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Where in Moray?


By Alistair Whitfield

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This dramatic looking view of Duffus Castle was photographed yesterday by Tom McPherson from Hopeman.

Tom McPherson
Tom McPherson

Duffus Castle was a fortress-residence for more than 500 years, from the 1100s to the 1700s.

The leader of the first Jacobite Uprising stayed the night at Duffus Castle shortly days before his death in battle.

John Graham, the 1st Viscount Dundee, came to the castle as a guest of its owner Lord Duffus.

Graham, had remained loyal to James VII of Scotland (James II of England) after the king was deposed due to his Catholic beliefs.

In 1689 he rallied those Highland clans loyal to the Jacobite cause and led them to victory at the Battle of Killiecrankie.

The Highlanders vanquished a far larger Williamite force led by General Hugh Mackay.

However, Graham in the act of leading a cavalry charge downhill was pierced beneath the breastplate by a musket ball and fell dying from his horse.

Despite the battle being a disaster for the government forces, the demise of the charismatic Graham also spelled the end of the insurrection.

Afterwards his death became the subject of numerous legends.

The best-known was that he was invulnerable to lead due to having made a pact with the Devil.

Instead he was killed by being penetrated by a silver button from his own coat.

For his part, Lord Duffus abandoned the castle not long after the battle.

Once one of the most secure strongholds in Scotland, Duffus Castle was reduced to a ruin not many years later.

However it remains an impressive sight, rising on a mound from the flat Laich of Moray.

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