Founded in 1805 by the 'improving' laird William Young of Inverugie, the fishertown of Hopeman lies on the Moray coast between Burghead and Lossiemouth. After Young had moved to the Strath of Kildonan to engage in the infamous 'clearances', the settlement was expanded with the building of a harbour in 1865 by Admiral Archibald Duff of Drummuir. Hopeman stone from the nearby Greenbrae and Clashach quarries was shipped from the harbour. The development of fishing and quarrying resulted in a three-fold expansion of the population from 445 in 1831 to 1323 in 1881. Buildings of interest include Hopeman Lodge (c.1840), built as a seaside pavilion for Young of Inverugie; a 19th Century ice-house for storing fish; Inverugie House, built in 1864 to a design by Alexander Reid; and the Church (1854), with a Tudor Gothic tower gifted in 1923 by Elgin distiller, Innes Cameron. The rich agricultural land beyond Hopeman was reclaimed by landowners such as William Young with the gradual drainage of Loch Spynie which once stretched from Lossiemouth to Burghead.
In 2009, the BBC television series Who Do You Think You Are? took television presenter and journalist Fiona Bruce back to Hopeman, the home of her father's family.
