Fraserburgh

Fraserburgh (locally known as The Broch) is a fishing port in Aberdeenshire, with a population in 2020 of 13,000. In the 19th century it was a major port for herring, and shell-fishing is still an important local industry. It hosts the Museum of Scottish Lighthouses.

Understand
Atlantic herring Clupea harengus are about 30 cm long and lie mid-way in the food chain. They stay deep in daylight hours but at night come shallow to feed on tiny copepods and krill, attacking in large shoals so that as these agile sea-fleas jump out of the way, they land in the next herring's mouth. Sea-birds and large mammals are drawn to the shoals, and dolphins may herd them into "bait-balls". They can live over 20 years but their apex predator, human fisherfolk, makes sure they don't. Herring are found worldwide but off the British Isles they traditionally followed a circuit, off the north coast of Scotland in summer and in the North Sea off Grimsby and Lowestoft through winter. The fishing fleets followed the shoals and Fraserburgh, with the best harbour on this coast and a large fleet, could fish in all these waters and away out to Greenland and the Banks of Newfoundland.

Herring is an oily fish and once landed, it must be gutted and cured quickly before it rots. An army of seasonal workers, mostly female, moved from port to port to do so, gaining money in their own pockets and an independent outlook. The Government subsidised the industry and railways took away the barrels of fish. At its peak at the start of the 20th century there were 30,000 boats involved, a third of them Scottish, and 2,500,000 barrels per year were exported to Germany, Russia and the Baltic countries - ten barrels makes one ton.

The trade was disrupted by wartime, and from the 1960s all UK fisheries declined through over-fishing, but the herring vanished. Probably this was through damage to their spawning grounds and juvenile "nursery" areas, which are shallow and vulnerable to other activities such as scallop-dredging. Fraserburgh fell on hard times: it got by (and still does) with shellfishing, but never benefitted from the Aberdeen oil boom. It has taken 50 years for concerted action to protect the shoals. In 2019 mass herring spawning was observed in the North Sea, and since they reach maturity after 3 years, we may be about to see a return of the "silver darling" of old.

The town suffered lifeboat disasters in 1919, 1953 and 1970 while assisting stricken fishing boats.

Get in
Stagecoach Bus 68 runs every two hours from Aberdeen via Ellon P&R, taking 90 min to Fraserburgh.

Bus X69 runs every two hours from Peterhead, taking 30 min.

Watermill Bus 271 runs once M-F from Banff.

Get around
Walk, but at night give a wide berth to drunks.

Taxi firms are J&J Kabs (+44 7478 138532), Ritchie's (+44 7572 648561), First Cabs (+44 7774 028139), SM Taxis (+44 7411 752323) and Doug's (+44 1346 512882).

See

 * : it's long past its heyday as a herring fishing port, but still busy with small vessels landing shellfish and white fish.
 * Churches: several were built in the 19th century for the booming population of fisherfolk. They include Fraserburgh Baptist Church; Fraserburgh Old Parish Church (the oldest); Our Lady, Star of the Sea Roman Catholic Church; South Church; St Peter's Episcopal Church; and West Church.
 * is just a large heap of stones to look at, but it's a 4000-year-old burial site.
 * Churches: several were built in the 19th century for the booming population of fisherfolk. They include Fraserburgh Baptist Church; Fraserburgh Old Parish Church (the oldest); Our Lady, Star of the Sea Roman Catholic Church; South Church; St Peter's Episcopal Church; and West Church.
 * is just a large heap of stones to look at, but it's a 4000-year-old burial site.
 * in Inverallochy is a small museum in a former fisherman's cottage.
 * The Knuckle is a name given to the promontory where the coast turns east into the Moray Firth, and a 1949 account describes "Nine castles of the Knuckle". Kinnaird Castle and the Wine Tower (above) are two of them. Going southeast are Cairnbulg, Inverallochy (just a shard of masonry), Lonmay (gone), and Rattray (gone). West are Pitullie, Pitsligo and Dundarg (below).
 * is a Z-plan castle, from early 14th century but rebuilt several times. It's seldom open to the public.
 * or Rattray Water was an inlet of the sea until 1720, with Rattray its harbour. It was already silting up when a great storm hurled a spit of sand across the bay and cut off the loch. It's now a wildlife reserve managed by RSPB. A ship laden with slates found itself trapped on the loch, so its slates were used in the village, but that was the only good luck blown by that ill wind. Rattray in one night lost its castle (seen as divine punishment for their playing cards on a Sunday) and its harbour, so it became depopulated. See the ruin here of St Mary's Chapel; Rattray Head lighthouse is intact.
 * Cairness House four miles south of town is a grand late-18th century neo-classical mansion designed by Playfair. It's a private residence and you don't see much of it from the public road.
 * and are ruins near Rosehearty, west of Fraserburgh.
 * Dundarg Castle is little more than a grassy hillock on the coast towards Gardenstown, you just come for the sea views.

Do

 * The best beach is east of town by the golf course, stretching round the bay to Inverallochy.
 * The Leisure Centre on Seaforth St has ten-pin bowling, snooker and pool. It's open daily 9AM-11PM.
 * There are fitness centres at James Ramsay Park, Denmark St and High St.
 * Fraserburgh Golf Club is on Philorth Links, on the coast south edge of town.

Buy

 * Tesco and Lidl are on the main road south end of town.
 * The Farmers Market is held in Saltoun Square on the second Saturday of the month 10AM-3:30PM.

Eat

 * There's a slew of cheap eats along High St and Cross St, with pizza, Chinese, tandoori, kebabs and fish & chips, eat in or takeaway.
 * Herring though there's no saying where it's come from. It can be eaten raw, salted, pickled, or (holding your nose) fermented, and in Arbroath it's smoked. Fraserburgh hews to the standard Scottish method of filleting, coating in seasoned pin-head oatmeal, then pan-frying and serving with boiled potatoes.
 * Herring though there's no saying where it's come from. It can be eaten raw, salted, pickled, or (holding your nose) fermented, and in Arbroath it's smoked. Fraserburgh hews to the standard Scottish method of filleting, coating in seasoned pin-head oatmeal, then pan-frying and serving with boiled potatoes.
 * Herring though there's no saying where it's come from. It can be eaten raw, salted, pickled, or (holding your nose) fermented, and in Arbroath it's smoked. Fraserburgh hews to the standard Scottish method of filleting, coating in seasoned pin-head oatmeal, then pan-frying and serving with boiled potatoes.

Drink

 * The Royal is the British Legion pub at 42 School St.
 * Deejays is a nightclub on Denmark St.
 * The Royal is the British Legion pub at 42 School St.
 * Deejays is a nightclub on Denmark St.
 * Deejays is a nightclub on Denmark St.

Sleep

 * Findlay's is a decent three-star on Smiddyhill Road.
 * Findlay's is a decent three-star on Smiddyhill Road.

Connect
As of Oct 2021, Fraserburgh has 4G with all UK carriers, but 5G has not reached this area.

Go next

 * Gardenstown is a picturesque little fishing village to the west.
 * Peterhead to the southeast is another fishing village.
 * Methlick inland has grand Haddo House and what's left of Gight Castle, Byron's ancestral home.