ELGIN, a royal and municipal burgh, and county town of Moray, Scotland, situated on the Lossie, 5 m. S. of Lossiemouth its port, on the Moray Firth, and 37 m. N.E. of Inverness, with stations on the L.N.E.R. and L.M.S.R. Pop. (1931) 8,81o. It was created a royal burgh by Alexander I., and received its charter from Alexander II. in 1234. Edward I. stayed at the castle in 1296 and 1303, and to blot out the memory of his visit the building was destroyed immediately after national inde pendence had been reasserted. The hill on which it stood was renamed the Ladyhill. In 1452 half of the town was burnt by the earl of Huntly. Montrose plundered it twice in 1645. In 1746 Prince Charles Edward spent a few days in Thunderton House. For 5o years after this date the place remained a sleepy cathedral city, but with the approach of the 19th century much that was picturesque disappeared, though its prosperity increased. The cathedral of Moray was founded in 1224, when the church of the Holy Trinity was converted to this use. It was partially burned in 1270 and almost destroyed in 1390 by Alexander Stewart, the Wolf of Badenoch, natural son of Robert II. In 1402 Alexander, lord of the Isles, set fire to the town, but spared the cathedral for a consideration, in memory of which mercy the Little Cross (so named to distinguish it from the Muckle or Market Cross, restored in 1888) was erected. After these outrages it was prac tically rebuilt on a scale that made it the finest church in the north. Its design was that of a Jerusalem cross, with two flanking towers at the east end, two at the west end, and one in the centre, at the intersection of the roofs of the nave and transepts. The central steeple fell in 1506, but was rebuilt, the new tower with its spire reaching a height of 198 ft. By 1S38 the building was complete in every part. Though the Reformation left it unscathed, it suffered wanton violence from time to time. The central tower again collapsed in 1711, after which the building was allowed to go to ruin. Its stones were carted away, and the churchyard, over grown with weeds, became a dumping-ground for rubbish. It lay thus neglected until 1824, when John Shanks, a "drouthy" cobbler, was appointed keeper, and conceived the notion of restoring the place to order. When he died in 1841 he had cleared away all the rubbish, disclosed the original plan, and collected a quantity of fragments. A tablet, let into the wall, contains an epitaph by Lord Cockburn, recording Shank's services to the cathedral which was later entrusted to the custody of H.M. Office of Works. The chapter-house, to the north-east of the main structure, suffered least of all the buildings, and contains a 'Prentice pillar, of which a story is told similar to that of the ornate column in Roslin chapel. General Andrew Anderson 0746-1822) endowed the Elgin Institution (commonly known as the Anderson Institution) for the education of youth and the support of old age. Within the cathe dral precincts stood the bishop's palace (now in ruins) , the houses of the dean and archdeacon (now North and South colleges), and the manses of the canons. Other ecclesiastical buildings were the monasteries of Blackfriars (1230) and Greyfriars (1410) and the preceptory of Maisondieu (1240). They also fell into decay, but the third marquess of Bute restored the Greyfriars' chapel in part. Gray's hospital, at the west end of High Street, was endowed by Dr. Alexander Gray (1751-1808). There is a museum of antiqui ties and natural history and a Victoria school of science and art. In 1903 G. A. Cooper presented his native town with a public park laid out for sports and skating. Grant Lodge, an old mansion of the Grant family, occupying the south-west corner of the park, was converted into the public library, museum and art gallery. From the top of Ladyhill the view commands the links of the Lossie and the surrounding country, and a recreation ground is laid out on Lossie Green.
The industries include distilling, nursery gardening, tanning, and there are saw and flour mills, iron-foundries and manufactures of woollens, and stone quarrying. There are weekly corn and cattle markets. The town has a council with provost and bailies.
Two miles and a half south by west of Elgin stands the church of Birnie, with the exception of the church at Mortlach in Banff shire probably the oldest place of pulllic worship in Scotland still in use. Its date is not later than 1150 and, with its predecessor, it was the cathedral of Moray during the rule of the first four bishops; the fourth bishop, Simon de Toeny, an Englishman, was buried in its precincts in 1184. In the church is preserved an old Celtic altar-bell of hammered iron, known as the "Ronnell bell." Six miles south-west of Elgin, in a secluded valley, lies Pluscarden Priory, a Cistercian house founded by Alexander II. in 123o. The ruins consist of tower, choir, chapter-house, refectory and other apartments. The Liber Pluscardensis, a valuable authority on early Scottish history down to the death of James I., was compiled in the priory by Maurice Buchanan in 1461.