8. Round the Coast.

The harbour-mouth, which is also the mouth of the Dee, is the beginning of the county on the sea-board. It is protected by two breakwaters, north and south, which shelter the entrance channel from the fury of easterly and north-easterly gales. To the south, in Kincardineshire, is the Girdleness lighthouse, 185 feet high, flashing a light every twenty seconds with a range of visibility stated at 19 miles. To the north of the harbour entrance are the links and the bathing station. The latter was erected in 1895 and has since been extended, every effort being made to add to the attractiveness of the beach as a recreation ground. A promenade, which will ultimately extend to Donmouth, is in great part complete; and all the other usual concomitants of a watering-place have been introduced with promising success so far, and likely to be greater in the near future.

From Donmouth the northward coast presents little of interest. All the way to the estuary of the Ythan is a region of sand-dunes bound together by marum grass and stunted whins, excellent for golf courses, but lacking in variety. In the sandy mounds in the vicinity of the Ythan have been found many flint chippings and amongst them leaf-shaped flint arrow-heads, chisels and cores, as well as the water-worn stones on which these implements were fashioned. These records of primitive man as he was in the later Stone Age are conspicuous here, and are

Girdleness Lighthouse

to be seen in other parts of the county. In the rabbit burrows, which are abundant in the dunes, the stock-dove rears her young. In 1888 a migratory flock of sand-grouse took possession of the dunes, and remained for one season.

Beyond the Ythan are the Forvie sands—a region of hummocks under which a whole parish is buried. The destruction of the parish took place several centuries ago, when a succession of north-easterly gales, continued for many days, whipped up the loose sand of the coast-dunes and blew it onward in clouds till the whole parish, including several valuable farms, was entirely submerged. The scanty ruins of the old church of Forvie is the only trace left of this sand-smothered hamlet.

Not far from the site of the Forvie church is a beautiful semi-lunar bay called Hackley Bay, where for the first time since Aberdeen was left behind, rocks appear, hornblende, slate, and gneiss. At Collieston, a village consisting of a medley of irregularly located cottages scrambling up the cliff sides, a thriving industry used to be practised, the making of Collieston “speldings.” These were small whitings, split, salted and dried on the rocks. Thirty years ago they were considered something of a delicacy and were disposed of in great quantities; now they have lost favour and are seldom to be had. At the north end of the village is St Catherine’s Dub, a deep pool between rocks, on which one of the ships of the Spanish Armada was wrecked in 1588. Two of the St Catherine’s cannon very much corroded have been brought up from the sea-floor. One of themis still to be seen at Haddo House, the seat of the Earl of Aberdeen.

Northward we come upon a region of steep grassy braes, consisting of soft, loamy clay, 20 to 40 feet deep, and covered with luxuriant grasses in summer and ablaze with golden cowslips in the spring months. Along the coast are several villages which once populous with busy and hardy fishermen are now all but tenantless. Such are Slains and Whinnyfold crushed out of activity by the rise of the trawling industry. The next place of note is Cruden Bay Hotel built by the Great North of Scotland Railway Company, and intended to minister specially to the devotees of golf, for which the coast links are here eminently suitable. The fine granite building facing the sea is a conspicuous landmark. Just north of the Hotel is the thriving little town of Port Errol, through which runs the Cruden burn—a stream where sea-trout are plentifully caught at certain seasons. The next prominent object is Slains castle—the family seat of the Earls of Errol. It stands high and windy, presenting a bold front to the North Sea breezes. All its windows on the sea-face are duplicate, a necessary precaution in view of the fierceness of the easterly gales. Very few plants grow in this exposed locality, and these only in the hollow and sheltered ground behind the castle, where some stunted trees and a few garden flowers struggle along in a precarious existence. As we proceed, the rocky coast rises higher and bolder and presents variable forms of great beauty.Beetling crags enclose circular bays with perpendicular walls on which the kittiwake, the guillemot, the jackdaw and the starling breed by the thousand. The rock of Dunbuy, a huge mass of granite, surrounded by the sea, and forming a grand rugged arch, is a summer haunt of sea-birds and rock-pigeons.

