Topographical, statistical, and historical gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

ELGIN.
497
Gregorius.
William, Papal legate to Scot,
land— died in 1 161.
Felix— died in 1170.
Simeon de Tocny, buried at
Birnie, in 1184.
Andrew — died in 11S5.
Richard. Clericus Regis —
elected in 1187.
Bricius de Moravia, orMurreff,
prior of Lesraahago, elected
ill 1203 ; — see at Spynie; peti-
tioned the Pope for its re-
moval to Elgin — died in 1222.
Andrew de Moravia, son of
vour with James IV., trans-
lated to St. Andrew's in
1514.
James Hepburn, abbot of
Dunfermline, and high-trea-
surer — died before Novem-
ber, 1524, when the Earl of
Angus wrote to Cardinal
Wolsey to solicit the Pope
for the bishopric of Moray
and the abbacy of Melrose,
"whilk is are baitu vacant,"
for his brother.
Robert Schaw, abbot of Pais-
ley — died in 1527.
Hugh de Moravia, Lord Alexander Stewart, son of
Duffus ; — see transferred to Duke of Albany — died in
the old church of Holy Trio- 1527.
ity at Elgin, after his couse- Patrick Hepburn, son of first
cration in 1223 — buried in Earl of Bothwell, and uncle
the choir, 1242. to Darnley. He alienated
Simon — died in 1252. the church-possessions, and
Archibald, built and resided braved the Reformation, be-
in palace of Kinnedar — died Ingthe last Popish bishop—
in 1298. died in 1573.
David de Moravia, consecrat- George Douglas, natural son
ed by Pope Boniface in 1299 of Archibald, Earl of Angus,
—a zealous supporter of appointed first protestant
Bruce. bishop, in 1573. At his
John Pilmore, burgess of death, the temporality of the
Dundee, elected Bishop of bishopric was erected by
Ross, and postulated Bishop James VI. into a temporal
of Moray — died in 1362. lordship, in favour of Alex.
Alexander Barr, consecrated ander Lindsay, created
at Avignon, by Pope Urban Lord Spynie ; but it was re-
V., in 1362— excommunicat- purchased by the Crown,
ed the Wolf of Badenoch, and given to the Episcopal
who in revenge burnt the establishment in 1606.
cathedral— died at Spynie in Alexander Douglas, presby-
'397. terian minister of Elgin, or-
William de Spynie, Chantor dained first Episcopal bishop
of Moray— died in 1406. in 1606— died in 1623.
John de lnnes— died in 1414, John Guthrie, minister in
buried under great central Edinburgh, deposed by the
steeple which he began to General Assembly, in 16SS;
rebuild. garrisoned bis castle in self-
Henry de Leighton, LL.D., defence, but afterwards sur-
translated to Aberdeen in rendered. The see reraain-
_ !4 '^1- ed vacant till the Restora.
David succeeded till 1429. tion.
Colomba de Dunbar— died in Murdoch Mackenzie, chaplain
i* 33 - to the great Gustavus Adol-
John Winchester, L.B. Cleri- phns, of Sweden, originally
cus Regis, Provost of Lin- a presbyterian ; translated
cluden. Lord-register — died to the see of Orkney in
in 1460. 1 6T6 .
James Stewart, of Lorn— died James Aitkens, translated to
in 1453. Galloway in 16S0.
David Stewart, his brother, Colin Falconas, bishop of Ar-
built great tower of Spynie gvle, translated to Moray
palace— died in 1475. iri I6S0, being ignorant of
William Tulloch, bishop of the Gaelic language — died
Orkney, translated in 1477 in 1686.
—keeper of the privy seal— Alexander Ross, principal of
died in 1432. St. Mary's college, St An.
Alexander Stewart, son of drew's ; translated to Edin-
queeu-mother by her second burgh in 1687, after his con-
marriage with Sir James secration.
Stewart of Lorn— died in William Hay, D.D., ejected
150I- at the Revolution in 1698,
Andrew Forman, in great fa- after his consecration.
