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Rothes (; gd, Ràthais) is a town in
Moray Moray () gd, Moireibh or ') is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland. Between 1975 ...
,
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
, on the banks of the River Spey, south of Elgin. The town had a population of 1,252 at the 2011 Census. A settlement has been here since AD 600.


History and castle

At the south end of the village lie the remains of Rothes Castle built on a hill by Peter de Pollok about 1200 to command traffic up and down this stretch of Strathspey. The castle's remains consist of a fragment of the massive outer wall overlooking the High Street of Rothes town. The castle was four storeys high, with a portcullis guarding the entrance to the inner courtyard and a drawbridge that crossed the dry moat, which ran between the outer wall and the hill on which the castle stood. Sir Norman Leslie, the castle's owner, was host to King
Edward I of England Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassa ...
on 29 July 1296. In the 1390s Rothes Castle and its lands were passed to the Leslie family, who would later become the Earls of Rothes. Some of the earliest houses in Rothes were built from stones of the castle, which were taken by villagers to build dwellings after the castle was set alight and destroyed in 1662. The town can clearly be seen on maps even before this date. John Grant of Easter Elchies acquired the estate from
John Hamilton-Leslie, 9th Earl of Rothes John Hamilton-Leslie, 9th Earl of Rothes (1679–1722) was a Scottish nobleman who fought on the side of George I during the Jacobite rising of 1715. Biography John Hamilton-Leslie, born in 1679, was the eldest son of Charles Hamilton, 5 ...
in 1711. John Grant of Easter Elchies sold his estate to James Ogilvy, 5th Earl of Findlater and 2nd Earl of Seafield shortly thereafter. An official notice by James Ogilvy, 5th Earl of Findlater and 2nd Earl of Seafield, of intention to feu a town on the Mains of Rothes was placed on 12 December 1763 to the Elginshire Council, and in 1766 the Seafields laid out plans for a crofting township to align north-south along the valley. This forms the genesis of most of the road patterns in Rothes today. The planned town formed a cross to replicate the Saltire in honour of
St. Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( grc-koi, Ἀνδρέᾱς, Andréās ; la, Andrēās ; , syc, ܐܰܢܕ݁ܪܶܐܘܳܣ, ʾAnd’reʾwās), also called Saint Andrew, was an apostle of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is the brother of Simon Peter ...
. It overlay its old unplanned predecessor, which can still be seen on the ground. A formal let of 23 tenements by the earl were placed on 1 March 1790. File:Rothes Castle Wall - geograph.org.uk - 1134660.jpg, Remains of Rothes Castle File:Rothes Castle Remains.jpg, Rothes Castle from the East


Economy

Rothes is home to four distilleriesSpeyburn-Glenlivet Distillery,
Glen Grant Distillery Glen Grant is a distillery founded in 1840 in Rothes, Speyside, that produces single malt Scotch whisky. Previously owned by ''Chivas Brothers Ltd'', best known for their Chivas Regal blended scotch whisky, Glen Grant was purchased by the It ...
, Glen Spey Distillery and Glenrothes Distillery. Caperdonich distillery was the fifth in the town but was mothballed in 2002 and demolished in 2010. Rothes's Glen Grant distillery opened its own bottling plant in 2013. The distillery forms part of the Scotland's Malt Whisky Trail. The Helius CoRDe Biomass Plant was a joint venture by the Combination of Rothes Distillers Ltd and Helius Energy. It was officially opened by Charles, Duke of Rothesay, on 16 April 2013. In addition to the distilleries, Forsyths is a major employer in the town. They specialize in fabrication for the oil and gas industry and the alcoholic-beverage industry.


