Avoch Commemoration 2010

AVOCH COMMEMORATION 2010

On the 3rd Saturday in May (Saturday the 15th) the annual North Rising commemoration takes place at Avoch (pronounced Auch) to celebrate the raising of the standard by Andrew de Moray at the Castle of Avoch (Ormond Castle). This standard was raised in 1297 as the focal point of armed revolt by those patriots of Northern Scotland against the occupation of Scotland by English forces under the command of Edward the 1st, Longshanks.

With the day breezy but dry, meeting at the football park in Avoch allowed for fraternal greetings and a fine display of arms by Patriots in battle dress of the period including an excellent display of the De Moray coat of arms.

A brisk pace was set as the march with flags and banners flying in the stiff breeze set off along the Main Street then down onto the shore road and up the country road leading to Ormond Castle perched high on the hill overlooking the small Moray Firth town.

On reaching the site of Ormond Castle you are greeted with a fine defensive location possibly on the site of early fortification though not much is left having fell victim to Cromwell’s English in the 1650’s.

The castle was reputed to be one of the finest in Northern Scotland at that time and home to the de Moravia family who ruled over vast tracts of land in Moray in the 13th century. The de Moravias were decedents of Flemish Knights part of David the 1st’s Norman settlement of Northern Scotland and they quickly became established marrying into the ancient Thanedom of Moray.

An excellent appraisal of this has been compiled for Crann Tara by Niall Aslan in 2006 and is available HERE

A cairn with flagpole was dedicated here on the 700th anniversary of the standard raising in 1997. This replaced an earlier stone that was used in earlier commemorations with the remnants of that stone set into the new cairn.

Each year the Society of William Wallace has presented the new Saltire, Standard of Scotland to the Andrew De Moray Project in recognition of the close bonds between Andrew De Moray and William Wallace. On gathering at the cairn, the symbolic lowering of the standard and presentation of new standard by Duncan Fenton of the SOWW took place and the new standard was raised to much applause a tremendously symbolic occasion given the location and what has gone before.