Fraserburgh


Fraserburgh is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland with a population recorded in the 2011 Census at 13,100. It lies at the far northeast corner of Aberdeenshire, about north of Aberdeen, and north of Peterhead. It is the biggest shellfish port in Scotland and one of the largest in Europe, landing over 5,450 tonnes in 2016. Fraserburgh is also a major port for white and pelagic fish.

History

16th and 17th century: Origins

The name of the town means, literally, 'burgh of Fraser', after the Fraser family that bought the lands of Philorth in 1504 and thereafter brought about major improvement due to investment over the next century. Fraserburgh became a burgh of barony in 1546.
By 1570, the Fraser family had built a castle at Kinnaird Head and within a year a church was built for the area. By the 1590s, the area had developed a small harbour.
In 1592, Faithlie was renamed Fraserburgh by a charter of the Crown under King James VI. Sir Alexander Fraser was given permission to improve and govern the town as Lord Saltoun. At present, this title is still in existence and is held by Flora Fraser, 20th Lady Saltoun and head of Clan Fraser. The Royal Charter also gave permission to build a college and university in Fraserburgh allowing the Lord Saltoun to appoint a rector, a principal, a sub-principal, and all the professors for teaching the different sciences.
A grant from the Parliament of Scotland in 1595 allowed the first college building to be erected by Alexander Fraser, and in 1597 the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland recommended the Rev. Charles Ferme, then minister at the Old Parish, to be its first principal.
In 1601, Fraserburgh became a burgh of regality. The college, however, closed only a decade or so after Ferme's arrest on the orders of James VI for taking part in the 1605 General Assembly of Aberdeen, being used again only for a short time in 1647 when King's College, Aberdeen temporarily relocated owing to an outbreak of plague. A plaque commemorating the University's existence may be seen at the .

18th and 19th century: Further growth and development

The population of Fraserburgh was growing with peaks due to seasonal employment. From a population of an estimated 1682 in 1755, a population of about 2000 was recorded in 1780, of whom 1000 resided in the town proper. There were a further 200 people in the village of Broadsea.
In 1787, Fraserburgh Castle was converted to Kinnaird Head Lighthouse, Scotland's first mainland lighthouse and the first in Scotland to be lit by the Commissioners of Northern Lights.
In the 1790s, Rev. Alexander Simpson of the Fraserburgh Old Parish Church describes the harbour as small but good, telling that it had the capability to take vessels with '200 tons burden'. The Reverend notes that shipbuilding had become a main industry in the town, especially after 1784, and that the locals were making donations and seeking government assistance to have the harbour enlarged.
In 1803, the original 1571 church building was replaced and enlarged to seat 1000 people. The Auld Kirk was to be the standing authority in the town up until the 1840s. This period also saw the extension of the harbour, with a northern pier of 300 yards being built between 1807–1812 and, in 1818, a southern pier being built following an Act of Parliament.
Fraserburgh's population boomed in the early 19th Century, from 2271 in 1811 to 2954 by 1831. This was primarily put down to the growth in herring fishing, which intensified in 1815. The herring season also brought with it an additional 1200 people working in the Parish. Contemporary accounts mention the increase in general wealth brought by this increased trade spurring a change in dress and diet as well as a considerable amount of new houses being built in the town.
No less than £30,000 was spent developing the harbour between 1807 and 1840 by which time the harbour held eight vessels of 45–155 tons and 220 boats of the herring fishery.