Sand Hills at Cruden Bay

After this, we reach the picturesque and much visited Bullers of Buchan—a wide semi-circular sea cauldron, the sides of which are perpendicular cliffs. The pool has no entry except from the seaward side, and it is only in calm weather that a boat is safe to pass through the low, open archway in the cliff. In rough weather, the waves rush through the narrow archway with terrific force, sending clouds of spray far beyond the height of the cliffs. Under proper conditions the scene is one of the grandest in Aberdeenshire, and is a fitting contrast to the sublimely impressive scenes at the source of the Dee, right at the other end of the county. Beyond the Bullers, the coast consists of high granite rocks, behind which are windswept moors. Near Boddam is Sterling Hill quarry, the source of the red-hued Peterhead granite. Here too is Buchan Ness, the most easterly point on the Scottish coast, and a fitting place for a prominent lighthouse. The lantern of the circular tower (erected in 1827) stands 130 feet above high-water mark and flashes a white light once every five seconds. The light is visible at a distance of 16 nautical miles.

“The Pot,” Bullers o’ Buchan

At Peterhead, which is a prosperous fishing centre and the eastern terminus of the bifurcate Buchan line of railway, is a great convict prison, occupying an extensive range of buildings on the south side of the Peterhead bay. The convicts are employed in building a harbourof refuge, which is being erected under the superintendence of the Admiralty at a cost of a million of money. The coast onwards to the Ugie mouth is still rocky, but from the river to Rattray Head, the rocks give place to sand-dunes similar in character to those further south. Alongside of the dunes is a raised sea beach. They form the links of St Fergus. Rattray Head is a rather low reef of rock running far out to sea and highly suitable as a lighthouse station. In the course of twelve years, the reef was responsible for 24 shipwrecks. The lighthouse erected in 1895 is 120 feet high and the light gives three flashes in quick succession every 30 seconds. It is visible 18 miles out to sea. Beyond this point is a region of bleak and desolate sands. Not a tree nor a shrub is to be seen. The inland parts are under cultivation, but the general aspect of the country is dismal and dreary, and the very hedgerows far from the sea-board lean landwards as if cowering from the scourges of the north wind’s whip. The country is undulatory without any conspicuous hill. Beyond Rattray Head is the Loch of Strathbeg already referred to. The tradition goes that the same gale as blighted Forvie silted up this loch and contracted its connection with the sea. On the left safely sheltered from the sea-breezes are Crimonmogate, Cairness and Philorth—all mansion-houses surrounded by wooded grounds. At the sea-edge stand St Combs (an echo of St Columba), Cairnbulg and Inverallochy. Here occurs another raised sea beach. Our course from Rattray Head has been north-west and thus we reach the last important town on the coast—Fraserburgh.

Buchan Ness Lighthouse

Kinnaird Lighthouse, Fraserburgh

Fraserburgh lies to the west of its bay. Founded by one of the Frasers of Philorth (now represented by Lord Saltoun), it is like Peterhead a thriving town. Like Peterhead too, it is the terminus of one fork of the Buchan Railway and a busy fishing centre. In the month of July, which is the height of the herring season, “the Broch,” as it is called locally, is astir with life from early morn.

Entrance to Lord Pitsligo’s Cave, Rosehearty

More herrings are handled at Fraserburgh than anywhere else on this coast, from Eyemouth to Wick. Between Fraserburgh and Broadsea is Kinnaird’s Head. Here we have another lighthouse which has served that purpose for more than a century, an old castle having been converted to this use in 1787. It was one of the first three lighthouses in Scotland. Kinnaird’s Head is believed to be the promontory of the Taixali mentioned by the Alexandrian geographer Ptolemy as being at the entrance of the Moray Firth. Here the rocks are of moderate height but further west they fall to sea-level and continue so past Sandhaven and Pittullie to Rosehearty. A low rocky coast carries us to Aberdour bay, where beds of Old Red Sandstone and conglomerate rise to an altitude of 300 feet.

Aberdour Shore, looking N.W.

The conglomerate extends to the Red Head of Pennan—once a quarry for mill-stones—where an attractive and picturesque little village nestles at the base of the cliff. The peregrine falcon breeds on the rocky fastnesses of these lofty cliffs, which continue to grow in height and grandeur till they reach their maximum (400 feet) at Troup Head. Troup Head makes a bold beginning for the county of Banff.

Back to Index Next