Fochabers is a town in the Parish of Bellie, in Moray, Scotland, 10 miles (16 kilometres) eastern of the cathedral city of Elgin and also situated on the eastern bank of the River Spey. 1,728 individuals live in the village, which appreciates a rich musical and cultural history. The village is additionally home to Baxters, the family-run maker of foods items. The town owes its existence to Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon (1743-1827). During the late-eighteenth century, throughout the Scottish Enlightenment, it was fashionable for landowners to found brand-new towns as well as villages; these can be identified all over Scotland, since unlike their precursors they all have straight, vast roads in primarily rectangular formats, a central square, and your homes built with their main altitudes alongside the street. The occupants gained from even more large homes, as well as the Battle each other, it needs to be said, benefited from not having the hoi polloi living in hovels precisely the doorstep of Gordon Castle. Fochabers was founded in 1776, and also is among the best instances of a prepared town. It is a conservation area, with a lot of the buildings in the High Street listed as being of historic or building rate of interest, as is Bellie Kirk, the Roman Catholic church St. Mary's Fochabers, which houses works by significant artisans, as well as the Episcopalian church, Gordon Chapel, which flaunts the largest collection of Pre-Raphaelite stained glass in Scotland. Power was brought to the village in 1906 by Charles Gordon-Lennox, 7th Duke of Richmond provided from a small hydro-electric generating station integrated in 1905 in the Quarters district on the financial institutions of the fast-flowing Spey. For a time in the mid-twentieth century, Fochabers was the house of 3 duchesses - Hilda, Duchess of Richmond as well as Gordon; Ivy, Duchess of Portland as well as Helen, Duchess of Northumberland. In between 1893 and also 1966 the town had a railway station, Fochabers Community, although after 1931 this was open just to freight. For nearly three decades, individuals of Fochabers advocated a bypass, as the town is located on the A96, the only direct route from Aberdeen to Inverness, as well as consequently experiences major traffic issues. Building and construction work on a bypass for Fochabers as well as the neighbouring town of Mosstodloch began on 2 February 2010 as well as was completed in January 2012, at an expense of £31,500,000. The task was dramatically postponed due to clash concerning the recommended course, as well as discovery of a Neolithic negotiation on the site of the bypass.