Moray, Scotland : Historical writing

Descriptive gazetteer entries

These other entries in our collection of descriptive gazetteers are also about Moray. You may be able to find further references to Moray in the descriptive gazetteers by doing a full-text search here.

Place Type of entry Source
Elginshire or Moray a maritime county Groome
Elginshire (or Morayshire) maritime county Bartholomew
Moray ancient province Bartholomew
Moray Firth the largest and most regular arm of the sea indenting the coast of Scotland Groome
Moray, Province of an extensive district Groome
Morayshire Bartholomew

Travel writing

This website includes the complete texts of books describing journeys around Britain, written between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries. Selecting one of the links below will take you to the first reference to Moray within the selected text. This will not always be a description of a visit: travellers often mention places other than where they are, for example as a basis for comparison.

Traveller Section No. of Refs.
Thomas Pennant Appendix II: Of Elgin and the Shire of Murray 5
Thomas Pennant August 14-18: Inverness and the Black Isle 4
Daniel Defoe Letter 13, Part 2: Dundee, Aberdeen and the Highlands 2
Thomas Pennant July 24-31: Fife and Perthshire 1

This website includes two large libraries, of historical travel writing and of entries from nineteenth century gazetteers describing places. We have text from these sources available for these places near your location:

Place Mentioned in Travel Writing Mentioned in Historical Gazetteer
Archiestown 0 2
Carron 0 2
Aberlour 0 2
Spey 14 2
Craigellachie 0 2
Knockando 1 2
Rothes 2 2
Balvenie 1 2
Dufftown 0 2
Mortlach 6 2
Ballindalloch 0 2
Dundurcas 1 2
Cragganmore 0 1
Birnie 3 2
Boharm 0 2
Lossie 6 2
Botriphnie 0 2
Advie 0 2
Dallas 0 2
Glenlivet 1 2

Names from historical writing

The following appear as names for Moray. Follow the links for what the author actually said:

Name Author Source
ELGINSHIRE John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
F.H. Groome Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (Edinburgh: T.C. Jack, 1882-4).
ELGINSHIRE OR MORAY F.H. Groome Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (Edinburgh: T.C. Jack, 1882-4).
ELGINSHIRE OR MORAYSHIRE John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
MORAY John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
F.H. Groome Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (Edinburgh: T.C. Jack, 1882-4).
MORAY FIRTH F.H. Groome Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (Edinburgh: T.C. Jack, 1882-4).
MORAY PROVINCE OF F.H. Groome Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (Edinburgh: T.C. Jack, 1882-4).
MORAYSHIRE John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
MURRAY Daniel Defoe A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies (London: JM Dent and Co, 1927).
Thomas Pennant A Tour in Scotland 1769 (London: Benjamin White, 1776).
MURRAY LAND Thomas Pennant A Tour in Scotland 1769 (London: Benjamin White, 1776).
§ Thomas Pennant A Tour in Scotland 1769 (London: Benjamin White, 1776).

NB: These variant names come from our collections of historical travel writing and descriptive gazetteers:

  • The above links take you to the first reference to this particular version of the name within a book of travel writing, or to the relevant gazetteer entry.
  • Some names may derive from research by antiquarian writers such as William Camden and Thomas Pennant into the Roman, Saxon and medieval names of places. Their claims are not always supported by modern place-name researchers.
  • References by travel writers to the place using its "normal" name are not included. Descriptive gazetteer entries are included only if the name does not appear anywhere else.