Burgh
A burgh was an autonomous municipal corporation in Scotland and Northern England a town, or toun in Scots. This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when King David I created the first royal burghs. Burgh status was broadly analogous to borough status, found in the rest of the United Kingdom. Following local government reorganization in 1975 the title of "royal burgh" remains in use in many towns, but now has little more than ceremonial value; the first burgh was Berwick. By 1130, David I had established other burghs including Edinburgh, Dunfermline, Perth, Jedburgh and Lanark. Most of the burghs granted charters in his reign already existed as settlements. Charters were copied verbatim from those used in England, early burgesses invited English and Flemish settlers, they were able to impose fines on traders within a region outside their settlements. Most of the early burghs were on the east coast, among them were the largest and wealthiest, including Aberdeen, Berwick and Edinburgh, whose growth was facilitated by trade with other North Sea ports on the continent, in particular in the Low Countries, as well as ports on the Baltic Sea.
In the south-west, Glasgow and Kirkcudbright were aided by the less profitable sea trade with Ireland and to a lesser extent France and Spain. Burghs were settlements under the protection of a castle and had a market place, with a widened high street or junction, marked by a mercat cross, beside houses for the burgesses and other inhabitants; the founding of 16 royal burghs can be traced to the reign of David I and there is evidence of 55 burghs by 1296. In addition to the major royal burghs, the late Middle Ages saw the proliferation of baronial and ecclesiastical burghs, with 51 created between 1450 and 1516. Most of these were much smaller than their royal counterparts. Excluded from foreign trade, they acted as local markets and centres of craftsmanship. Burghs were centres of basic crafts, including the manufacture of shoes, dishes, joinery and ale, which would be sold to "indwellers" and "outdwellers" on market days. In general, burghs carried out far more local trading with their hinterlands, on which they relied for food and raw materials, than trading nationally or abroad.
Burghs had rights to representation in the Parliament of Scotland. Under the Acts of Union of 1707 many became parliamentary burghs, represented in the Parliament of Great Britain. Under the Reform Acts of 1832, 32 years after the merger of the Parliament of Great Britain into the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the boundaries of burghs for parliamentary elections ceased to be their boundaries for other purposes. There were several types of burgh, including. Burgh of regality, granted to a nobleman or "lord of regality". Burgh of barony, granted to a tenant-in-chief, with narrower powers. Parliamentary burgh or Burgh constituency, a type of parliamentary constituency. Police burgh; until 1833, each burgh had a different constitution or "sett". The government of the burgh was in the hands of a self-nominating corporation, few local government functions were performed: these were left to ad hoc bodies. Two pieces of reforming legislation were enacted in 1834: The Royal Burghs Act and the Burghs and Police Act.
The Royal Burghs Act provided for the election of councillors. Each burgh was to have a common council consisting of a provost and councillors; every parliamentary elector living within the "royalty" or area of the royal burgh, or within seven statute miles of its boundary, was entitled to vote in burgh elections. One third of the common council was elected each year; the councillors selected a number of their members to be bailies, who acted as a magistrates bench for the burgh and dealt with such issues as licensing. The provost, or chief magistrate, was elected from among the council every three years; the Royal Burghs Act was extended to the 12 parliamentary burghs, enfranchised. These were growing industrial centres, apart from the lack of a charter, they had identical powers and privileges to the royal burghs. Royal Burghs retained the right to corporate property or "common good"; this property was used for the advantage of the inhabitants of the burgh, funding such facilities as public parks and civic events.
The Burghs and Police Act allowed the inhabitants of Royal Burghs, Burghs of Regality and of Barony to adopt a "police system". "Police" in this sense did not refer to law enforcement, but to various local government activities summarised in the Act as "paving, cleansing, supplying with water, improving such Burghs as may be necessary and expedient". The Act could be adopted following its approval in a poll of householders in the burgh. Burghs reformed or created under this and legislation became known as police burghs; the governing body of a police burgh were the police commissioners. The commissioners were elected by the existing town council of the burgh, not by the electorate at large; the town council of a burgh could by a three-quarters majority become police commissioners for the burgh. In many cases this led to the existence of two parallel burgh administrations, the town council and the police commissioners, each with the same membership, but separate legal identity and powers. Further legislation in 1850 allowed "populous places" other than existing burghs to become police burghs.
