FOCHABERS, a burgh of barony, in the parish of
Bellie, county of Elgin, 7 miles (E. S. E.) from Elgin;
containing 1135 inhabitants. This place is situated in
the vicinity of Gordon Castle, on rising ground near the
confluence of a small rivulet with the Spey, over which
latter is a fine bridge, originally of four arches, having a
water-way of 340 feet: the two arches on the west side
were swept away by the flood of August 1829, and have
been replaced by one spacious wooden arch. Fochabers
is a neat village, built on a regular plan, with a square
in the centre, ornamented on each side with trees, and
entered by streets at right angles. It is governed by a
baron-bailie, appointed by the superior. A village of the
same name formerly stood about a mile northward of
the present, and still nearer to Gordon Castle; but the
site of the village was changed by Alexander, fourth
Duke of Gordon. Among the most conspicuous buildings
are the parochial church, and a highly-ornamented
episcopal chapel on the north side of the village, recently
built and endowed by the Duchess of Gordon, and consisting
of two stories, surmounted with two spires; the
upper story is used for public worship, and the groundfloor
is occupied as an infant school, and contains apartments
for the teacher. There are also a Roman Catholic
chapel, and a subscription library. The great road
from Edinburgh to Inverness passes through the village;
and annual markets are held, partly for the sale
of horses, but especially for black-cattle, on the third
Wednesday in January, the fourth in March and May,
the second in August, and the fourth in October and
December. In the neighbourhood is a spacious mansion
for the lessees of a salmon-fishery on the Spey.
with a range of apartments in an extensive court, conveniently
fitted up, and supplying every facility for the
operations connected with this important branch of
traffic: the produce, valued at several thousand pounds
a year, is sent to London packed in ice, and employs
regularly, during the season, eight smacks in the conveyance.
Gordon Castle, until lately the seat of the Dukes of
Gordon, whose title has become extinct, and now a possession
of their heir of entail and representative, the
Duke of Richmond, is considered the most magnificent
and princely mansion north of the Firth of Forth. This
edifice was originally a gloomy tower, situated in the
centre of a morass called the Bog of Gight, and accessible
only by a narrow causeway, and a drawbridge. It is
now a vast structure, of which the exterior measures 570
feet in length, and the building consists of four lofty
stories, with spacious two-storied wings, and connecting
galleries or arcades of similar height. From behind the
centre rises a ponderous square tower of the eleventh
century, nearly ninety feet high, overlooking the stately
pile, which is faced on all sides with freestone, and encircled
by an embattled coping. The castle is approached
by an imposing gateway at the north end of the village,
and entered by a grand vestibule embellished with copies
of the Apollo Belvidere and the Venus de Medeci.a bust
of Homer, busts of Aurelius and Faustina, of Caesar and
Caracalla, one of a vestal virgin, and one of William Pitt,
each raised on a handsome pedestal of Sienna marble.
At the bottom of the great staircase are busts of Seneca
and Cicero, and of a grand-duke of Tuscany, a relative
of the Gordon family; while on the first landing-place
is a gigantic wooden head of some ancient divinity of
the sea, with other objects of striking interest. The
state apartments are numerous and splendid, and
superbly furnished: the great dining-room is of the
most just proportions, and contains many fine paintings
and portraits, as do most of the other rooms, including
the library, where are several thousand volumes, various
ancient and valuable MSS., geographical and astronomical
instruments, and antique curiosities. There are
also a small theatre and a music-room. Among the
finest pictures may be mentioned those of Abraham
turning oif Ilagar and her son; Joseph resisting Potiphar's
wife; St. Peter and St. Paul; Dido and St. Cecilia;
Ulysses and Calypso; Bacchus and Ariadne; Venus
and Adonis: a portrait of the last Duke of Gordon;
and one of the second Countess of Huntly, daughter of
James I., and the lady through whom Lord Byron
boasted of having a share of the royal blood of Scotland
in his veins.
The park in which the castle stands is of great
extent, and presents every variety of surface, walks,
drives, meandering streamlets, groves, arbours, and
broad-spreading meadows; while an almost interminable
forest extends over the mountain side in the distance.
Among the trees are majestic rows of elm and
beech, and many of large dimensions, particularly the
limes, planes, the walnut, and horse-chesnut; and there
are fine plantations of birch, larch, Scotch fir, and other
growing timber in a flourishing state. Before the castle
is a richly verdant sward, fringed with sweetly-scented
shrubs; and the gardens around it occupy a space of
twelve acres, and are ornamented by rare plants, and
enlivened by a beautiful lake. To the north of the mansion
is a military station, called the " Roman camp".