Undiscovered Scotland

 

Lhanbryde lies some four miles east of Elgin. Much quieter and more pleasant than it was before being bypassed by the main A96 in the early 1990s, its curving main street now passes between picturesque cottages and carries only a small fraction of the traffic that once cut the village in half.

In some ways the most striking aspect of Lhanbryde is its name, which seems much more Welsh that Scottish. The origin of the name is thought to be the "Church Place of St Bride".

Why the name has emerged in modern times in its very Welsh form is unclear. The village name was recorded as Lamanbride in 1215; Lambride at the end of the 1300s; Lambry in 1600; and Longbride in 1750.

One possibility might have been with the arrival of a post office in the village in 1839, a process that elsewhere fixed names in place - and sometimes changed them. Another might have been the arrival in 1858 of the railway from Elgin to Keith, on which Lhanbryde had a station.

Lhanbryde's proximity to Elgin and the good rail links led to the village's steady growth as a dormitory for Moray's main town. The station closed in the 1960s, though the main line continues to pass close to the village. But by then many commuters were no longer reliant on the train anyway.

As for the church after which Lhanbryde is named, little trace remains. A churchyard stands above the north side of the main road in the centre of the village, but by 1796 the church that stood here - itself probably only the last in a series on the site - was in a state of ruin and was demolished.