In 1893, most of the anomalies in th
Fire services in the United Kingdom
The fire services in the United Kingdom operate under separate legislative and administrative arrangements in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland. Emergency cover is provided by over fifty agencies; these are known as a fire and rescue service, the term used in modern legislation and by government departments. The older terms of fire brigade and fire service survive in informal usage and in the names of a few organisations. England and Wales have local fire services which are each overseen by a fire authority, made up of representatives of local governments. Fire authorities have the power to raise a Council Tax levy for funding, with the remainder coming from the government. Scotland and Northern Ireland have centralised fire services, so their authorities are committees of the devolved parliaments; the total budget for fire services in 2014-15 was £2.9 billion. Central government maintains national standards and a body of independent advisers through the Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser, created in 2007, while Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services provides direct oversight.
The devolved government in Scotland has HMFSI Scotland. Firefighters in the United Kingdom are allowed to join unions, the main one being the Fire Brigades Union, while chief fire officers are members of the National Fire Chiefs Council, which has some role in national co-ordination; the fire services have undergone significant changes since the beginning of the 21st century, a process, propelled by a devolution of central government powers, new legislation and a change to operational procedures in the light of terrorism attacks and threats. See separate article History of fire safety legislation in the United Kingdom Comprehensive list of recent UK fire and rescue service legislation: Fire services are established and granted their powers under new legislation which has replaced a number of Acts of Parliament dating back more than 60 years, but is still undergoing change. 1938: Fire Brigades Act 1938. This Act provided for centralised co-ordination of fire brigades in Great Britain and made it mandatory for local authorities to arrange an effective fire service.
1947: Fire Services Act 1947 This Act transferred the functions of the National Fire Service to local authorities. Now repealed in England and Wales by Schedule 2 of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004. 1959: Fire Services Act 1959 This Act amended the 1947 Act. It was repealed in Wales along with the 1947 Act. 1999: Greater London Authority Act 1999 This act was necessary to allow for the formation of the Greater London Authority and in turn the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority. In 2002, there was a series of national fire strikes, with much of the discontent caused by the aforementioned report into the fire service conducted by Prof Sir George Bain. In December 2002, the Independent Review of the Fire Service was published with the industrial action still ongoing. Bain's report led to a change in the laws relating to firefighting. 2002: Independent Review of the Fire Service published 2004: Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 only applying to England and Wales. 2006: The Regulatory Reform Order 2005 This piece of secondary legislation or statutory instrument replaces several other acts that dealt with fire precautions and fire safety in premises, including the now defunct process of issuing fire certificates.
It came into force on 1 October 2006. The DfCLG has published a set of guides for non-domestic premises: 2006: The Government of Wales Act 2006 gave the National Assembly for Wales powers to pass laws on "Fire and rescue services. Promotion of fire safety otherwise than by prohibition or regulation." But does not prevent future legislation being passed by the UK government which applies to two or more constituent countries. There are further plans to modernise the fire service according to the Local Government Association, its website outlines future changes, specific projects: "The aim of the Fire Modernisation Programme is to adopt modern work practices within the Fire & Rescue Service to become more efficient and effective, while strengthening the contingency and resilience of the Service to react to incidents. " The fire service in England and Wales is scrutinised by a House of Commons select committee. In June 2006, the fire and rescue service select committee, under the auspices of the Communities and Local Government Committee, published its latest report.
Committee report The committee's brief is described on its website: The Communities and Local Government Committee is appointed by the House of Commons to examine the expenditure and policy of the Department for Communities and Local Government and its associated bodies. Government response This document, the subsequent government response in September 2006, are important as they outlined progress on the FiReControl, efforts to address diversity and the planned closure of HMFSI in 2007 among many issues. Both documents are interesting as they refer back to Professor Bain's report and the many recommendations it made and continue to put forward the notion that there is an ongoing need to modernise FRSs. For example, where FRSs were inspected by HMFSI, much of this work is now carried out by the National Audit Office. Fire Control On 8 February 2010 the House of Commons Communities and Local Governm
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is a city in northeast Scotland. It is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 37th most populous built-up area, with an official population estimate of 196,670 for the city of Aberdeen and 228,800 for the local council area. During the mid-18th to mid-20th centuries, Aberdeen's buildings incorporated locally quarried grey granite, which can sparkle like silver because of its high mica content. Since the discovery of North Sea oil in the 1970s, Aberdeen has been known as the off-shore oil capital of Europe; the area around Aberdeen has been settled since at least 8,000 years ago, when prehistoric villages lay around the mouths of the rivers Dee and Don. The city has a long, sandy coastline and a marine climate, the latter resulting in chilly summers and mild winters. Aberdeen received Royal burgh status from David I of Scotland; the city's two universities, the University of Aberdeen, founded in 1495, Robert Gordon University, awarded university status in 1992, make Aberdeen the educational centre of the north-east of Scotland.