Transport

Before 1968 Rothes had a railway station in the centre of town, which featured staggered platforms and unusual architecture. On the Orton line, it opened to passenger traffic on 23 August 1858 and was served by the
Morayshire Railway The Morayshire Railway was the first railway to be built north of Aberdeen, Scotland. It received royal assent in 1846 but construction was delayed until 1851 because of the adverse economic conditions existing in the United Kingdom. The railwa ...
. An extension to the line, from Rothes to Craigellachie, was opened on 23 December 1858. A new line between Elgin and Rothes was opened to freight on 30 December 1861 and to passengers on 1 January 1862. The Orton line closed on 31 July 1866, and on 4 November 1968 the Elgin to Rothes line was closed to freight and passengers. File:Rothes Railway Station.jpg, Rothes Railway Station looking south on 27 May 1968, the closure notice is being read. File:A class 24 arrives at Rothes.jpg, A class 24 arrives at Rothes with a train for Aberdeen in May 1968 File:Rothes Railway Station with Station Name.jpg, Rothes Railway Station with the Station name


Sport and leisure

Rothes F.C. Rothes Football Club is a senior football club who play in the Highland Football League. They were originally founded in 1907 as a Junior club, Rothes Victoria, and turned Senior on 4 May 1938 as Rothes FC, obtaining a place in the Highland L ...
are the town's senior football team, playing their games at Mackessack Park in the
Highland Football League The Scottish Highland Football League (SHFL, commonly known as the Highland League) is a senior football league based in the north of Scotland. The league sits at level 5 on the Scottish football league system The Scottish football league syst ...
. File:Mackessack Park Entrance.jpg, Mackessack Park Entrance File:MackessackPark.jpg, Rothes FCs' Main stand at Mackessack Park


Other facilities

Rothes Primary School, which opened in 1916, educates the town's children from primary 1 to 7, at which point they further their education at Speyside High School, located 5 miles south in
Aberlour Aberlour ( gd, Obar Lobhair) is a village in Moray, Scotland, south of Elgin on the road to Grantown. The Lour burn is a tributary of the River Spey, and it and the surrounding parish are both named Aberlour, but the name is more commonly used ...
.
Grant Hall Grant Terry Hall (born 29 October 1991) is an English professional footballer who plays as a central defender for Championship club Rotherham United. He has previously played for Middlesbrough, Queens Park Rangers, Brighton & Hove Albion, ...
, formerly Rothes Town Hall, is a community events venue in the town.


Rothes Flood Alleviation Scheme

Rothes has a very long history of flooding. On numerous occasions, houses have been flooded from a combination of the Back Burn, the Burn of Rothes and the Black Burn. The £25 million Rothes Flood Alleviation Scheme was devised to alleviate flooding from these burns. The works were completed in May 2011, £2.4 million under budget.


Climate

Rothes has an
oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...
typical of Northern Scotland, characterised by relatively mild, damp winters and cool cloudy summers. The area averages 76 air
frost Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor in an above-freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a phase change from water vapor (a gas) ...
s a year. Like much of Europe, Rothes' climate is insulated somewhat by the
Gulf Stream The Gulf Stream, together with its northern extension the North Atlantic Current, North Atlantic Drift, is a warm and swift Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and flows through the Straits of Florida a ...
, a warm ocean current originating near the gulf of Mexico. This warm ocean current makes Rothes's climate significantly milder during the winter than expected for its latitude.


Notable people

File:The Helius CoRDe Biomass Plant. Rothes.jpg, The Helius CoRDe Biomass Plant in Rothes File:01-Glen-Grant.jpg, Glen Grant Distillery *
Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...
Sir Martin Eric Dunbar-Nasmith ,
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
officer and a recipient of the
Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...
, who moved to Rothes in retirement. * James 'The Major' Grant, eccentric businessman who inherited Glen Grant Distillery in 1872. *
Noël Leslie, Countess of Rothes Lucy Noël Martha Leslie, Countess of Rothes (''née'' Dyer-Edwardes; 25 December 1878 – 12 September 1956) was a British philanthropist and social leader. She was seen as a heroine of the ''Titanic'' disaster, famous for taking the tiller ...
, born on 25 December 1878 was the wife of the 19th Earl of Rothes. A noted philanthropist and social leader, she was a heroine of the ''Titanic'' disaster, famous for taking the tiller of her lifeboat and later helping row the craft to the safety of the rescue ship '' Carpathia''.''New York Times'', 20 April 1912.


References


External links


Scotland 2011 Census
{{Authority control Towns in Moray