Cullen, Moray

Coordinates: 57°41′28″N 2°49′08″W / 57.691°N 2.819°W / 57.691; -2.819

Cullen (Scottish Gaelic: Inbhir Cuilinn) is a village and former royal burgh in Moray, Scotland, on the North Sea coast 20 miles (32 km) east of Elgin. The village now has a population of 1,327. Cullen is noticeably busier in summer than winter due to the number of holiday homes owned. The organs of the wife of Robert the Bruce are said to have been buried in its old kirk (church) after her death in the area. Robert the Bruce made an annual payment to the village in gratitude for the treatment of his wife's body and its return south for burial. A recent non-payment of this sum by the government was challenged and settled to the village's favour.

The village is noted for Cullen Skink (a traditional soup made from smoked haddock, milk, potato and onion) and its former railway bridges, two of which are now part of the national cycle network. These bridges were required, at considerable cost, due to resistance to the railway line being routed any closer to Cullen House. The most westerly (and by far the longest) viaduct is highly photogenic, and often features in tourist guides and Scottish calendars. Near Cullen is the peak Bin Hill, visible from some distance, such as from Longman Hill.

Moray

Moray (/ˈmʌri/ MUH-ree; Scottish Gaelic: Moireibh or Moireabh, Latin: Moravia) is one of the 32 Local Government council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland.

Between 1975 and 1996 Moray, with similar boundaries, was a district of the then Grampian Region.

Politics

The Moray council area was created in 1996, under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, with the boundaries of the former Moray district of the two-tier Grampian Region, which replaced the old county of Moray in 1974, though it had different boundaries.

In Scottish independence referendum on 18 September 2014 Moray voted "no":

Parliamentary constituencies

In the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Westminster), the council area is covered the Moray (Westminster) constituency.

In the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood), most of the council area is covered by the Moray (Holyrood) constituency, which is in the Highlands and Islands electoral region. The Keith area (most of the Keith and Cullen ward), however, is within the Banffshire and Buchan Coast constituency, which is in the North East Scotland electoral region.

Elginshire (Parliament of Scotland constituency)

Before the Acts of Union 1707, the barons of the shire of Elgin and Forres (later called Moray) elected commissioners to represent them in the unicameral Parliament of Scotland and in the Convention of the Estates.

From 1708 Elginshire was represented by one Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of Great Britain.

List of shire commissioners

References

See also

Moray (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Moray is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post method of election. Also, however, it is one of eight constituencies in the Highlands and Islands electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to eight constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

Electoral region

The Moray constituency is part of the Highlands and Islands electoral region; the other seven constituencies are Argyll and Bute, Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, Inverness and Nairn, Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Orkney, Shetland and Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch.

The region covers most of Argyll and Bute council area, all of the Highland council area, most of the Moray council area, all of the Orkney Islands council area, all of the Shetland Islands council area and all of Na h-Eileanan Siar.

Constituency boundaries and council area