Lifeboat service

The town has had a local lifeboat on service since 1806 which was run privately by the local Harbour Board until the first RNLI operated station opened in 1858. This was the first official RNLI station opened in Scotland.
Throughout the 20th century, Fraserburgh suffered three lifeboat disasters. First, in 1919, the 'Lady Rothes' capsized while assisting H.M. Drifter Eminent. Coxswain Andrew Noble and Acting Second Coxswain Andrew Faquhar drowned. Second, on 9 February 1953, six crew members lost their lives when the lifeboat capsized while escorting fishing vessels to the harbour. On this occasion Coxswain Andrew Ritchie, Mechanic George Duthie, Bowman Charles Tait, Assistant Mechanic James Noble and Crew Members John Crawford and John Buchan all lost their lives - the only survivor was Charles Tait. Lastly, on 21 January 1970 while on service to the Danish fishing vessel Opal, the lifeboat The Duchess of Kent capsized with the loss of five of her crew of six. Those killed were Coxswain John Stephen, Mechanic Frederick Kirkness and Crew Members William Hadden, James RS Buchan and James Buchan.
In 2009, a local campaign was started to raise £40,000 to erect an official monument to the 14 men who lost their lives whilst serving on the Fraserburgh Lifeboat. The target was successfully achieved and the monument unveiled by Flora Fraser, 21st Lady Saltoun in August 2010.

Railways

opened in 1865 and closed to passengers in 1965. The railway line was built by the Formartine and Buchan Railway Company, which became part of the Great North of Scotland Railway. Trains operated to Aberdeen via Maud and Dyce, as well as a short branch line to St. Combs via Cairnbulg. In 1923 the GNSR was incorporated into the London and North Eastern Railway, which was in turn nationalised on 1 January 1948. Passenger services on the Buchan lines were withdrawn in 1965 as part of the Beeching cuts, although freight trains continued to operate Fraserburgh until 1979. The track was subsequently lifted.
Following the opening of the Borders Railway in September 2015, Fraserburgh became the most distant town in UK from the rail network, leading to calls for the lifted track to be reinstated. The nearest operating station is currently Inverurie, 56 km away.

Climate

Fraserburgh has a marine climate heavily influenced by its proximity to the sea. As such, summer highs and winter lows are heavily moderated, with very mild winter temperatures for a location so far north. The differences between seasons are very narrow as a result, with February averaging highs of and August.
As a result of its marine influence, there is significant seasonal lag, with September being milder than June, and October having slightly milder nights than May, in spite of a considerable difference in the length of daylight. The climate is overcast and wet with and average of 1,351.8 hours of sunshine per year. Temperature extremes have ranged from in July 1995 to in February 1991. There is approximately of precipitation per annum.
Fraserburgh is also notable for having the highest ever recorded wind speed in the UK at a low altitude. The gust was recorded on 13 February 1989 at Kinnaird Head Lighthouse. The corresponding hourly mean speed was.

Demographics

The 2011 census recorded 13,180 residents making Fraserburgh the third largest settlement in Aberdeenshire after Peterhead and Inverurie.. Since the accession of Poland and other eastern European countries to the E.U. in 2005, there has been a large influx of E.U. migrants to the town.
Some 10% of residents stated the Scots language to be their primary language used at home, whilst 63.1% reported being able to speak it.

Places of Interest

The town has several attractions including an award-winning beach, , Kinnaird Head Lighthouse, , and the community war memorial by famed Scottish sculptor Alexander Carrick.
Fraserburgh is also home to a variety of impressive 19th Century churches, each in its own distinct style. This includes: Fraserburgh Baptist Church; Fraserburgh Old Parish Church ; Our Lady, Star of the Sea Roman Catholic Church; South Church; St Peter's Episcopal Church; and West Church.

Photo gallery

Sports and Recreation

Fraserburgh has a number of sporting facilities including a swimming pool, ten-pin bowling alley, tennis courts, martial arts dojo, skatepark and football pitches.

Golf

is the fifth oldest club in Scotland and seventh oldest in the world, having been founded by 1777. It has both an 18-hole and a 9-hole course, and a modern clubhouse. There is also the nearby Dunes Golf Centre public driving range and cafe.

Football

is a senior football club that plays in the Highland League. Fraserburgh United F.C. is a junior football club that plays in the Scottish Junior Football North First Division.

