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Buckie
Buckie was the largest town in the old
county of Banff and is still one of the largest in Moray District.
With its close associations with the sea, it is no surprise that Buckie's
principle industry is fishing. Cluny Harbour was completed in 1880
and was then one of the finest harbours in the north east of
Scotland. An earlier, but smaller harbour at Buckpool was completed
in 1857 by the Board of Fisheries and Sir Robert Gordon of Letterfourie.
It was designed and engineered by the firm of D and T Stevenson
(associated with Robert Louis Stevenson's father). Having become too
small for use by modern shipping and fallen into decay, the harbour has
been filled in and landscaped to provide an attractive park.
Cullen
Fishing has been carried out in Cullen for
the past 500 years, and the picturesque huddle of the Seatown with its
colourful painted houses and twisting lanes date in parts from the 17th
century. The small harbour developed in 1817, once busy with herring
fishing, is now mainly used for pleasure craft. The village
specialised in the export of smoked haddock and has its own delicacy,
Cullen Skink.
Findochty
The
brightly painted cottages clustered around the harbour of Findochty
originated from the need to use oil paints to protect against the winter
weather. All of the old part of Findochty has been accorded the
status of a conservation area. The
earliest documentary reference to "Findochty-field" dates from
1440. In 1568 the Ord family acquired the "manor, port, custom
and fishers' lands" of Findochty, and later built the castle, now a
ruin, which stands just west of the village. Portgordon
The
village of Portgordon takes its name from Alexander, 4th Duke of Gordon
who was responsible for the foundation of the village in 1797. The
Duke had the harbour constructed in order to have a fishing station on his
estate. For much of the nineteenth century the port was one of the
busiest in Banffshire. However, by the early twentieth century the
demands of the maritime trades proved too much for the small harbour and
these trades moved elsewhere. Portknockie
One
of the main focal points of Portknockie is the Bow Fiddle Rock, a large
rock structure that has been carved over the centuries by the sea and
weather. Birds that breed here include, Herring Gulls, Great
Black-backed and Lesser Black-Backed Gulls, Fulmars, Cormorants, Shags and
occasionally Gannets.
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