County town: Elgin
Morayshire, also known as Elginshire from its county town, was the successor to the ancient province of Moray, one of the most powerful territories in early medieval Scotland. It became a sheriffdom in the 12th century.
Morayshire occupies the Moray Firth coast between the Spey and the Nairn, one of Scotland's sunniest and driest areas. Elgin Cathedral, though now ruined, was once the most magnificent Gothic church in Scotland — the 'lantern of the north' — destroyed in a raid by the 'Wolf of Badenoch' in 1390. The county's fertile coastal plain, sheltered by the Grampians, supports some of the best farming in Scotland. Speyside enters the county near Fochabers, and the concentration of distilleries along the river in this section — including Cardhu, Knockando, and The Macallan — is extraordinary.
The Statistical Accounts of Scotland — the Old Statistical Account (1791–99) and the New Statistical Account (1834–45) — provide detailed parish-by-parish descriptions of Morayshire at two moments of transformation. Aubrey draws on these accounts when generating reports for Scottish locations, providing historical context specific to the parish and county.
Scotland's 33 traditional counties, established as sheriffdoms from the 12th century onward, were the administrative framework of the country until the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1975 replaced them with regional councils. They remain the reference framework for historical records, genealogy, and cultural identity.
An Aubrey report for a specific location in Morayshire draws on historical maps, archaeological records, Domesday data, Statistical Account records, and landscape history to tell the full story of any site in the county.
Start your Aubrey report