SPEYMOUTH, a parish, in the county of Elgin,
^ mile (N. by W.) from Fochabers; containing, with
the villages of Garinouth, Kingston-Port, and Mosstodlach,
1774 inhabitants, of whom 681 are in the rural
districts. This place, consisting of the ancient parishes
of Dipple and Essil, united by act of the General
Assembly in 1731, derives its name from its situation
near the mouth of the river Spey, which here falls into
the Moray Firth. It appears to have been at a very
early period the scene of various conflicts between the
Scottish kings and their rebellious subjects. In 1078
the confederate insurgents of Caithness, Moray, and
Ross, after an ineffectual attempt to intercept the
passage of Malcolm III. with his army over the Spey
to attack their main body on the opposite shore, laid
down their arms, and submitted to his authority. In
1 1 10, another and a more formidable party of rebels
assembled at this place, to oppose the progress of Alexander
I. and his army, when a sanguinary battle occurred,
which terminated in the total defeat of the insurgent
forces, numbers of whom svere left dead on the field.
During the reign of Malcolm IV., also, a severe battle
was fought on the moors between Speymouth and Urquhart,
an adjoining parish, in which the rebels of Moray,
who had mustered here in great force, were routed with
much slaughter. All the chief families of the province
who had favoured the rising were dispersed into distant
parts (if the kingdom, and their lands transferred to less
turl)uleiit proprietors.
In 1650 Charles II. landed here from Holland, where
he had taken refuge. He was warmly received by the
Laird of Innes and other loyal persons, and was entertained
by the steward of Lord Dunfermline at his house
at Garmouth, in which, indeed, he is said to have signed
the Solemn League and Covenant. The remains of this
house have been taken down, but the site is still pointed
out. The last transaction of any importance connected
with the parish was in 1746, when the forces of the
Young Pretender, on their retreat from the south, assembled
here in great numbers, being resolved to make
a desperate stand against the royal army under the
Duke of Cumberland. On this occasion, the chieftains
took up their head-quarters in the manse, while the
troops were encamped along the banks of the Spey; but
from want of concert among the leaders, and from the
insubordination of the men, the rebels abandoned their
design, and fled with the greatest precipitation on the
approach of the royal army. The Duke with his forces
crossed the Spey on the Vith of April, and encamped
on the plain between the river and the church; after
sleeping in the manse for that night, he advanced towards
Inverness, and on the I6th gained the battle of Culloden,
which put an end to the rebellion.
The PARISH is bounded on the north by the Moray
Firth, and on the east by the river Spey. It is nearly
seven miles in length from north to south, and about
two miles in mean breadth; comprising almost 7000
acres, of which about 2500 are arable, 500 woodland and
plantations, and the remainder meadow, pasture, moorland,
moss, and waste. Along the shore of the firth the
surface is tolerably flat, but, about half a mile to the
south, rises abruptly into a small hill of moderate elevation,
beyond which is a large tract of table-land, not
many yards above the level of the river. Further towards
the south, the ground rises by a gradual ascent till it
terminates in a high hill on the southern boundary of
the parish. The Spey abounds with salmon, grilse, and
trout of excellent quality. A salmon-fishery, which is
rented by a company under the Duke of Richmond, employs
twelve boats, having each a crew of seven men
and a boy; and very considerable numbers of fish are
taken, some of which are packed in ice, and sent to the London market.
Though generally light, the soil is not unfertile; in
some parts there is a black loam of greater depth, resting
on a gravelly subsoil, and the soil of the arable lands
near the river is luxuriantly productive. The crops are
oats, barley, wheat, potatoes, and turnips, with the usual
grasses. The farms are mostly of moderate size, varying
from thirty to 200 acres in extent; the system of
husbandry is im])roved, and a due rotation of crops is
carefully observed. Lime is in general used for manure,
but bone-dust has been introduced upon the turnip
lands, and with complete success. The cattle are of a
cross between the Aberdeenshire and the Highland;
with the exception of what are fattened for the butcher,
they are sold when two or three years old to the graziers
in Aberdeenshire and other counties to the south. The
sheep, of which a few flocks arc kept, are a cross between
the Cheviot and the small brown- faced Morayshire
breed; and the horses, of which as many are reared as
are re(|uisite for the |)urposes of ngriculture, are strong
and hardy, though small in stature. The annual value
of real property in Speymouth is £8589. The plantations,
which have been this century much extended,
especially in the northern portion of the parish, are
principally fir, interspersed with other kinds of trees; they
are under careful management. For the most part the
substrata are sandstone of a reddish colour, which increases
in the durability of its texture in proportion to
its depth: in the upper part of the parish, moorstone is
quarried for building. The villages of Garmouth and
Kingston-Port, in which a very extensive trade is carried
on in the exportation of corn and fish and the importation
of coal, and in the building and repairing of ships and
boats for the fishery, are described under their respective
heads. Letters are delivered daily from the post-office
at Fochabers. Facility of communication is maintained
by the turnpike-road from Aberdeen to Inverness, which
passes through the parish. A bridge over the Spey,having
been greatly damaged by the flood in 1829, was repaired in 1832.
For ECCLESIASTICAL purposcs this place is within the
bounds of the presbytery of Elgin and synod of Moray.
The minister's stipend, including a vicarial tithe on salmon,
is about £150, with a manse, and a glebe valued
at £25 per annum; patrons, alternately, the Earl of
Moray and Sir W. G. G. Gumming. The church, erected
in 1732, and repaired and enlarged in 1799, is a substantial
structure affording ample accommodation. The
parochial school, which is situated at Garmouth, is attended
by about fifty children: the master has a salary
of £29. 18. 9., with a house and garden, and the fees;
also the interest of a bequest of 2000 merks Scotch by
Mr. Gordon, of Edinburgh. A school is supported by
the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge, who
allow the master a yearly salary; and a Sabbath school,
to which a library is attached, is maintained by subscription.
A subscription library, now containing nearly
300 volumes of standard works, was established in 1823;
and a mechanics' library, of nearly equal size, in 1825.
This parish was anciently the burial-place of the Duffs
of Braco, ancestors of the Earl of Fife. Jane, daughter
of James Innes, Esq., of Redhall, a place not far from
the church, was wife of Governor Pitt, and great-grandmother
of the late illustrious William Pitt.