Cricket

Fraserburgh Cricket Club was founded in 1862 and currently competes in the Aberdeenshire Grades Leagues. They play their home matches at Kessock Park. The club celebrated their 150th anniversary in 2012 and also succeeded in gaining promotion to Grade 2.
In 2013, Fraserburgh Cricket Club won the Bon Accord Cup for only the second time in their history with a close fought victory over Knightriders CC. In 2014, Fraserburgh Cricket Club gained promotion to Grade 1 by finishing second in Grade 2, meaning that they would play in the top tier of the Aberdeenshire Grades for the first time since 1975.
The club were relegated to Grade 2 in 2015, and have remained there to the present.

Port

Fraserburgh is a major white fish port and busy commercial harbour.
The harbour boasts a state of the art six berth slipway facility, storm gates, a large drydock, and fully refrigerated fish market facilities.
The Apostleship of the Sea, a seafarers charity, has a port chaplain in Fraserburgh.

Education

The town has a variety of educational establishments, including four primary schools, a secondary school, a SEN school, and a campus of a college of further education.
For the short-lived Fraserburgh University see above under History.

Fraserburgh Academy

The original academy building was opened in 1909. A new, more modern, school was built in the 1950s, and the original building was repurposed to house the academy's art and drama departments. The school has had many successes these past few years including having several of its pupils gaining prizes over a number of years in a nationwide photography competition - Focus Environment.
In early 2009, a group of MPs from the Scottish Parliament held a petition committee meeting in the school.
Also in early 2009, the art department of the school organised commemorate photo exhibition in memory of Glover's early years of living in Fraserburgh. These photos were displayed throughout the town, and some of the photos are being used as part of the Homecoming Scotland campaign. See article - Thomas Blake Glover
In September 2009, the school had a visit from the Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy who gave a speech to pupils from the school and others from the whole of Aberdeenshire.

Religion

is the prevalent religion in Fraserburgh and it is home to many congregations from a wide variety of Christian denominations. This includes three Church of Scotland congregations and four Pentecostal congregations. Additionally, there are also congregations of Baptists, Roman Catholics, Scottish Episcopalians, Evangelists, Congregationalists, Brethren, Jehovah's Witnesses and Salvationists.

Fraserburgh Junior Arts Society

In 1952 the Fraserburgh Photographic Society staged a pantomime, “Humpty Dumpty”, to raise funds for equipment. The pantomime was so successful that the following year some of the members came together and formed the Fraserburgh Junior Arts Society. The object of the society being to encourage young people in the Arts.
For 65 years, the FJAS has been delighting audiences with pantomimes, plays, musicals and variety theatre, and has also been involved in all the major community events in Fraserburgh. Back in 1957 the society organised the formation of the Swimming Pool Fund after several fatalities at the beach, the project was subsequently adopted by Aberdeenshire Council resulting in Fraserburgh swimming pool’s completion in 1969. During the 60’s and 70’s FJAS participated in and organised events in the local annual gala. The Society was heavily involved in the Fraserburgh 400 anniversary celebrations including organising a huge Hogmanay event. The group represented Aberdeenshire in 2000 at the Millennium Dome, taking 200 youngsters to London to perform “Our Town Story”. In June 2004 the society staged “Tangles”, a huge free open air event at the beach, providing all day entertainment, culminating in a performance on the sands telling the history of our town and including a sail past by the lifeboat, the finale being a magnificent firework display. Due to cooperation with the Scottish Arts Council, NEAT and Aberdeenshire International Youth Festival, many professional and international dance and theatre companies have performed in Fraserburgh.
Every year FJAS produce a pantomime, a summer show, and run workshops for youngsters from primary 1 upwards, very often these events are interspersed with one off projects.
Some former members have gone on to make Drama, Music or Dance their career after more formal training at institutes like University of West London, Aberdeen University, The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, MGA, Telford College, Trinity College and the London College of Music.
The FJAS is committed to continuing to encourage young people in the Arts hoping to give them a pleasurable interest even if not a helping hand to a future career

Notable people