KINGSTON-PORT, a village, in the parish of SpeyMOUTH,
county of Elgin, 4^ miles (N. by W.) from
Fochabers; containing 396 inhabitants. This village is
seated at the mouth of the Spey, and, with the exception
of a few houses, has been built within the last forty or
'fifty years. The original dwellings were mostly of wood,
and were erected for the accommodation of the workmen
of Messrs. Dodsworth and Osbourne, timber- merchants
and ship-builders, by whom the place was named Kingston-
Port, after Kingston-upon-Hull in the county of
York. These gentlemen, having purchased the forest of
Glenmore from the Duke of Gordon, about the year
1784, commenced building numerous vessels here, several
of them of the burthen of 500, 600, and 700 tons; and
various other builders, following their example, have
since launched as many as 150 vessels at this place, of
from thirty to 200 tons' burthen each. The trade in
timber has latterly very much declined, the forest having
been exhausted about five-and-thirty years ago; but the
commerce of the port is still considerable. In a recent
year 200 vessels sailed hence, of which one-fourth were
loaded with grain, chiefly wheat and oats, for the southern
parts of Scotland and for England; and in the same
year were imported forty cargoes of Scotch coal, and
twenty of English coal from Sunderland. The harbour
suffered very severely from the memorable flood on the
4th of August, 1829; and as the channel is shifted by
the occasional heavy action of the sea, and the gravelly
nature of the soil renders it impracticable to obtain a
secure foundation for a pier, the improvement of the
port is difficult. The village of Garmouth closely adjoins
Kingston.