The traditional industries of fishing, paper-making and textiles have been overtaken by the oil industry and Aberdeen's seaport. Aberdeen Heliport is one of the busiest commercial heliports in the world and the seaport is the largest in the north-east of Scotland. Aberdeen hosts the Aberdeen International Youth Festival, a major international event which attracts up to 1000 of the most talented young performing arts companies. In 2015, Mercer named Aberdeen the 57th most liveable city in the world, as well as the fourth most liveable city in Britain. In 2012, HSBC named Aberdeen as a leading business hub and one of eight'super cities' spearheading the UK's economy, marking it as the only city in Scotland to receive this accolade. In 2018, Aberdeen was found to be the best city in the UK to start a business in a study released by card payment firm Paymentsense; the Aberdeen area has seen human settlement for at least 8,000 years. The city began as two separate burghs: Old Aberdeen at the mouth of the river Don.
The earliest charter was granted by William the Lion in 1179 and confirmed the corporate rights granted by David I. In 1319, the Great Charter of Robert the Bruce transformed Aberdeen into a property-owning and financially independent community. Granted with it was the nearby Forest of Stocket, whose income formed the basis for the city's Common Good Fund which still benefits Aberdonians. During the Wars of Scottish Independence, Aberdeen was under English rule, so Robert the Bruce laid siege to Aberdeen Castle before destroying it in 1308, followed by the massacring of the English garrison; the city was rebuilt and extended. The city was fortified to prevent attacks by neighbouring lords, but the gates were removed by 1770. During the Wars of the Three Kingdoms of 1644 to 1647 the city was plundered by both sides. In 1644, it was taken and ransacked by Royalist troops after the Battle of Aberdeen and two years it was stormed by a Royalist force under the command of the Marquis of Huntly. In 1647 an outbreak of bubonic plague killed a quarter of the population.
In the 18th century, a new Town Hall was built and the first social services appeared with the Infirmary at Woolmanhill in 1742 and the Lunatic Asylum in 1779. The council began major road improvements at the end of the 18th century with the main thoroughfares of George Street, King Street and Union Street all completed at the beginning of the 19th century; the expensive infrastructure works led to the city becoming bankrupt in 1817 during the Post-Napoleonic depression, an economic downturn after the Napoleonic Wars. The increasing economic importance of Aberdeen and the development of the shipbuilding and fishing industries led to the construction of the present harbour including Victoria Dock and the South Breakwater, the extension of the North Pier. Gas street lighting arrived in 1824 and an enhanced water supply appeared in 1830 when water was pumped from the Dee to a reservoir in Union Place. An underground sewer system replaced open sewers in 1865; the city was incorporated in 1891. Although Old Aberdeen has a separate history and still holds its ancient charter, it is no longer independent.
