In 1882-4, Frances Groome's Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland described Covesea like this:
Covesea (popularly Gausea), a little village on the coast of Drainie parish, Elginshire, 5¾ miles NNW of Elgin, and 3½ W of Lossiemouth. The shore here is rocky, precipitous, and strikingly picturesque. In one place a gently sloping road leads through a natural arch, with stately pillars, to a stretch of fine natural meadow on the beach, shut in to the landward by smooth and mural Old Red sandstone cliffs, 60 to 100 feet high; elsewhere are caves, fissures, arches, stacks, and fantastic forms of rock, various and romantic as the ruins of a vast city, and far too numerous to be appreciably damaged for ages to come by either the elements or the hand of man. ...
Two peculiarly interesting objects are an isolated rock, which, looking like an inverted pyramid, is 60 feet high, 30 across the top, but only 8 across the base; and the Laird's Stable, a cavern, which, once the abode of a hermit, was used as a stable by Sir Robert Gordon of Gordonstown during the '45. In another cave, near Hopeman, have been found a flint arrow-head, bones of the beaver and the crane, and other traces of prehistoric occupancy; and the roof of a third is sculptured with figures of the half-moon, sceptre, fish, and suchlike symbols of ancient Celtic art. A reef or chain of skerries, extending parallel to the coast, about ½ mile from the shore, was the scene of many shipwrecks; but since 1846 it has been crowned with a lighthouse, built at a cost of £11,514, and showing a revolving light, visible at the distance of 18½ nautical miles. The light appears in its brightest state once every minute, and, from W by N ¼ N to SE by E ¼ E, it is of the natural appearance; but from SE by E ¼ E to SE ¼ S, it has a red colour. See pp. 323-337 of Jas. Brown's Round Table Club (Elgin, 1873).
Covesea through time
Covesea is now part of Moray district. Click here for graphs and data of how Moray has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Covesea itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Covesea in Moray | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/21664
Date accessed: 17th April 2024
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