Duffus (Scottish Gaelic : Dubhais) [1] is a village and parish in Moray, Scotland.
The Duffus Village Inn, the local shop, Post Office and Duffus Village Hall provide a focal point for the community. Nearby are the remains of Duffus Castle, St. Peters' Kirk, and Spynie Palace.
Duffus has won numerous awards, including "Best Kept Small Village in the North of Scotland"[ citation needed ]. Also to the east side is Gordonstoun School which covers over 150 acres (0.61 km2).
The name of the village Duffus derives from the lands of Duffus in Moray, Scotland. What is now known as Duffus Parish encompasses the lands of the ancient Barony of Duffus and comprises 9,565 acres (38.71 km2). The Duffus name has undergone a variety of spelling changes through the years; in 1290, "Dufhus", and in 1512, "Duffous". The name is probably a compilation of two Gaelic words, dubh and uisg, meaning "darkwater" or "blackwater". [2] At one time, the region was below sea-level and the Loch of Spynie and stagnant pools of water were a conspicuous feature of the area.
The current village, originally called New Duffus, is a grid plan village established as a planned settlement in 1811. [3] This replaced an earlier medieval settlement which lay 0.4 kilometres (0.25 mi) to the east, of which only the ruined Old Parish Church remains. [3]
A church was first founded on the site of Duffus Old Parish Church in the 9th century as a replacement for the church of St Aethan within Burghead Fort, which had been destroyed by the Vikings. [4] The parish of Duffus included Burghead, and its dedication to Saint Peter may reflect an emulation by the Pictish Kingdom of Fortriu of the common Early Medieval pattern – also seen at Bamburgh and Canterbury – of giving this dedication to a Kingdom's primary centre of Royal power. [5]
Duffus was the base of the regionally powerful de Moravia family during the High Middle Ages. The family was probably of Flemish origin. Freskin de Moravia came north from his lands in Lothian as part of an army of David I to put down another rebellion by the men of Moray. At his side, and soon to be a neighbor, was the ancestor of the Innes'.
The Dunbar baronets of Northfield have lived at the Duffus estate since the 17th century. [6]
The annual Duffus Village Gala (held each summer) provides a host of activities for villagers and nearby settlements, starting with the crowning of the Rose Queen, Rose Prince & Rosebud. (Due to low entry rates the rose queen, Prince & bud no longer occur at the gala)
Volunteers publish a quarterly community newsletter, Duffus Depatches, featuring local events, and village news.
Lossiemouth is a town in Moray, Scotland. Originally the port belonging to Elgin, it became an important fishing town. Although there has been over 1,000 years of settlement in the area, the present day town was formed over the past 250 years and consists of four separate communities that eventually merged into one. From 1890 to 1975, it was a police burgh as Lossiemouth and Branderburgh.
Moray; or Morayshire, called Elginshire until 1919, is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland, bordering Nairnshire to the west, Inverness-shire to the south, and Banffshire to the east. It was a local government county, with Elgin the county town, until 1975. The county was officially called Elginshire, sharing the name of the Elginshire parliamentary constituency, so named since 1708.
Clan Sutherland also known as House of Sutherland is a Highland Scottish clan whose traditional territory is the shire of Sutherland in the far north of Scotland. The chief of the clan was also the powerful Earl of Sutherland, however in the early 16th century this title passed through marriage to a younger son of the chief of Clan Gordon. The current chief is Alistair Sutherland who holds the title Earl of Sutherland.
Hopeman is a seaside village in Moray, Scotland, it is situated on the coast of the Moray Firth, founded in 1805 to house and re-employ people displaced during the Highland clearances. According to the 2011 census, Hopeman has a population of 1,724 and approximately 701 households.
Bricius was prior of Lesmahagow and afterward bishop of Moray.
Andreas de Moravia was a 13th-century Scottish bishop. He was a younger son of Hugh de Moravia, from the family of Flemish origin who were lords of Duffus and other areas in the Greater Moray region in this period. In the time of Bishop Bricius' episcopate (1203–1222), there was a man called "Andreas" who was rector of the church of St. Peter at Duffus, and this may well have been this Andreas. He may also have been a native Scot.
Freskin was a Flemish nobleman who settled in Scotland during the reign of King David I, becoming the progenitor of the Murray and Sutherland families, and possibly others.
Spynie was a seaport, burgh and ancient parish in Moray, Scotland, that survives as a small hamlet and civil parish. It is the location of the ruins of Spynie Palace, which was the principal residence of the Bishops of Moray between the 12th and 17th centuries, and the churchyard of Holy Trinity Church, Spynie, which served as the cathedral of the Diocese of Moray between 1207 and 1224.
The Diocese of Moray was one of the most important of the medieval dioceses of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland. Its territory was in central northern Scotland.
Kinneddar is a small settlement on the outskirts of Lossiemouth in Moray, Scotland, near the main entrance to RAF Lossiemouth. Long predating the modern town of Lossiemouth, Kinneddar was a major monastic centre for the Pictish kingdom of Fortriu from the 6th or 7th centuries, and the source of the important collection of Pictish stones called the Drainie Carved Stones. The Kirk of Kinneddar was the cathedral of the Diocese of Moray between 1187 and 1208, and remained an important centre of diocesan administration and residence of the Bishop of Moray through the 13th and 14th centuries.
John Sutherland, was the 7th Earl of Sutherland and chief of the Clan Sutherland, a Scottish clan of the Scottish Highlands.
The Murrays of Aberscross were a minor noble Scottish family who were seated at Aberscross Castle, in the county of Sutherland, Scotland. The Murrays in Sutherland are recorded specifically as a clan in two Acts of the Scottish Parliament of the 16th century.
Roseisle, formerly known as the College of Roseisle after a monks' college, is a village in the parish of Duffus, near Elgin, Moray, in the west of the Laich of Moray. Half a mile to the north are the former farms of Old Town.
Richard de Moravia or Richard de Moray of Culbin or of Cubyn, was a Scottish nobleman famed for his victory over the Vikings at the Battle of Embo which took place in Sutherland, Scotland in 1245.
Freskin de Moray, Lord of Duffus and Strathbrock, was a Scottish noble.
Holy Trinity Church, Spynie was until 1735 the parish church of Spynie, Moray in north-east Scotland, and served as the cathedral of the Diocese of Moray between 1207 and 1224.
Nicholas Sutherland, 1st of Duffus was a Scottish noble who was seated at Duffus Castle, near Elgin, Moray, Scotland in the 14th and 15th centuries.
William de Moravia was a Scottish nobleman, Earl of Sutherland and chief of the Clan Sutherland, a Scottish clan of the Scottish Highlands.
Kintrae is a hamlet in the parish of Spynie, Moray, Scotland, originally located on the southern shore of Loch Spynie. The name is Celtic, meaning “the top of the tide”.
Inchkeil is a hamlet in the parish of Duffus, near Elgin, Moray, in the Strathspey region of Scotland.
57°42′03″N3°23′42″W / 57.70083°N 3.39500°W
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