The revenues of the bishopric were, no doubt, at
first very limited, but by the bounty of our kings,
nobility, and private individuals, they became very
ample indeed. King William the Lion was a liberal
donor. At a very early period he granted to it the
tenth of all his returns from Moray. Grants of
forests, lands, and fishings were also made by Alex-
ander II., David II., and other sovereigns, besides
the Earls of Moray, Fife, &c. Some of these lands
were in Inverness, Ross, &c, and among them were
the lands of Rothiemurchus and Strathspey. The
rental, for the year 1565, as taken by the steward of
the bishopric, was £ 1,675 2s. 4d. Scots, besides a
variety of articles paid in kind. At this period,
however, more than a half of the church-lands had
been "frittered and sold and squandered:" the full
rents were not stated, and probably the rental then
given did not amount to a third of the actual in-
come in the high and flourishing period of the
bishopric. The estates or temporalia of the bishop-
ric, with the patronages belonging to the bishop,
remained, after the Reformation, in the Crown till
1590, when James VL assigned them all to Alexander
Lindsay, a son of the Earl of Crawford, and grand-
son of Cardinal Beaton, for payment of 10,000 gold
crowns, the sum which he had lent his majesty
when in Denmark, Lindsay being at the same time,
as already observed, created Lord of Spynie. After
the king had prevailed on Lord Spynie to resign the
lands to obtain a revenue for the Protestant bishops,
the latter's rights of patronage were reserved till the
extinction of his family in 1670, when they were re-
assumed by the Crown as ultimus hares. The
Crown conveyed them by charter, in 1674, to James,
Earl of Airlie, who disponed them to the Marquis
of Huntly in 1682.
Elgin's ancient glory has departed with its princely
bishopric, and gorgeous religious rites ; but the light
of a new regeneration, while it has been rapidly ob-
literating even the shadow of its former glory, is as
rapidly providing a solatium for the loss more truly
in accordance with the modern march of human pro-
gress. " Forty years ago," observes the writer of the
New Statistical Account of Elgin, " there were no
turnpike-roads leading to or from it, no stage-coaches,
no gas-work, no lighting or side-pavement to the
streets, no hospital for the sick, no institution for
the support of old age and the education of youth,
no academy, no printing-press or newspaper pub-
lished in the town." In 1812 the first mail-coach
was started in the north. " The blast of its horn, as
it entered the town of Elgin with a couple of horses
and a guard in royal livery, excited no small interest
among the inhabitants, and was hailed as the harbin-
ger of a new era." So indeed it was. The mail and
several stage-coaches now enter and leave the town
every day ; carriers regularly go to Aberdeen, Banff,
Inverness, and all the adjacent towns and villages.
The turnpike roads are excellent, and diverge in
every direction, crossing, here, the river Lossie, bv
four modern one-arched bridges, three of stone and
one of iron. New and very handsome houses occupy
the places of the old. New streets have even started
up ; and villas, built in an elegant style, and inter-
spersed with shrubberies and gardens, now adorn
the southern suburbs. The streets and shops, and
even private houses, are brilliantly lighted with gas,
and the town is now well-drained and cleaned. The
population of the burgh, in 1831, was 4,493. Houses
811. Assessed property, in 1815, ±"2,435. In the vici-
nity of the town there is a small suburban village
called Bishopmill, the superior of which is Lord Sea-
field The new church is one of the most elegant
structures in the north. It has a spacious portico of
Doric columns covering its western entrance, and
a handsome tower with clock and bells, surmounted
by a lantern with a richly chiseled cupola. The
Trinity Episcopal chapel, with a handsome Gothic
front, now forms a neat termination to North-
street,* and, besides a Roman Catholic chapel, there
are two for congregations of Seceders, and one for
Independents. Elegant Assembly-rooms were erected
and tastefully fitted up in 1822, and Sir Archibald
Dunbar's town mansion, Westerton-house, &c, are
of recent erection. Printing-presses have been in-
troduced, and, in 1827, was established the Elgin
Courier, which has been succeeded by the Elgin Cou-
rant. There is an excellent public library in the
town, a literary association, a museum, a literary and
debating society, a speculative society, a horticul-
tural society, two bible societies, &c. &c. The aca-
demy of Elgin has been long celebrated. It is under
the patronage of the burgh, and partly supported by
endowment, partly by funds appropriated, for the
establishment of a music-school, by King James,
in 1620, from the revenues of the Maison Dieu.
* Moray or Elgin is still a conjoined diocese of the Scottish
Episcopalian church.
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