Fochabers is a village in the Parish of Bellie, in Moray, Scotland, 10 miles (16 kilometres) east of the cathedral city of Elgin as well as situated on the eastern bank of the River Spey. 1,728 people reside in the town, which appreciates a rich music and social background. The village is likewise home to Baxters, the family-run maker of foods items. The village owes its presence to Alexander Gordon, fourth Duke of Gordon (1743-1827). During the late-eighteenth century, throughout the Scottish Enlightenment, it was classy for landowners to located new communities and also towns; these can be acknowledged around Scotland, due to the fact that unlike their precursors they all have straight, wide streets in mainly rectangle-shaped layouts, a main square, and also the houses constructed with their main elevations parallel to the street. The occupants gained from more sizable homes, and the Duke, it has to be claimed, taken advantage of not having the hoi polloi living in hovels exactly on the doorstep of Gordon Castle. Fochabers was founded in 1776, and also is among the best examples of a planned town. It is a sanctuary, with a lot of the buildings in the High Street provided as being of historic or architectural passion, as is Bellie Kirk, the Roman Catholic church St. Mary's Fochabers, which houses jobs by notable craftsmen, and the Episcopalian church, Gordon Chapel, which flaunts the largest collection of Pre-Raphaelite discolored glass in Scotland. Power was given the village in 1906 by Charles Gordon-Lennox, 7th Duke of Richmond supplied from a little hydro-electric creating terminal built in 1905 in the Quarters district on the financial institutions of the fast-flowing Spey. For a time in the mid-twentieth century, Fochabers was the house of three duchesses - Hilda, Duchess of Richmond and Gordon; Ivy, Duchess of Rose City and also Helen, Duchess of Northumberland. In between 1893 and 1966 the village had a train station, Fochabers Community, although after 1931 this was open only to products. For almost 3 decades, individuals of Fochabers advocated a bypass, as the town is located on the A96, the only direct route from Aberdeen to Inverness, and also consequently suffers from severe website traffic problems. Building and construction work with a bypass for Fochabers and the adjoining town of Mosstodloch began on 2 February 2010 and was finished in January 2012, at a cost of £31,500,000. The task was significantly postponed because of conflict regarding the recommended route, and also exploration of a Neolithic negotiation on the site of the bypass.