Duffus () is a village and parish in

Moray Moray ( ; or ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland. Its council is based in Elgin, the area' ...

, Scotland. The local shop and 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.

Name

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 . 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". 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.

History

The current village, originally called New Duffus, is a

grid plan In urban planning, the grid plan, grid street plan, or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at right angles to each other, forming a grid. Two inherent characteristics of the grid plan, frequent intersections and orthogon ...

village established as a

planned settlement A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...

in 1811. This replaced an earlier medieval settlement which lay to the east, of which only the ruined Old Parish Church remains. 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 Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

. The

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

of Duffus included Burghead, and its dedication to

Saint Peter Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the Jewish Christian#Jerusalem ekklēsia, e ...

may reflect an emulation by the Pictish Kingdom of

Fortriu Fortriu (; ; ; ) was a Pictish kingdom recorded between the 4th and 10th centuries. It was traditionally believed to be located in and around Strathearn in central Scotland, but is more likely to have been based in the north, in the Moray and ...

of the common early medieval pattern – also seen at

Bamburgh Bamburgh ( ) is a village and civil parish on the coast of Northumberland, England. It had a population of 454 in 2001, decreasing to 414 at the 2011 census. Bamburgh was the centre of an independent north Northumbrian territory between 867 a ...

and

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

– of giving this dedication to a Kingdom's primary centre of Royal power. Duffus was the base of the regionally powerful ''de Moravia'' family during the

High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the periodization, period of European history between and ; it was preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended according to historiographical convention ...

. 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.

Culture and community

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.

Notable residents

* Don Murray (born 1946), footballer * William Dunbar (1749–1810), explorer

Nearby

* Duffus Castle
Covesea Bay & Caves

References

Bibliography

* Barrow, G.W.S., ''The Kingdom of the Scots.'' Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2003. *

Useful links

Duffus Community Facebook page

Duffus Village Hall Facebook page
Villages in Moray Parishes in Moray {{Moray-geo-stub