Fochabers is a village in the Parish of Bellie, in Moray, Scotland, 10 miles (16 km) east of the cathedral city of Elgin as well as situated on the eastern financial institution of the River Spey. 1,728 individuals live in the town, which appreciates an abundant music and social background. The town is additionally residence to Baxters, the family-run manufacturer of foods items. The village owes its presence to Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon (1743-1827). During the late-eighteenth century, throughout the Scottish Enlightenment, it was trendy for landowners to discovered new towns as well as villages; these can be identified all over Scotland, due to the fact that unlike their precursors they all have straight, vast streets in mostly rectangular formats, a central square, as well as your homes developed with their main altitudes parallel to the street. The tenants took advantage of even more roomy residences, and also the Duke, it needs to be claimed, taken advantage of not having the hoi polloi living in hovels exactly on the doorstep of Gordon Castle. Fochabers was founded in 1776, and is among the best examples of a prepared town. It is a conservation area, with most of the structures in the High Street noted as being of historic or architectural passion, as is Bellie Kirk, the Roman Catholic church St. Mary's Fochabers, which houses jobs by noteworthy artisans, and also the Episcopalian church, Gordon Chapel, which boasts the largest collection of Pre-Raphaelite stained glass in Scotland. Electrical power was given the town in 1906 by Charles Gordon-Lennox, 7th Duke of Richmond supplied from a small 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 three duchesses - Hilda, Duchess of Richmond as well as Gordon; Ivy, Duchess of Rose City and Helen, Duchess of Northumberland. Between 1893 and also 1966 the town had a train station, Fochabers Town, although after 1931 this was open just to freight. For nearly 3 decades, individuals of Fochabers advocated a bypass, as the town is located on the A96, the only direct route from Aberdeen to Inverness, and as a result suffers from significant website traffic issues. Building service a bypass for Fochabers and also the neighbouring town of Mosstodloch began on 2 February 2010 as well as was finished in January 2012, at an expense of £31,500,000. The task was considerably postponed because of conflict concerning the proposed route, and discovery of a Neolithic negotiation on the site of the bypass.