I. Munro, Esq.;
it is inhabited chiefly by fishermen, seafaring persons,
and a few merchants and tradespeople, and is the seat
of a very considerable traflic. This is the third town of
the same name; the first, which stood about a mile
west of the bar at the mouth of the harbour, and the
second, a little to the north of the present town, having
both been washed away by the sea. Even now, only a
small space, containing a broken bank of sand, intervenes
between the tide-mark and the north end of the
town: the bank forms the sole rampart against the tremendous
swell occasioned by north-easterly winds, and
is sometimes so torn and drifted by hurricanes, that the
sand covers the streets and gardens to the depth of ten or
twelve feet, threatening the town with destruction at no
distant period. The river, which affords fine troutangling,
and is famed for its romantic scenery, rises in
the mountains near Badenoch, and after a serpentine and
impetuous course of about sixty miles from the southwest,
through the counties of Inverness, Nairn, and
Elgin, expands into the bay already referred to, and joins the Firth.
Findhorn is one of the safest harbours on the coast;
it measures three and a half miles in length, from the
bar at the north to its southern limit, and the breadth
varies from a little more than half a mile to two miles.
There are two quays of hewn stone, one of which was
recently erected with a breast-work (by which it is joined
to the old pier) at an expense of upwards of £1300.
Superior accommodation is afforded for shipping, and
the depth of water in the channel, where most shallow,
is ten feet and a half at the lowest neap tide, and from
thirteen to seventeen at high tide. A considerable part
of the bay is dry at low water; but the river, in some
places half a mile broad, has at the lowest ebb of stream
tides from twelve to fifteen feet of water, in which the
largest vessels can float in safety. The earth and sand
bank at the entrance, called the bar, and by some supposed
to be a portion of land encroached upon by the
sea, would prove dangerous from its shifting with strong
floods or easterly winds; but the pilots understand its
nature so w-ell, that an accident is scarcely ever heard
of. The fisheries pursued are those of salmon, herrings,
and haddock, which are carried on with great spirit, and
prove a source of considerable emolument to the proprietors:
about sixty men are engaged, who follow their
avocation in large boats carrying several persons and
from eight to ten tons' weight of fish. The salmonfishery
produces annually, on an average, about six hundred
boxes of fish packed in ice, valued at £5 each, and
sent to the London market: the herring-fishery, which
has been carried on for above twenty or thirty years,
has for some time supplied 20,000 barrels every year;
and the haddock-fishery is valued at £2000. There are
twelve vessels belonging to the port, together registered
at 1000 tons, and occupied in an extensive coastingtrade.
The imports comprise great quantities of Sunderland
and Newcastle coal, and lime from the same
places; coal from the Firth of Forth, slates from Ballichulish,
iron from Wales and Staffordshire, salt from
Liverpool, and large supplies of bone-dust for manure.
The exports for provincial use consist of herrings, grain,
eggs, and about 2000 loads of timber every year from
the forests of Darnaway and Altyre. Findhorn is also
visited by foreign vessels, bringing iron, timber, and tar
from the Baltic, and timber from British North America;
and there are regular trading smacks from London,
Leith, and Liverpool, with cargoes for Forres, Nairn, &c.
A very good turnpike-road runs southward from Findhorn
to Forres, between which places there is a daily post;
and from this road a branch diverges at the bridge of
Kinloss, eastward, to Burgh-Head and Elgin. Fairs are
held in the town for the sale of sheep, black-cattle, and
horses, on the second Wednesday in March, July, and
October (O. S.). An Assembly's school was till lately
supported, the master of which had a salary of £20, and
about £12 fees, with an allowance of £10 from Mr.
Munro, of Novar, in lieu of land and other accommodations:
a school-room and a house for the master were
built some years since, at a cost of £160, raised by subscription
and public collections. This school is now
maintained from the funds of the Free Church, and is in
connexion with it, the master receiving a salary of £15
from that body. A Ubrary is connected with the school;
and there is another in the town, for general use.