Hopeman

Hopeman (Scottish Gaelic: Hudaman) is a seaside village in Moray, Scotland, on the coast of the Moray Firth, founded in 1805 to house and re-employ people displaced during the Highland clearances. The population is around 1 000 people in approximately 670 households.

The village

The village was founded at the beginning of the nineteenth century as a fishing port by William Young of Inverugie. It expanded when the new harbour was built in 1838 for the export of stone from the nearby quarries. The old part of Hopeman has a grid-iron street layout. The main part of the village is set back from the beach and there is a village green with playing fields, a playground and a skate park). The B9012 passes west to east to the south of the village.

The main street, Harbour Street, runs north to south from the harbour to its junction with the B9012. Shops and commercial establishments in Hopeman: Costcutters, a general store; Seahorse, a gift shop; a hairdressers and beauty salon; the butcher's; the Primrose Cafe; the Station Hotel; the chemists; the post office; a fish and chip shop and a Chinese carryout. Down at the harbour are Footprints, a gallery and shop and Harbour blooms, a flower shop.

Hopeman Lodge, the largest house in Hopeman, occupies a commanding position on the east side of the village. It was once used by nearby Gordonstoun school as a boarding house but now provides holiday flats for rent. Hopeman Golf Course is to the east of the Lodge.

Phayrelands, is to the West of the village on the main road towards Cummingston.

Beaches and harbour

Hopeman has two large sandy beaches split by the man-made harbour. The West Beach is the smaller. The East Beach is surrounded by large, grassy sand dunes, and has colourful beach huts and large rocky areas with excellent rockpools (the one at the eastern edge is known as Daisy Rock). Just to the east of it is a far smaller hidden beach made up of stones and large rock formations rather than sand. There are quite a few birds to be found on the beach, such as the herring gull, the great black-backed gull, the black-headed gull, the curlew and the oystercatcher. The areas of gorse heathland surrounding the eastern beaches are home to the whitethroat, the robin and the yellowhammer. Now and then bottlenose dolphins turn up in the Moray Firth off the coast of Hopeman, from where they can easily be seen. Hopeman Harbour is in the middle of East Beach and West Beach. It is small and now mainly houses pleasure vessels. In the past it was operational for landing fish caught by fisherman from the village.

The harbour is home to the Gordonstoun seamanship department and, whilst the school's yacht is berthed elsewhere, the smaller craft used for sail-training are berthed in the harbour.

The marina in the harbour was installed by Moray Council in 2009.

Education

Hopeman Primary School is on the East side of the village and has around 250 Pupils. The catchment area includes Hopeman and the nearby villages of Duffus and Cummingston. There are nine classes in the school. It is split into three houses, Duff, Cameron and Gordon, for an inter-house competition in summer.

Gordonstoun School is but a few miles away and provides an all-round education based upon the principals of its founder Kurt Hahn.

Trivia

BBC presenter Fiona Bruce traced her family back to the Bruces of Hopeman during an episode of Who Do You Think You Are? in February 2009.

The Old Salt House featured in an episode of the television show Home or Away in 2009.

External links

• Moray Council