LOSSIEMOUTH, a police burgh of Elginshire, Scotland. Pop. (1901) 3904.
It embraces the villages of Lossiemouth, Branderburgh and Stotfield, at
the mouth of the Lossie, 5½ m. N.N.E. of Elgin, of which it is the port,
by a branch line of the Great North of Scotland railway. The industries
are boat-building and fishing. Lossiemouth, or the Old Town, dates from
1700; Branderburgh, farther north, grew with the harbour and began about
1830; Stotfield is purely modern and contiguous to the splendid
golf-course. The cliffs at Covesea, 2 m. W., contain caves of curious
shape. Sir Robert Gordon of Gordonstown used one as a stable in the
rebellion of 1745; weapons of prehistoric man were found in another, and
the roof of a third is carved with ornaments and emblems of early Celtic
art.
Kinneddar Castle in the parish of Drainie--in which Lossiemouth is
situated--was a seat of the bishops of Moray, and Old Duffus Castle,
2½ m. S.W., was built in the reign of David II. The estate of
Gordonstown, close by, was founded by Sir Robert Gordon (1580-1656),
historian of the Sutherland family, and grandfather of the baronet
who, because of his inventions and scientific attainments, was known
locally as "Sir Robert the Warlock" (1647-1704). Nearly midway between
Lossiemouth and Elgin stand the massive ruins of the palace of Spynie,
formerly a fortified residence of the bishops of Moray. "Davie's
Tower," 60 ft. high with walls 9 ft. thick, was built by Bishop David
Stewart about 1470. The adjacent loch is a favourite breeding-place
for the sea-birds, which resort to the coast of Elginshire in enormous
numbers. A mile S.E. of the lake lies Pitgaveny, one of the reputed
scenes of the murder of King Duncan by Macbeth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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