Findhorn ( or ''Inbhir Èireann'') is a village 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. It is located on the eastern shore of

Findhorn Bay Findhorn ( or ''Inbhir Èireann'') is a village in Moray, Scotland. It is located on the eastern shore of Findhorn Bay and immediately south of the Moray Firth. Findhorn is 3 miles (5 km) northwest of Kinloss, and about 5 miles (9 ...

and immediately south of the

Moray Firth The Moray Firth (; , or ) is a roughly triangular inlet (or firth) of the North Sea, north and east of Inverness, which is in the Highland council area of the north of Scotland. It is the largest firth in Scotland, stretching from Duncans ...

. Findhorn is 3 miles (5 km) northwest of Kinloss, and about 5 miles (9 km) by road from

Forres Forres (; ) is a town and former royal burgh in the north of Scotland on the County of Moray, Moray coast, approximately northeast of Inverness and west of Elgin, Moray, Elgin. Forres has been a winner of the Scotland in Bloom award on several ...

. The

Findhorn Foundation The Findhorn Foundation is a Scottish charitable trust registered in 1972, formed by the spiritual community at the Findhorn Ecovillage, one of the largest intentional communities in Britain.''The Dictionary of Alternatives: Utopianism and O ...

lies to the south of Findhorn Village but is considered separate from it.

History

Original settlement

The existing settlement is the second village to bear this name, the original having been a mile to the northwest of the present position and inundated by the sea. This transposition was not an overnight catastrophe but a gradual withdrawal from the earlier site during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Some sources (e.g. Graham), claim it is the third village to bear the name, perhaps erroneously assuming that the seventeenth century destruction of the nearby Barony of Culbin by shifting sands resulted in an earlier relocation. Findhorn was part of the

Barony of Muirton Baron of Muirton is a title of nobility in the Baronage of Scotland. The first known Crown charter was granted in 1532, to Robert Reid (bishop), Robert Reid, Abbot of Kinloss. In 2019, the current baron ascended to the title The M. Hon. Dr. ...

and was erected into

burgh of barony A burgh of barony was a type of Scottish town (burgh). Burghs of barony were distinct from royal burghs, as the title was granted to a landowner who, as a tenant-in-chief, held his estates directly from the crown. (In some cases, they might also ...

by act of Parliament in 1661. Although surely

Gaelic Gaelic (pronounced for Irish Gaelic and for Scots Gaelic) is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". It may refer to: Languages * Gaelic languages or Goidelic languages, a linguistic group that is one of the two branches of the Insul ...

in origin the derivation of the name of the

River Findhorn The River Findhorn () is one of the longest rivers in Scotland. Located in the north east, it flows into the Moray Firth on the north coast. It has one of the largest non-firth estuary, estuaries in Scotland. The river is c.

is not absolutely clear. Watson (1926) states that it is derived from ''Fionn Èire'', meaning "white Ireland" which "doubtless refers to the white sands of the estuary". The

genitive In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can ...

''Èireann'' gave rise to the use of the anglified 'erne' in other local names such as Invererne, Cullerne and Earnhill.

Major seaport

In the seventeenth century Findhorn was the principal

seaport A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manc ...

of Moray and vessels regularly sailed to and from all parts of the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

and as far as the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages *Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...

Ports. Changes to the narrow and shallow entrance to the Bay created obstacles to navigation and as the size of trading vessels increased so the volume of trade to the village declined. Findhorn Bay witnessed a brief episode in the

1745 Jacobite rising The Jacobite rising of 1745 was an attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the Monarchy of Great Britain, British throne for his father, James Francis Edward Stuart. It took place during the War of the Austrian Succession, when the bulk of t ...

. In March 1746 the French brigantine ''Le Bien Trouvé'' entered the tidal waters with dispatches for

Bonnie Prince Charlie Charles Edward Louis John Sylvester Maria Casimir Stuart (31 December 1720 – 30 January 1788) was the elder son of James Francis Edward Stuart, making him the grandson of James VII and II, and the Stuart claimant to the thrones of England, ...

but her departure, with the Prince's aide-de-camp on board, was delayed by the arrival of two British men-o'-war. Unable to enter the shallow bay, the two warships lay in wait in the Firth. Somehow ''Le Bien Trouvé'' slipped out and away to safety on a dark night. The name is recalled in the modern-day training gig of the same name which is based at Findhorn.

Fishing village

During the nineteenth century fishing predominated. During the 1829 floods known as " The Muckle Spate" five Findhorn fishing boats rescued

residents. For a few years (1860-9) there was a branch

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

line to Findhorn railway station in the village to take advantage of the herring fleet.

Modern times

The early twentieth century saw a decline in fishing as the traditional two-masted

zulus Zulu people (; ) are a native people of Southern Africa of the Nguni. The Zulu people are the largest ethnic group and nation in South Africa, living mainly in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. They originated from Nguni communities who took p ...

were in their turn being replaced by larger vessels. Some of the craft, 'temporarily' beached on the western shore of the Bay whilst their crews fought in the First World War, were never used again. The wreckage is still visible at low tide. The shore-based salmon fisheries lasted until the 1980s but they too are no more. Today the village is a dormitory suburb and leisure craft dominate the moorings. The Crown and Anchor Inn, dating from 1739, is the oldest surviving structure in the village. Other prominent buildings of note include Findhorn House built in 1775, which is the home of the Royal Findhorn Yacht Club, The Kimberley Inn, the James Milne Institute, The Universal Hall at the

and the ice house Heritage Centre. Findhorn Golf Club (now defunct) was founded in 1926 and continued until World War II.

Education

Primary school students go to nearby Kinloss Primary School in Kinloss. Secondary students are in the catchment zone of

Forres Academy Forres Academy is a comprehensive community school serving the town of Forres, Scotland, and its rural catchment area in west Moray. As in other Scottish schools, pupils are able to leave after the fourth year of schooling; therefore, the fifth an ...

.Aspire to Inspire-Handbook 2016-2017
."

. Retrieved on 1 July 2017. page 3 (3/49).

Notes

References

* Graham, C. (1977). Portrait of the Moray Firth. London. Robert Hale. * Cochrane, R.G. & Shand, W. (1981). Findhorn: A Scottish Village. Findhorn Press. * Lauder, T.D. (1873). An Account of the Great Floods of August 1829. J. McGillivary. * McKean, Charles (1987). The District of Moray: An Illustrated Architectural Guide. Scottish Academic Press. * Sellar, W.D.H. (editor) (1993). Moray: Province and People. Scottish Society for Northern Studies. * Ross, Sinclair (1992). The Culbin Sands: Fact and Fiction. University of Aberdeen. * Watson, W. J. (1994) ''The Celtic Place-Names of Scotland''. Edinburgh. Birlinn. . First published 1926. {{Use British English, date=May 2025 Villages in Moray