It is an integral part of the city, as is Woodside and the Royal Burgh of Torry to the south of the River Dee. During the Second World War Aberdeen was bombed quite badly on the 21 April 1943 when around 20 Luftwaffe bombers circled around Aberdeen; because there were no planes at RAF leuchars they were all fighting in the Battle of Britain this meant that the bombers would fly back and forth around Aberdeen. 98 people died on that night and 20,000 homes were destroyed during the bombing which caused severe damage to many different homes around the city. Aberdeen became Gaelic-speaking at some time in the medieval period. Old Aberdeen is the approximate location of the first settlement of Aberdeen; the Celtic word aber means "river mouth", as in modern Welsh. The Scottish Gaelic name is Obar Dheathain, in Latin, the Romans referred to the river as Devana. Mediaeval Latin has it as Aberdonia. Aberdeen is locally governed by Aber
Auchindoun Castle
Auchindoun Castle is a 15th-century L-Plan tower castle located in Auchindoun near Dufftown in Moray, Scotland. While there is evidence of prehistoric Pictish earthworks in the grounds of the castle, the remains most visible today are of the castle constructed in the mid-15th century by Robert Cochrane, it was passed to the Clan Ogilvy in 1489 and from them to the Clan Gordon in 1535. An extension is known to have been added in the 16th century by the Gordons before the Ogilvys reclaimed it in 1594, it having been destroyed by the Clan MacKintosh in 1592 in retaliation for the 6th Earl George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly's killing of The Bonny Earl O'Moray, their ally. Following the Restoration of Charles II, the castle was again awarded to the Marquis of Huntly. In 1689, during the first Jacobite rising, the castle was used as a temporary headquarters by John Graham, 1st Viscount Dundee and his Jacobite army. However, the castle was derelict by 1725. Stones taken from the castle have been used in nearby Balvenie Castle.
While standing, the castle had high curtain wall. Supporting buildings including a stable and bakery stood inside the wall. A second round tower guarded the northwest corner of the compound. Cellars and dungeons were dug directly into the bedrock beneath the tower. Today much of the curtain wall and some of the outbuildings remain, but the central tower itself is dilapidated; the ruins of the castle are in the care of Historic Environment Scotland as a scheduled monument, but were for many years in too dangerous a condition to be open to the public. On the completion of consolidation works, Auchindoun was re-opened for public viewing in November 2007; the sacking of Auchindoun by the Clan MacKintosh inspired a traditional song, "The Burning of Auchindoun", Child Ballad 183, "Willie MacIntosh": As A cam in by Fiddichside, on a May morninA spied Willie MacIntosh an oor before the dawninTarn again, tarn again, tarn again, A'se bid yeIf ye barn Auchindoun, Huntly he will heid yeHeid me or hang me, that shall never fear meA'll burn Auchindoun tho' the life leave meAs A cam in bi Fiddichside on a May morninAuchindoun was in a bleeze, an hour before the dawningCrawing, for a' your crouse crawin'Ye burnt yer crop an tint your wings an oor before the dawnin List of places in Moray List of places in Highland List of places in Aberdeenshire Scheduled monuments in Moray Historic Environment Scotland: Visitor guide "search results for 334885,837460".
Streetmap – Maps and directions for the whole of Great Britain. Streetmap EU Lt. Archived from the original on June 29, 2011. Retrieved February 14, 2011. Castle location map
Moray (UK Parliament constituency)
Moray is a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election. A rural constituency, Elgin is the main town, with the rest of the population sprinkled across several small fishing and farming communities; the constituency voted against Scottish independence in a referendum held in 2014 on an above-average margin of 57.6% "No" 42.4% "Yes", had the highest percentage for "Leave" of any council area in Scotland at the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum at 50.1% "Remain" 49.9% "Leave". 1983-1997: Moray District. 1997-2005: The Moray District electoral divisions of Buckie, Elgin North East, Elgin South West, Innes-Heldon, Rathford-Lennox, Speyside-Glenlivet. 2005-present: The Moray Council area. The constituency covers the whole of the Moray council area. Between 1997 and 2005, it covered a smaller area. A similar constituency called Moray, is used for elections to the Scottish Parliament.
The seat is bordered by the constituencies of Banff and Buchan, Inverness, Nairn and Strathspey and West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine. The constituency was created in 1983 from parts of the former seats of Moray and Nairn, Banff. Moray is an affluent rural constituency in the north-east of Scotland; the constituency follows the southern coastline of the Moray Firth between Cullen to the east and Duke to the west, on the outskirts of Forres, extends up towards the northern fringes of the Cairngorms National Park along the River Spey and its tributaries. The constituency covers the River Lossie and its tributaries, the lower reaches of the River Findhorn. Agriculture, fishing and whisky distilling are important in the local economy. Along the north coast of Moray is a mixture of fishing towns and villages such as Lossiemouth and Portknockie. Lossiemouth houses the RAF Lossiemouth Royal Air Force station, among the busiest and largest fast-jet stations in the Royal Air Force, is an important source of employment for those living in the Laich of Moray between Elgin and Lossiemouth.
