B9089

The B9089 is a secondary road skirting Burghead Bay on the Moray coast. The route was originally unclassified but appears to have gained its number in the mid-1920s.

Roseisle Maltings

The route starts at a signalised TOTSO on the B9011 on the edge of Kinloss and heads east, curving to the northeast as it passes through the village. This is the residential side of the former RAF Kinloss, now an army base, and soon the razor wire fences appear to the left, while down a side road to the right are the ruins of Kinloss Abbey. The road then passes through a block of forestry, although the fencing continues almost to the far end, half buried in gorse. The route then continues across more-or-less flat land, climbing a little to pass a golf course, but otherwise following a series of long straights across a patchwork of fields. The road then climbs over an old railway bridge, and while the trackline to the south appears completely overgrown, the rails can still be seen in the grass to the north. This was the old branch line to Burghead, retained in part to serve the Roseisle Distillery and Maltings which lie next to the bridge.

A short distance further on, the route reaches a crossroads, where it TOTSOs left. The unclassified road ahead leads directly to the B9013 and thence to Elgin, while that to the right head south to the A96. The crossroads has been substantially enlarged, with a vast area of surfacing, presumably to allow oversize military loads to travel in and out of Kinloss, and perhaps also to RAF Lossiemouth further east. The B9089 now heads north, following a long straight through Roseisle Forest, presently bearing right to end at a T-junction on the B9013, with the grassy slopes of Clarkly Hill, surmounted by tall radio masts opposite.

History

As noted above, the B9089 was not in the original classification lists in 1922. It is presumed, however, that it was created in c1924, based on its low number, and from then until the 1970s it continued into Burghead. At the time the current terminal junction was a fork, and so it continued through St Aethans, ending just before Burghead station on the B9012, which came in from the right along Fraser Road. However, during the 1950s things changed again, and the B9089 was extended to Burghead Harbour at the expense of the B9012. Within twenty years, however, another review saw the B9013 take its turn at reaching the harbour, and the B9089 was curtailed to its current length.