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Aberlour in Moray
Welcome to Aberlour
in the heart of Moray.....!
Aberlour
Aberlour is a very attractive large village or small town that lies in the very heart of Moray on the A95 main road between Elgin and Grantown.
Aberlour is a very important tourist destination, as it lies on the door step of many distilleries on the Malt Whisky Trail, as well as hosting the visitor centre for The Speyside Way long distance walk between Aviemore and Spey Bay, with spurs to Tomintoul and Dufftown. |  | 
Above: Linn Falls.
Left: a view of the river and suspension
bridge from the Alice Littler park. | Aberlour is fortunate enough to enjoy a glorious setting on the east bank of the River Spey, surrounded by wooded hills with the Blue Hill to the east and Ben Rinnes, one of the Scottish Corbetts rising to a height of 2775 feet or 840 metres, only a few miles to the south west.
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Above: Angling on the River Spey at Aberlour.
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Above: A view of the Aberlour Distillery | Aberlour is an extremely popular salmon angling centre and is an excellent area for riverside, hill or woodland walks as well as for canoeing and bird watching.
Aberlour is famous for its distillery, which is one of the many distilleries on the Moray Malt Whisky Trail, as well as for being the home of the internationally famous Walkers Shortbread Factory.
| The centre of Aberlour stretches the length of the mile long main street, which is also the A95 road, although you never have a sense of being on a main thoroughfare, due to the well cared for village feel that Aberlour generates.
The oldest structure in Aberlour is the ancient Packhorse Bridge which crosses the Lour burn (from which Aberlour gets its name) as it enters the River Spey. Close to this bridge is the old churchyard and the ruins of St. Drostans church. A more modern suspension bridge, built by James Abernethy in 1902, crosses the River Spey at the Alice Littler park. | 
Above: The ancient Packhorse Bridge | 
Above: St. Drostan's Churchyard
| The beautiful Alice Littler park was donated to the village of Aberlour in 1980 by Mr. Sydney Littler and is the perfect place to bring the children to play on the interestingly designed swings or the fantastic wide curving slide. The Alice Littler park is also a great starting point for a gentle stroll by the river or a woodland walk and is a lovely setting for a picnic.
The park sits next to the now disused railway station which has been sympathetically converted in to a visitor centre for The Speyside Way and tea room. The Speyside Way is a long distance walk between Aviemore and Spey Bay and which passes directly through the village of Aberlour.
The Norman style parish church sits very close to the visitor centre and park. This Church was built in 1812 to replace the ancient St. Drostans church and was rebuilt after a fire in 1861 destroyed all but the tower and belfry. A short walk from the Church to the west end of Aberlour will bring you back to St. Drostans Churchyard and the distillery. From there you can take a short woodland walk by the Lour burn, to the very pretty Linn falls. | 
Above: The children's area in the Alice Littler park | 
Above: Aberlour Parish Church
| | The population of Aberlour was 965 as detailed in the census of 2001 although a later estimate puts the figure at around 1090 in 2006 which reflects the steady growth in population throughout Moray. |
Aberlour History
In the west end of Aberlour you will find the area where Aberlour originated. The ruins of St. Drostans church is all that remains of the ancient village of Skirdustan. Skirdustan was named after it's unofficial Patron Saint Drostan or Dunstan as he was also known. The "Skir" comes from the gaelic, meaning to cut or divide so literally the division of St.Dunstan.
St. Drostan is known to have visited the Aberlour area between 580 and 590AD and is thought in some areas to have come to Scotland with St. Columba, indeed there are those who think that there is evidence to support St. Drostan having been St. Columba's nephew. This is hotly disputed and there are strong doubts as to whether he even knew St. Columba. This is a historical debate which we will not get involved in, but sufficient to say that he did visit the ancient settlement of Skirdustan and baptised those who he converted to Christianity in the the waters of the spring near the Lour burn. This spring became known as St. Drostans well and an engraved stone was placed there to mark the spot. The stone can be found preserved to this day in the visitor centre of the Aberlour distillery which was built on the site of the well by James Fleming in 1879.
The modern village of Aberlour or "Charlestown of Aberlour" which is its official name, was founded in 1812 by Charles Grant of Wester Elchies, and named after his son. Charlestown of Aberlour was built to the east of the old settlement to a modern, regular and spacious plan. A great many of the houses being built from stones dragged from the bed of the River Spey.
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