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Ancestral GenSite(s)

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Introduction

     Moray (pronounced "Murray" and spelled Moireibh in Gaelic) is one of the registration counties of Scotland, bordering Nairnshire to the west, Inverness-shire to the south, and Banffshire to the east. It was formerly in use as a local government county until 1975, when Elgin was the county town.

     Prior to 1889 there were two large detached portions of Moray situated locally in Inverness-shire, and a corresponding part of Inverness-shire situated locally in Moray. With the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 these parts were merged into the areas in which they locally lay. The county was officially called Elginshire, or 'Morayshire', sharing the name of the Elginshire parliamentary constituency, so named since 1708.

     In 1975, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, most of the county was combined with Aberlour, Buckie, Cullen, Dufftown, Findochty, Keith and Portknockie areas of the county of Banffshire to form the Moray district of the Grampian region. Grantown-on-Spey and Cromdale areas were combined with Kingussie and Badenoch areas of the county of Inverness-shire to form the Badenoch and Strathspey district of the Highland region.

     The registration county, for property, is 'County of Moray', and a slightly smaller area, also based on the former county, is a lieutenancy area named 'Moray'.

Source: Wikipedia

The following are surnames of persons, found within our databases,

as having been either born, married or died at this location.

Comyn;   Latimer;   Buchan;   FitzHugh

To find out more about each surname listed above click on the corresponding LINK.

Additional information regarding these surnames may also be found at:

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Ancestral GenSite(s)

Altyre;   Forres;  

Altyre

LOCATION: Map Link

57° 35′ 59.96″ N, 3° 37′ 0.23″ W

Sovereign state: United Kingdom;   Constituent country: Scotland;  

Lieutenancy area: Moray;   Council area: Moray

DESCRIPTION:  The name Altyre is derived from the Gaelic word ALTYR which means Land of the Burn (burn being a Scottish word for stream)".  Altyre gives its name to the woodlands and a stream (burn), as well as an estate, and a former parish which united with Rafford in 1661.  

     The site of Altyre Estate is located 3 miles to the south of Forres.   The Altyre Estate is the family home of the great family of Comyn.   Altyre House owned by Gordon Cummings was demolished in 1962. 

     Altyre Parish was originally Part of the Deanery of Elgin, Altyre was a parish from the very earliest of times. It was a common church of the Chapter from 1239 and, in a re-grant to this effect in 1331, it was specified that the revenues were to be used for the support of the Chaplains in the Cathedral.  In later times (some time before 1601) the church was attached to the church of Dallas but it was separated again from it in 1657 (Kellas then being attached to Dallas) and was attached to the church of Rafford. It is thought that Altyre fell out of use at this time.

Altrye Chapel, located ¾ mile north of the Altyre Manor was the parish church of the parish of Altyre.  The Chapel  site is one of the few remaining examples of a 13th-century Scottish church which remains largely unaltered. The church was built sometime in the latter decades of the 1200s and continued in use until its abandonment in the 1650s.  Following its abandonment, the church was used as a burial place by the local inhabitants, with internments being carried out both inside and outside the castle.

ANCESTORS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS GEN-SITE:  Margaret (of) Buchan;   Alexander Comyn;   Richard Comyn;    William Comyn;    William Comyn;   Robert FitzHugh;   Sarah Fitzhugh;   Joan (de) Latimer 

INTERNET WEB LINK(s):  Scran - Altyre House, Forres;  Altyre Chapel, Forres, Moray, Scotland;  Church of Altyre, Moray Diocese.

Forres

LOCATION: Map Link

57° 35′ 59.96″ N, ° 37′ 0.23″ W

 Sovereign state: United Kingdom;   Constituent country: Scotland;  

Lieutenancy area: Moray;   Council area: Moray

DESCRIPTION:  Forres in Moray is situated just off the A96 about 27 miles east of the Highland capital of Inverness.  Forres was confirmed as a Royal Burgh around the year 1496; it has been recorded that Forres had its own Royal Castle originally built in 900AD, possibly from the time of Kenneth McAlpine the first king of united Scotland.
After William I became King of Scotland in 1165, the castle at Forres served as a hunting lodge for royalty. Today the mound, which is known as castlehill is still there, but unfortunately over the years the remains of the castle have all been removed.

ANCESTORS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS GEN-SITE:  Margaret (of) Buchan;   Alexander Comyn;   Richard Comyn;    William Comyn;    William Comyn;   Robert FitzHugh;   Sarah Fitzhugh;   Joan (de) Latimer 

INTERNET WEB LINK(s):  Visit Forres Scotland;   Forres (Undiscovered Scotland);   Forres - Wikipedia  

The red star in the map at the left designates the location of the seat of government for this district.

A marker shows the location of identified ancestral Gen-Sites.

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The list below will assist in your research regarding the matching of your ancestor’s birth, marriage, death dates and the locality within this county at which these events may have occurred. 

Towns and Villages in Morayshire (Traditional Boundaries c. 1890)

Burghead;   Charlestown of Aberlour;  Craigellachie;   Elgin;   Findochty;   Glenlivet;   Grantown-on-Spey;   Lossiemouth;   Maggieknockater;   Portknockie;   Rothes;   Dufftown;   Hopeman;   Forres;   Buckie;   Keith;   Kinloss;   Kellas;   Alves;   Fochabers;   Mosstodloch;   Lhanbryde

Towns and villages Moray (current council area)

Aberlour, Alves, Archiestown, Arradoul, Auchenhalrig;   Bogmoor, Broadley, Buckie, Burghead;   Clochan, Craigellachie, Cullen, Cummingston;   Dallas, Deskford, Dipple, Drybridge, Dufftown, Duffus, Dyke;   Elgin;   Findhorn, Findochty, Fochabers, Forres, Fogwatt;   Garmouth;   Hopeman;   Ianstown, Inchberry;   Keith, Kingston, Kinloss;   Lhanbryde, Longmorn, Lossiemouth

Mill of Tynet, Mosstodloch; Nether Dallachy, Newmill;   Ordiquish;   Portgordon, Portknockie;   Rathven, Rafford, Rothes, Rothiemay;   Spey Bay Tomintoul;   Unthank, Upper Dallachy, Urquhart

Web resources

General Resources

·      Website & Webpages We Like

·      United Kingdom and Ireland - rootsweb.com

·      GENUKI: UK & Ireland Genealogy

·      UK Genealogy (Portal for UK Family Research)

·      Street Map UK

·      The Gazetteer of British Place Names

·      Ordnance Survey, Britain’s mapping agency

·      Cyndi’s List - United Kingdom & Ireland Index

·      IGI Batch #’s (British Isles & North America)

·      Genealogy SiteFinder: United Kingdom

·      A vision of Britain (a library for local history)

·      UK Genealogy Archives of Family History

·      List of places in the United Kingdom

·      Directory of Cities and Towns in the UK

Locality Specific Resources

·      County of Moray - Wikipedia

·      Moray - Wikipedia

OUR GENEALOGY REFERENCE LIBRARY

The following Link will take you to our library of genealogy reference books that pertain to Morayshire.   Here you will find books about the history and records of this county and other places such as towns and churches. 

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Altyre Chapel, Morayshire

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