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Burghead is a long, sandy beach. At low tide there is vast, wide expanse of sand, but this all but disappears when the tide comes in. It is a popular place for boating as well as for walking along the beach, taking in the scenery.

 

This part of the Moray coastline is one of the best places in the country for spotting dolphins and even, if you’re very lucky, whales. Behind the beach there are sand dunes as well as a nature reserve. Roseisle Forest lies south of Burghead Beach Caravan Park. It offers a picnic and play area and trails through the scented pinewoods.

 

Also from Vienna 1990 - just don't ask me what it was.

 

Vintage look, produced with JixPix

Mottes were common in Scotland the 1100s and 1200s, before they were replaced by stone castles. They were fortifications, usually consisting of a wooden keep on top of an artificial earthwork mound. Some also had an enclosed courtyard or bailey, containing additional wooden buildings, protected by a ditch and palisade.

 

Duffus Castle was a fortress–residence for more than 500 years, from the 1100s to the 1700s. The stone castle we see today was built in the 1300s, replacing an earlier timber fortress.

 

Once one of the strongest castles in Scotland, it was reduced to a decaying ruin by the time of its abandonment in 1705. But the castle remains an impressive sight, situated on a mound rising out of the flat Laich of Moray.

The Laich of Moray or Laigh of Moray (locally: Laich o' Moray) (Scottish Gaelic: Machair Mhoireibh) is the rich agricultural coastal plain in Moray. Laich is a Scots word meaning Low-lying land. The generally accepted area covered by the term Laich of Moray is from Fochabers to Brodie and also includes the towns of Elgin, Forres, Lossiemouth, Burghead, Hopeman and Lhanbryde.

   

Duffus Castle, near Elgin, Moray, Scotland, was a motte-and-bailey castle and was in use from c.1140 to 1705. During its occupation it underwent many alterations. The most fundamental was the destruction of the original wooden structure and its replacement with one of stone. At the time of its establishment, it was one of the most secure fortifications in Scotland. At the death of the 2nd Lord Duffus in 1705, the castle had become totally unsuitable as a dwelling and so was abandoned.

A tranquil riverside scene unfolds beneath a clear blue sky, where shallow water flows gently over smooth, sunlit stones. Lush green trees frame the river on both sides, their reflections shimmering on the calm surface. Dappled light filters through the foliage, creating a peaceful contrast of shadow and warmth. The landscape feels quiet and undisturbed, capturing a perfect moment of natural serenity along a woodland riverbank.

#riverwalk #naturephotography #landscapephotography #riverside #forestviews #calmwaters #reflectiongram #outdooradventures #naturelovers #scenicviews #wanderlust #earthfocus #discoverearth #peacefulplaces #riverlife #woodland #summerdays #waterreflection #getoutside #exploremore #beautifuldestinations #serenity #rocksandwater #greenescape #hikingviews #countryside #wildandfree #travelgram #sunnyvibes #landscape_lovers

Illustrious returns to Burghead Harbour

Crescent moon over the Toronto skyline from the Leslie Street Spit

The MV Selkie is an efficient, highly manoeuvrable and cost-effective solution to a wide variety of dredging and associated marine projects.

 

Based at Buckie harbour on the Moray Firth, the vessel ideally suited to service ports and harbours around the UK coastline.

 

Equipped with a 360° excavator and a range of buckets, MV Selkie is available for one-off dredging projects, contracts and other civil marine works.

The castle is situated on the Laich of Moray, a fertile plain that was once the swampy foreshore of Spynie Loch. This was originally a more defensive position than it appears today, long after the loch was drained.

 

The motte is a huge man-made mound, with steep sides and a wide ditch separating it from the bailey. The whole site is enclosed by a water-filled ditch, which is more a mark of its boundary than it is a serious defensive measure.

Duffus Castle was built by a Flemish man named Freskin, who came to Scotland in the first half of the 1100s. After an uprising by the ‘men of Moray’ against David I in 1130, the king sent Freskin north as a representative of royal authority.

 

He was given the estate of Duffus, and here he built an earthwork-and-timber castle. Freskin’s son William adopted the title of ‘de Moravia’ – of Moray. By 1200, the family had become the most influential noble family in northern Scotland, giving rise to the earls of Sutherland and Clan Murray.

In about 1270, the castle passed to Sir Reginald Cheyne the Elder, Lord of Inverugie. He probably built the square stone keep on top of the motte, and the curtain wall encircling the bailey. In 1305, the invading King Edward I of England gave him a grant of 200 oaks from the royal forests of Darnaway and Longmorn, which were probably used for the castle’s floors and roofs.

 

By 1350, the castle had passed to a younger son of the Earl of Sutherland through marriage. It may have been then that the keep was abandoned, possibly because it was beginning to slip down the mound, and a new residence established at the north of the bailey.

 

Viscount Dundee, leader of the first Jacobite Rising, dined in the castle as a guest of James, Lord Duffus in 1689, prior to his victory against King William II’s government forces at Killiecrankie. Soon after, Lord Duffus moved to the nearby Duffus House. The castle quickly fell into decay.

 

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