Grantown

   GRANTOWN, a town, in the parish of Cromdale, county of Inverness, 135 miles (N. by W.) from Edinburgh; containing 1000 inhabitants. This place, situated about half a mile north of the river Spey, was founded upon an uncultivated moor, in 1766, by Sir James Grant, of Grant, Bart., since which it has risen to a flourishing condition, and become one of the neatest and most interesting towns, in appearance, in the north of Scotland. It contains several good shops; and in its centre is a spacious square, 700 feet in length, and 180 in breadth, on the south side of which is the Speyside Orphan Hospital, built in 1824, with money left by Lady Grant, of Monymusk. This charity is supported from a fund amounting to nearly £200 per annum, which has increased to the present sum by additions from the Grant family: the children, now about thirty in number, must be natives of the parishes of Cromdale, Abernethy, Duthil, Inveraven, or Knockando, and they are boarded, clothed, and educated. A branch of the National Bank of Scotland was established in 1829, and a branch of the Caledonian Bank in 1839; there is also a prison in the town. The post-office communicates daily with Carr-bridge, Forres, and Ballindalloch; and a good road runs from the place to Keith, and another to Forres. There are four annual markets, exclusive of cattle-trysts; cattle are purchased here by graziers for the southern markets, and much traffic is also carried on with the surrounding districts. A church was built in 1802, a little to the north of the town, containing accommodation for nearly 1000 persons; and the parochial minister officiated here alternately with the church at Cromdale, till the year 1835, when an ordained minister was appointed to this station, comprehending the old parish of Inverallan. There is also a place of worship for Baptists. A grammar school was built a few years since by the proprietor, from whom the master receives a salary of £25 per annum: in addition to the usual branches, instruction is given in the classics and mathematics.