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The cache is in a Lock and Lock type waterproof plastic container about 0.4ltr in size and will take small TBs and coins. I have obtained permission to park in the Church Car Park, Please do not search on a Sunday between 11am and 1pm when there may be Church services.
Spynie Church (The parish of Duffus, Spynie and Hopeman ) overlooks the Ancient Loch after which it is named. Below is a short history of the area
Spynie, the ancient name of this parish, is derived from the Loch known by that name, which, before it was drained, bounded the parish along it north side. The parish is bounded on the south by the river Lossie, excepting a fine field of about 50 acres called Burrough-bridge. It is bounded on the west by the parish of Alves; on the east by the parish of St. Andrews; and on the north by the parishes of Duffus and Drainie, or in other words, by the ground anciently covered by the loch of Spynie.
There is only one village in the parish, that of Bishopmill. It is almost close to Elgin, the market-town, and by the late Reform Act is included in that burgh.
The only land-owners are the Crown, the Earl of Fife, the Trustees of the late Earl of Fife, the Earl of Seafield, Mr. Sellar of Westfield, and the Heirs of the late Colonel Grant of Findrassie.
The palace of Spynie, the ancient residence of the Bishops of Moray, is situated in the eastern extremity of the parish, on the south bank of the ancient lake where the water had been deepest. The palace had been a magnificent and spacious building, and now the ruins are in a very dilapidated state and so rent, as to be incapable of repair.
There is, near the summit of Quarrywood-hill, a free-stone quarry, very hard and durable, which supplies a large extent of country with mill-stones, and the town of Elgin and neighborhood with stone for building.
The population in 1801 was 843 persons, and by 1831 there were 1121 inhabitants. The population has evidently been increased by the building of the village of Bishopmill, which contains 621 inhabitants; while the rest of the parish contains only 500.
There are now few sheep in the parish, the former pasture for them being either planted with wood, or cultivated and brought into tillage. The most approved breeds of cattle have been gradually introduced by some of the farmers; and much attention paid to their improvement.
The church and manse were originally most pleasantly situated at the eastern extremity of the parish, in the vicinity of the Bishop’s Palace; but in the year 1736, they were removed to Quarrywood, a more centrical, though much more bleak situation, nearly under the highest part of the north side of the hill. The church affords accommodation for about 400 persons, and all the sittings are free.
There is no Dissenting or Seceding chapel in the parish; but about 36 persons, chiefly inhabitants of Bishopmill, are Dissenters, and 10 of them Episcopalians. There are no Roman Catholics in the parish. Divine service at the Established Church is generally well attended, and the average number of communicants is about 100.
The earliest entry in the parochial register of baptism was made in 1708; and since that period the register has been pretty regularly kept.
This account was written October 1835.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Vgf whfg nebhaq n pbeare