Fochabers is a village in the Parish of Bellie, in Moray, Scotland, 10 miles (16 kilometres) east of the cathedral city of Elgin and located on the eastern bank of the River Spey. 1,728 people live in the town, which enjoys an abundant musical as well as cultural background. The town is additionally residence to Baxters, the family-run manufacturer of foodstuffs. The village owes its existence to Alexander Gordon, fourth Duke of Gordon (1743-1827). Throughout the late-eighteenth century, during the Scottish Knowledge, it was fashionable for landowners to found brand-new towns and also towns; these can be acknowledged all over Scotland, because unlike their precursors they all have directly, broad roads in mainly rectangular designs, a main square, and also your houses constructed with their primary altitudes parallel to the street. The renters took advantage of more spacious houses, and the Duke, it has to be said, gained from not having the hoi polloi living in hovels right on the doorstep of Gordon Castle. Fochabers was founded in 1776, and also is just one of the most effective instances of a planned village. It is a conservation area, with the majority of the buildings in the High Street noted as being of historical or architectural interest, as is Bellie Kirk, the Roman Catholic church St. Mary's Fochabers, which houses jobs by remarkable craftsmen, as well as the Episcopalian church, Gordon Chapel, which flaunts the biggest collection of Pre-Raphaelite tarnished glass in Scotland. Electrical energy was given the town in 1906 by Charles Gordon-Lennox, 7th Duke of Richmond provided from a tiny hydro-electric generating station built in 1905 in the Quarters area on the banks of the fast-flowing Spey. Temporarily in the mid-twentieth century, Fochabers was the residence of 3 duchesses - Hilda, Duchess of Richmond and Gordon; Ivy, Duchess of Rose City and also Helen, Duchess of Northumberland. In between 1893 and also 1966 the village had a train station, Fochabers Town, although after 1931 this was open only to products. For almost three years, individuals of Fochabers campaigned for a bypass, as the town is situated on the A96, the only direct route from Aberdeen to Inverness, as well as consequently deals with significant web traffic issues. Building and construction work with a bypass for Fochabers and the adjoining town of Mosstodloch began on 2 February 2010 as well as was finished in January 2012, at a price of £31,500,000. The task was dramatically postponed due to conflict pertaining to the recommended path, as well as exploration of a Neolithic settlement on the site of the bypass.