About Duffus
The name of DUFFUS derives from the lands of DUFFUS in Morayshire,
Scotland. What is presently known as DUFFUS PARISH encompasses the
lands of the ancient BARONY OF DUFFUS and comprises 9,565 acres. The
DUFFUS name has undergone a variety of spelling changes through the
years; in 1290, "DUFHUS", and in 1512, "DUFFOUS". The name is probably a
compilation of two Gaelic words, dubh and uisg, meaning "darkwater" or
"blackwater". At one time, the region was below sea-level and the Loch
of Spynie and stagnant pools of water were a conspicuous feature of the
area.
In 961 DUFFUS, the son of King Malcolm the First, began his short four
and one half year reign as the 78th King of Scots. He was the subject of
witches' plots and later slain by "one Donald', with his body being
hidden under the bridge which spanned the Kinlosse. The histories state
that the sun failed to shine until the King's body was discovered and
received a proper burial.
The family of DUFFUS were of note as early as the 13th century when
ARKEMBALDUS de DUFFUS witnessed an agreement between Brice, Bishop of
Moray (d. 1222) and John Byseth. DAVID DUFIS, son and heir of JOHN
DUFIS, confirmed to Robert Halliday (Holiday), a tenement within the
town of Invercullen in 1330. JOHN de DUFFHOUS (or DUFWS), who was
granted a canonry of Moray in 1347, appears in 1363 as Subchanter
(Succenter) of Moray. DAVID DUFFUS was admitted Burgess of Aberdeen in
1488 and JAMES DUFFUS was a gardener in Fyvie in 1633. The Kirk Session
Records of Cullen from 1641 record that:
- "James Duffus and George Duffus and Charles Stevinson
- convict in Break of ye Sabbath for
- playing at ye golff, efternoone, in time of Sermon,
- and yrfor ar ordayned evrie ane of them
- to pay havff a merk, and mak yr repentance ye next Sabbath."
DUFFUS CASTLE
Duffus Castle served as a fortress-residence for over six hundred years.
During that time the place underwent great changes none more radical
than the replacement of the original earth-and-timber castle by one of
stone and lime.
When the first castle was built about AD 1150, it was
among the foremost defensible strongholds in Scotland. By the time of
its abandonment in 1705, the once mighty medieval castle was little
more than a decaying fragment of history, completely unsuited as a
residence of nobility.
Early in the sixteenth century the Italian scholar, Giovanni Ferrerio,
was staying as a guest in Kinloss Abbey, and while there wrote a
history of that monastery. In it he tells us that its founder, David I
stayed at Duffus Castle during the summer of 1151 while the masons were
being collected and the work of building set in hand. The castle then
newly built, belonged to Freskin, Lord of Strabrock in West Lothian, who
had received a grant of the lands of Duffus from the King. Taking his
patronymic from the Province in which he settled. Freskin de Moravia,
Lord of Duffus, became the ancestor of the great family of de Moravia
or Moray, which gave a succession of heroes to Scotland in her struggle
for independence and today is represented by the ducal houses of
Sutherland and Atholl. Like nearly all Norman castles in Scotland, Freskin's stronghold was fashioned not of stone and lime but of
timbered earthwork. It consisted of a motte, or moated artificial mound,
crested by a stout palisade and crowned with a wooden tower, the whole
of which formed the keep or lord's residence. Attached to the motto
was a bailey or basement, likewise enclosed within a palisaded bank and
ditch, and containing the wooden buildings of the lord's household -
hall, chamber, chapel, stable, byre, barn, smithy, dovecot, and the
like.
This bailey, while raised high enough above the surrounding plain
for defensive purposes, was itself dominated by the lord's tower on the
motte, which, having its own proper ditch, could be held against the
bailey if that should fall.
About 1280 the line of Freskin ended in three heiresses, one of whom,
Helen, married Sir Reginald le Chen, and so brought Duffus, or at least
that part of the barony which contained the castle, to her husband.
Within the castle, in September and October 1290, the English
commissioners sent by Edward I to receive the hapless Maid of Norway on
her landing at Kirkwall, found shelter both on their northward journey
and on their dolorous return. In 1297 the great revolt against English
domination broke out in Moray. Sir Reginald le Chen remained true to his
Plantagenet overlord. Three times his broad acres were harried and given
to the flames and in 1305 he received from Edward I a grant of 200 oaks
from the royal forests of Darnaway and Longmorn 'to build his manor of
Dufhous'.
From this we may infer that the timber superstructure of
Freskin's castle had been burned during those wild days. To judge by
their architectural characteristics the stone tower and curtain wall
were erected about this time; they closely resemble other buildings in
Scotland which can be assigned to English Occupation. Soon after 1350
the last Cheyne lord of Duffus died, leaving an heiress, Mary, who
brought the barony to her husband, Nicholas, a son of the fourth Earl of
Sutherland, and thus a descendant of the original house of Freskin.
Towards the close of the seventeenth century, the second Lord Duffus
built a new family residence, Duffus House, and thereafter the castle
was abandoned. The castle remained in the hands of the Sutherlands of
Duffus until it was sold in 1705 to Sir Archibald Dunbar. In 1926 Sir
Archibald Edward Dunbar handed over custody of the castle to H. M.
Ministry of Works.
ST.PETER'S KIRK
About a mile north of the castle stand the ruins of St. Peter's, the
old Parish Church of Duffus, which is known to have been in existence
as early as 1226. St. Peter's contained a chapel dedicated to St.
Laurence and an altar of St. Catherine. It is a pleasant place, amongst
old trees, well cared for. The present walls are mainly 18th century,
but with much older work included, and a most excellent early 16th
century porch, complete with groined vaulted roof.
There is also a
barrel-vaulted Sutherland of Duffus crypt, or aisle, to the west, which
was the basement of the original tower. Here is some heraldry and a
Sutherland grave dated 1626. There is a holy-water stoup just inside
the main doorway, and a grave slab with an early cavalry cross on the
floor of the church, with many other slabs used as paving. On the
outside east gable is inserted a Latin tablet dated 1616. There are two
outside fore-stairs to what had been a timber-floored loft, and an
empty belfry. High on the south front is a stone cherub built in, and
on the north walling also part of a very ancient gravestone showing a
two-handed sword, plus other built-in fragments. In the kirkyard rises
the Duffus or St. Peter's Cross, a typical medieval Mercat Cross, a tall
slender column on a plinth.
DUFFUS VILLAGE
Duffus village, old church and later mansion, lie over a mile north, on
slightly rising ground. The village, once called New Duffus, is
pleasantly situated, and fairly compact, although it has increased
largely in recent years with modern housing. Here, at the roadside, is
the present parish church, dating from 1868, quite large and handsome,
with a tall spire and fairly recent graveyard. There are still some old
village houses.
Copyright 1997 David Duffus
This web page is dedicated to my great-great-grandfather, John Duffus,
born in Dundee in 1840 and the son of John Henderson Duffus. John
Duffus was a missionary with the London Missionary Society in
Madagascar in the 1860's. He became an ambassador on behalf of the
government of Madagascar to the courts of Napolean the Third and Queen
Victoria. In the 1870's he settled in Passaic, New Jersey becoming a
city clerk and justice of the peace. He also conducted a real estate
business. He died in New York City in 1912.