On the eastern banks of the River Findhorn, 15 miles south-west of Lossiemouth, is the larger town of Forres, the site of Sueno's Stone, Brodie Castle and the Dallas Dhu Distillery. There is a cluster of whisky distilleries along the River Spey and along the A941 corridor between Craigellachie and Moray's capital of Elgin. Elgin is the site of the Elgin Cathedral, it houses about 25% of Moray's population, is referred to as a city despite lacking official recognition. According to a 2006 survey conducted by HBOS, Elgin has among the highest property prices of any town in Scotland. South and east of Elgin, the River Spey and areas east of the river belonged to the former county of Banffshire, while Moray instead incorporated parts of Nairn, today included in the Highland council area and in the Inverness, Nairn and Strathspey parliamentary constituency; the upper reaches of the River Spey stretch down from mountainous terrain in the south to still thinly populated rolling plains. Rural communities in this region predominantly rely upon tourism, whisky distilling and agriculture for employment.
In the north-east of Moray, Buckie is a prominent fishing port. Oil forms a substantial part of the local economy: over 10% of Moray's population commute to Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire working in the oil and gas industry. Moray was predominantly represented by the Conservative Party; the constituency's predecessor seats of Banffshire and Moray and Nairn were represented by the Conservatives continuously from the 1935 general election until both seats were abolished to form Moray in 1983, with the electorate voting SNP at the February and October general elections in 1974. When the Moray constituency was first established in 1983, it elected Alexander Pollock of the Conservatives as MP with a 1,713 majority; the constituency was a Conservative-SNP marginal until Labour's landslide victory in 1997, when Margaret Ewing doubled her majority to 5,566. Labour made a breakthrough in the constituency at the 2001 general election when Margaret Ewing retired to be replaced by Angus Robertson: Labour came ahead of the Conservatives for the first time, but the SNP beat them by 1,744 votes.
Angus Robertson increased his majority at the 2005 general election. At the 2015 general election, the Conservatives had their best result in the constituency since 1997; the equivalent Scottish Parliamentary constituency of Moray was thought of as safe for the SNP since the 2003 Scottish Parliament election, however in 2016 the SNP's majority in the constituency was cut by the Conservatives from 10,944 to 2,875. In the 2017 Moray Council election, the Conservatives were for the first time the largest party by votes cast in Moray; the party were ahead in all wards in the more densely populated north-west of the council area, an area known as the Laich of Moray, covering the towns of Elgin, Lossiemouth, Burghead and Lhanbryde. Douglas Ross gained the seat
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament is the devolved unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is referred to by the metonym Holyrood; the Parliament is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament, elected for four-year terms under the additional member system: 73 MSPs represent individual geographical constituencies elected by the plurality system, while a further 56 are returned from eight additional member regions, each electing seven MSPs. The most recent general election to the Parliament was held on 5 May 2016, with the Scottish National Party winning a plurality; the original Parliament of Scotland was the national legislature of the independent Kingdom of Scotland, existed from the early 13th century until the Kingdom of Scotland merged with the Kingdom of England under the Acts of Union 1707 to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. As a consequence, both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England ceased to exist, the Parliament of Great Britain, which sat at Westminster in London was formed.
Following a referendum in 1997, in which the Scottish electorate voted for devolution, the powers of the devolved legislature were specified by the Scotland Act 1998. The Act delineates the legislative competence of the Parliament – the areas in which it can make laws – by explicitly specifying powers that are "reserved" to the Parliament of the United Kingdom; the Scottish Parliament has the power to legislate in all areas that are not explicitly reserved to Westminster. The British Parliament retains the ability to amend the terms of reference of the Scottish Parliament, can extend or reduce the areas in which it can make laws; the first meeting of the new Parliament took place on 12 May 1999. The competence of the Scottish Parliament has been amended numerous times since most notably by the Scotland Act 2012 and Scotland Act 2016, with some of the most significant changes being the expansion of the Parliament's powers over taxation and welfare. Before the Treaty of Union 1707 united the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England into a new state called "Great Britain", Scotland had an independent parliament known as the Parliament of Scotland.
