Peterhead F

Peterhead (; gd, Ceann Phàdraig, sco, Peterheid ) is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is Aberdeenshire's biggest settlement (the city of Aberdeen itself not being a part of the district), with a population of 18,537 at the 2011 Census. It is the biggest fishing port in the United Kingdom for total landings by UK vessels, according to a 2019 survey."Brexit trade deal: What does it mean for fishing?"
- BBC News, December 2020

Peterhead sits at the easternmost point in mainland Scotland. It is often referred to as ''The Blue Toun'' (locally spelled "The Bloo Toon") and its natives are known as ''Bloo Touners''. They are also referred to as ''blue mogganers'' (locally spelled "bloomogganners"), supposedly from the blue worsted ''moggans'' or stockings that the fishermen originally wore.

Prehistory and archaeology

Expansion of the town's landfill led to archaeological work in 2002 and 2003 by CFA Archaeology. The archaeologists investigations found a clearance cairn with a Late Bronze Age stone tools, a burial cairn with Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age stone tools and Beaker ceramics. They also found some stone tools dating to the Mesolithic and Early Neolithic which indicated that people have been living in the Peterhead area for over five thousand years.

History

Founding

Prior to the Reformation, the land on which the town stands, together with a sizeable amount of adjoining country, belonged to Deer Abbey. In 1560, when it was known as Peterugie, or Inverugie of St Peter,''Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland A Graphic and Accurate Description of Every Place in Scotland'' (1901)
- p. 1326 it was granted by Mary, Queen of Scots, to Robert Keith, 1st Lord Altrie and son of William Keith, 4th Earl Marischal. Peterhead was founded in 1593 by George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal, the 4th Earl's nephew and successor, and was developed as a planned settlement, then known as "Harbour and Barony of Keith Insche commonly called Peterhead". The town's first known population totalled 56. The 12 original feuars occupied land along Seagate between the pier of Port Henry, to the north, and the ''Quinzie'' (Queenie) to the south. The Queenie was a causeway of boulders, covered only by spring tides, which linked the islands of Keith Inch and Greenhill to the mainland. Today, the Queenie Bridge, which opened in 1954, connects Bridge Street and Greenhill Road. It replaced a swing bridge which had stood on the site since 1850 and built to a cost of £8,000. The construction of Port Henry in 1593 encouraged the growth of Peterhead as a fishing port and established a base for trade. (Port Henry Road, running east-west, is just north of the harbour, off East North Street.) Port Henry, the oldest of Peterhead's three harbours, was constructed along the Seagate shore by Henry Middleton, under the supervision of Keith. It was protected to the north by the Old Pier, which was probably erected before 1593.

The town developed uphill between the shore and Longate, which — until the development of Broad Street in the late 18th century — was the main historic district of the town.

Port Henry was improved in 1631 and repaired before the end of the century and again early in the 18th century. The south pier was increased in height and the west pier was constructed. The southern part was reconstructed between 1775 and 1781 by John Smeaton, with improvements carried out by John Rennie between 1806 and 1810. He also oversaw an addition to the west pier in 1813.

By 1680, Charles McKean notes that Peterhead "had become one of the best fishings on the north coast". Around the same time, the town had gained a reputation as a watering place with both bath houses and mineral wells, but both are now gone.

18th century

On 22 December 1715, James Francis Edward Stuart, Prince of Wales, arrived in Peterhead from Dunkirk