Jump to content

Fraserburgh

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 212.240.134.50 (talk) at 09:10, 25 July 2008. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Fraserburgh
Fishing Boats in Fraserburgh Harbour
PopulationExpression error: "est. 12,150 (2004) [1]" must be numeric
OS grid referenceNJ997670
Council area
Lieutenancy area
CountryScotland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townFRASERBURGH
Postcode districtAB43
Dialling code01346
PoliceScotland
FireScottish
AmbulanceScottish
UK Parliament
Scottish Parliament
List of places
UK
Scotland

Fraserburgh, called The Broch in Scots, is a small town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland in the extreme Northeast corner, approximately 40 miles North of Aberdeen. It is the largest shellfish port in Europe and also a major white fish port and busy commercial harbour. It is also around 17 miles north of the larger town of Peterhead.

History

Toponymy

The name of the town means, literally, 'burgh of Fraser' which is named 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.

'Broch' comes from the swedish word 'Brochenbachen', which literally means baby potatoes. The relevance of this to the town of Fraserburgh has long been questioned with many believing it to be a reference to the famous Lonmay Potatoes, once the staple diet of many in the town.

Development

Fraserburgh became a burgh of barony in 1546. By 1570, the Fraser family had built a castle (Fraserburgh Castle) at Kinnaird's Head and within a year the area church was built. By the 1590s the area known as Faithlie was developing 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. 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 (and only) principal.[1]

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, being used again only for a short time in 1647 when King's College, Aberdeen temporarily relocated owing to an outbreak of plague.

Fraserburgh thereafter remained relatively quiet until 1787 when Fraserburgh Castle was converted to Kinnaird Head Lighthouse, Scotland's first mainland lighthouse. 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.

The Statistical Account on the Parish of Fraserburgh, written between 1791-1799 (probably 1791) by Rev. Alexander Simpson of the Old Parish Church, shows that the population of Fraserburgh was growing with peaks due to seasonal employment. He records a population of about 2000 in 1780 of whom only 1000 resided in the town. There was an additional population of 200 in the village of Broadsea. He makes a point of the arrival of Dr. Webster in Fraserburgh in 1755 claiming that the population then only stood at 1682. By the time the account was written the population had increased by 518 souls since 1755. Rev. Simpson also gives accounts of deaths, births and marriages. Between 1784-1791, he claims to have an average of 37 baptisms, 14 marriages and 19 deaths per year. More notably, the statistical account mentions activities with the harbour. He describes the harbour as small but good, telling that it had the capability to take vessels with '200 tons burden' at the time the account was written. The account also mentions that Fraserburgh had tried and succeeded in shipbuilding especially after 1784. His account finishes speaking of a proposed enlargement of the harbour. He claims that the local people would willingly donate what they could afford but only if additional funding was provided by the Government and Royal Burghs.

The second statistical account, written as a follow up to the first of the 1790s, was written in January 1840 by Rev. John Cumming. He records population in 1791 as 2215 growing to only 2271 by 1811, but increasing massively to 2954 by 1831. He considered the herring fishing, which intensified in 1815, to be the most important reason for this population boom. By 1840 he writes that seamen were marrying early with 86 marriages and 60 births in the parish in the space of one year. On top of this increased population, he explains that the herring season seen an additional 1200 people working in the Parish. There is also mention of the prosperity of this trade bringing about an increase in general wealth with a change in both dress and diet. Cumming also records 37 illegitimate children from 1837-1840 although he keeps no record of death. The prosperity of the economy also brought about improvement within the town with a considerable amount of new houses being built in the town. The people were gaining from the herring industry as in real terms rent fell by 6% from 1815 to 1840. Lord Saltoun was described as the predominant land owner earning £2266,13s,4d in rents. This period also saw the extension of the harbour with a northern pier of 300 yards built between 1807-1812 and, in 1818, a southern pier built by Act of Parliament. Cumming states that no less than £30,000 was spent developing the harbour between 1807 and 1840 by which time the harbour held 8 vessels of 45-155 tons and 220 boats of the herring fishery.

Local Dialect

The town and surrounding region is well known for its thick local accent - undecipherable to more than 90% of the UK's population. As a result, a recent documentary series from the BBC entitled 'Trawlermen' was subtitled to ensure viewers outwith the local vicinity could enjoy the programme in full.

BBC News Trawlermen Article

Common phrases and their translations include:

Broch English Translation
Aye aye, fit like? Hello, how are you?
Ach, nae bad ye ken. Fine thank you.
Hemmin, fit div ye think yer deein? Excuse me, but what exactly do you think you're doing?
Ah wiz wakin up i road earlier, fan ess tink knifed me in i back. I was walkin home when this ghastly young man attacked me with a knife

Attractions

The harbour is just one of the town's attractions as it also has a beautiful beach, a variety of sports facilities such as ten pin bowling, cycling, tennis, skatepark and football pitches, one of the oldest golf courses in the world and has a number of licensed premises.

Churches

Fraserburgh also has a good number of churches including; 3 Church of Scotland congregations (Old Parish, South Church and West Church), 4 Pentecostal churches (Elim Pentecostal, Assembly of God, Calvary Church and Emmanual Christian Fellowship), as well as Baptist, Roman Catholic, Episcopal, Congregational, Brethern and Bethesda Evangelical Church.

Notable residents

  • Thomas Blake Glover (1838–1911): born in Fraserburgh, where his father worked for the coastguard, owner of local chip shop.
  • James Ramsay (abolitionist) (1733–89): born in Fraserburgh; anti-slavery campaigner.
  • Sir George Strahan (1838–87): born in Fraserburgh; British colonial governor.
  • Dennis Nilsen (1945–): Serial killer; born at Academy Road, Fraserburgh.
  • James Hutcheson (1985-): Author of the book "From Herring to Heroin - A History of Fraserburgh"

General points

References

  1. ^ (ed.) Thomson, Thomas, Acts and Proceedings of the General Assemblies of the Kirk of Scotland, Church of Scotland General Assembly, Edinburgh, 1845.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fraserburgh&oldid=227798150"