Initial Scottish proposals in the negotiation over the Union suggested a devolved Parliament be retained in Scotland, but this was not accepted by the English negotiators. For the next three hundred years, Scotland was directly governed by the Parliament of Great Britain and the subsequent Parliament of the United Kingdom, both seated at Westminster, the lack of a Parliament of Scotland remained an important element in Scottish national identity. Suggestions for a'devolved' Parliament were made before 1914, but were shelved due to the outbreak of the First World War. A sharp rise in nationalism in Scotland during the late 1960s fuelled demands for some form of home rule or complete independence, in 1969 prompted the incumbent Labour government of Harold Wilson to set up the Kilbrandon Commission to consider the British constitution. One of the principal objectives of the commission was to examine ways of enabling more self-government for Scotland, within the unitary state of the United Kingdom.
Kilbrandon published his report in 1973 recommending the establishment of a directly elected Scottish Assembly to legislate for the majority of domestic Scottish affairs. During this time, the discovery of oil in the North Sea and the following "It's Scotland's oil" campaign of the Scottish National Party resulted in rising support for Scottish independence, as well as the SNP; the party argued that the revenues from the oil were not benefitting Scotland as much as they should. The combined effect of these events led to Prime Minister Wilson committing his government to some form of devolved legislature in 1974. However, it was not until 1978 that final legislative proposals for a Scottish Assembly were passed by the United Kingdom Parliament. Under the terms of the Scotland Act 1978, an elected assembly would be set up in Edinburgh provided that a referendum be held on 1 March 1979, with at least 40% of the total electorate voting in favour of the proposal; the 1979 Scottish devolution referendum failed: although the vote was 51.6% in favour of a Scottish Assembly, with a turnout of 63.6%, the majority represented only 32.9% of the eligible voting population.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, demand for a Scottish Parliament grew, in part because the government of the United Kingdom was controlled by the Conservative Party, while Scotland itself elected few Conservative MPs. In the aftermath of the 1979 referendum defeat, the Campaign for a Scottish Assembly was initiated as a pressure group, leading to the 1989 Scottish Constitutional Convention with various organisations such as Scottish churches, political parties and representatives of industry taking part. Publishing its blueprint for devolution in 1995, the Convention provided much of the basis for the structure of the Parliament. Devolution continued to be part of the platform of the Labour Party which, in May 1997, took power under Tony Blair. In September 1997, the Scottish devolution referendum was put to the Scottish electorate and secured a majority in favour of the establishment of a new devolved Scottish Parliament, with tax-varying powers, in Edinburgh. An election was held on 6 May 1999, on 1 July of that year power was transferred from Westminster to the new Parliament.
Since September 2004, the official home of the Scottish Parliament has been a new Scottish Parliament Building, in the Holyrood area of Edinburgh. The Scottish Parliament building was designed by Spanish architect Enric Miralles in partnership with local Ed
Dufftown Clock Tower
Dufftown Clock Tower is a stone tower with a clock at the crossroads in the centre of Dufftown, Moray, at the focal point of the town square. It became a Class B listed building in 1972; the town was a planned settlement, developed from 1817 by James Duff, 4th Earl Fife, near Balvenie Castle and Balvenie House. There are six malt whisky distilleries operating nearby: Dufftown, Glendullan, Balvenie and Glenfiddich; the three storey tower was constructed of grey granite with pink granite dressings in 1839, as the town gaol. After use as a prison, as the Burgh Chambers, it is now a Tourist Information Centre; the ground floor has doors with band courses between the floors. The first and second floors have a window recess on each elevation, some have a sash window but many are blank; the walls have some mock circular gun loops. The crenelated parapet has a clock face on each elevation, with a dummy bartizan at each corner; the tower was topped by a leaded steeple. The clock was brought to Dufftown from Banff, where it was known as "the Clock That Hanged MacPherson": MacPherson of Kingussie was convicted and condemned to death, the Sheriff of Banff Lord Braco put the clock forward by 15 minutes to ensure that MacPherson would be hanged before a pardon arrive.
Around the base of the tower are plaques commemorating Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife and Lord Mount Stephen, another plaque records that the clock was illuminated to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897. A single storey pink granite extension was added to the north in 1925. List of listed buildings in Dufftown, Moray The Square, Clock Tower, Historic Environment Scotland Dufftown, iTraveluk.co.uk Dufftown, Undiscovered Scotland
Media related to Dufftown at Wikimedia Commons
