Grantown-on-SpeyScottish Gaelic: Baile nan GranndachGrantown Stadium

Grantown-on-Spey (Scottish Gaelic: Baile nan Granndach) is a town in the Highland Council Area, historically within the county of Moray. It was founded in 1765 as a planned settlement on a low plateau at Freuchie beside the river Spey at the northern edge of the Cairngorm mountains, about 20 miles (32 km) south-east of Inverness (35 miles or 56 km by road).

Originally called simply Grantown after Sir James Grant, on Spey was added by the burgh council in 1898.

The town is twinned with Notre-Dame-de-Monts in the Vendee, Pays de la Loire, France.

History

The burgh was founded in 1765 during the early stages of the Industrial Revolution to encourage both agricultural marketing and handicrafts, as well as to increase local land values and to reduce unemployment and emigration. This was part of a wider effort at social and economic improvements brought about by some progressive landlords following the decades of peace after the Jacobite rising of 1745. Under the direction and funds of the landowner Sir James Grant, the site chosen for the town was to be a mile from Castle Grant and designed with space for a marketplace (known as the Square), with the High Street leading southwestwards, with large plots for sale at 200 yards length at right angles to the road. Old Grantown, an earlier small village near the castle was demolished and Kylintra Burn, a local stream was diverted to become the local water source. The new town was advertised in newspapers and elsewhere as a site close to farms, forests and quarries, with persons and businesses invited to apply for feus and leases.

The official opening ceremony for the new town occured on 12th June 1766, with a procession and celebration party. By 1768, the town was considered established and the first buildings had been constructed. By 1787, it was reported that over 300 inhabitants lived in Grantown. To assist manufacturing, Grant paid for the construction of several small factories, linen manufacturing houses and a bleachfield. During this