Stonehaven ( , ) is a town in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. It lies on Scotland's northeast coast and had a population of 11,602 at the 2011 Census. After the demise of the town of

Kincardine Kincardine may refer to: Places Scotland *Kincardine, Fife, a town on the River Forth, Scotland **Kincardine Bridge, a bridge which spans the Firth of Forth *Kincardineshire, a historic county **Kincardine, Aberdeenshire, now abandoned **Kincardi ...

, which was gradually abandoned after the destruction of its royal castle in the

Wars of Independence This is a list of wars of independence (also called liberation wars). These wars may or may not have been successful in achieving a goal of independence. List See also * Lists of active separatist movements * List of civil wars * List of o ...

, the Scottish Parliament made Stonehaven the successor

county town In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a county town is the most important town or city in a county. It is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county and the place where the county's members of Parliament are elect ...

Kincardineshire Kincardineshire, also known as the Mearns (from the Scottish Gaelic meaning "the Stewartry"), is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area on the coast of northeast Scotland. It is bounded by Aberdeenshire on the north and w ...

. It is currently administered as part of the unitary authority of

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially differe ...

. Stonehaven had grown around an

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

fishing village, now the "Auld Toon" ("old town"), and expanded inland from the seaside. As late as the 16th century, old maps indicate the town was called ''Stonehyve'', ''Stonehive'',

Timothy Pont Rev Timothy Pont (c. 1560–c.1627) was a Scottish minister, cartographer and topographer. He was the first to produce a detailed map of Scotland. Pont's maps are among the earliest surviving to show a European country in minute detail, from an a ...

also adding the alternative ''Duniness''. It is known informally to locals as ''Stoney''.

Pre-history and archaeology

Stonehaven is the site of prehistoric events evidenced by finds at

Fetteresso Castle Fetteresso Castle is a 14th-century tower house, rebuilt in 1761 as a Scottish Gothic style Palladian manor, with clear evidence of prehistoric use of the site. It is situated immediately west of the town of Stonehaven in Kincardineshire, slightl ...

and

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and por ...

excavations from the

Spurryhillock Spurryhillock is a mesolithic archaeological site and modern industrial estate at Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The area is bordered on its southern edge by the Dundee–Aberdeen line, and on its western edge by the A90. A bus depot is ...

area. In 2004, archaeological work by CFA Archaeology, in advance of the building of the Aberdeen to Lochside Natural Gas Pipeline, found two short

cists A cist ( or ; also kist ; from grc-gre, κίστη, Middle Welsh ''Kist'' or Germanic ''Kiste'') is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. Examples can be found across Europe and in the Middle East ...

burials containing cremated remains to the southwest of Stonehaven.

Radiocarbon dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon. The method was dev ...

put the burials in the first half of the 2nd millennium BC, which was the Early Bronze Age in Scotland. The burials contained

stone tool A stone tool is, in the most general sense, any tool made either partially or entirely out of stone. Although stone tool-dependent societies and cultures still exist today, most stone tools are associated with prehistoric (particularly Stone Ag ...

artifacts and shale/cannel coal beads. That same year, researchers at the

National Museums of Scotland National Museums Scotland (NMS; gd, Taighean-tasgaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government. It runs the national museums of Scotland. NMS is one of the country's National Collections, ...

and

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

announced that a fossil found by an amateur paleontologist the previous year was the earliest known fossil of a land-dwelling animal. The fossil was about 420 million years old.

History

The town lies at the southern origin of the ancient

Causey Mounth The Causey Mounth is an ancient drovers' road over the coastal fringe of the Grampian Mountains in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. This route was developed as the main highway between Stonehaven and Aberdeen around the 12th century AD and it continue ...

trackway Historic roads (historic trails in USA and Canada) are paths or routes that have historical importance due to their use over a period of time. Examples exist from prehistoric times until the early 20th century. They include ancient trackway ...

, which was built on high ground to make passable this only available

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

route from coastal points south to

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

. This ancient passage specifically connected the

Bridge of Dee The Bridge of Dee or Brig o Dee ( gd, Drochaid Dhè) is a road bridge over the River Dee in Aberdeen, Scotland. The term is also used for the surrounding area of the city. Dating from 1527,Richards, J.M., ''The National Trust Book of Bridges ...

Cowie Castle Cowie Castle is a ruined fortress in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The site lies at the northern end of Stonehaven on the North Sea coast. To the immediate south is the Cowie Bridge crossing of the Cowie Water. Evidence of prehistoric man exists i ...

via the

Portlethen Moss The Portlethen Moss is an acidic bog nature reserve located to the west of the town of Portlethen, Aberdeenshire in Scotland. Like other Bog, mosses, this wetland area supports a variety of plant and animal species, even though it has been subjec ...

and the Stonehaven central plaza. The route was taken by the

Earl Marischal The title of Earl Marischal was created in the Peerage of Scotland for William Keith, the Great Marischal of Scotland. History The office of Marischal of Scotland (or ''Marascallus Scotie'' or ''Marscallus Scotiae'') had been hereditary, held by ...

and

Marquess of Montrose A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman wi ...

when they led a

Covenanter Covenanters ( gd, Cùmhnantaich) were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. The name is derived from ''Covenan ...

army of over 9,000 men in the first battle of the

Wars of the Three Kingdoms The Wars of the Three Kingdoms were a series of related conflicts fought between 1639 and 1653 in the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland, then separate entities united in a pers ...

in 1639. Originally the settlement of Stonehaven grew and prospered and was known as Kilwhang. The Covenanters were imprisoned in

Dunnottar Castle Dunnottar Castle ( gd, Dùn Fhoithear, "fort on the shelving slope") is a ruined medieval fortress located upon a rocky headland on the north-eastern coast of Scotland, about south of Stonehaven. The surviving buildings are largely of the 1 ...

, where many died. A memorial to them can be found in Dunnottar Church. Other castles in the vicinity are

and

Muchalls Castle Muchalls Castle stands overlooking the North Sea in the countryside of Kincardine and Mearns, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The lower course is a well-preserved Romanesque, double-groined 13th-century tower house structure, built by the Frasers of ...

, both of which are in private ownership and not open to the public. The oldest surviving structure in Stonehaven is the

Stonehaven Tolbooth The Stonehaven Tolbooth is a late 16th-century stone building originally used as a courthouse and a prison in the town of Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Constructed of local Old Red Sandstone, the prison probably attained its greatest not ...

at the harbour, used as an early prison and now a museum. Dunnottar Castle, perched atop a rocky outcrop, was home to the Keith family, and during the

Scottish Wars of Independence The Wars of Scottish Independence were a series of military campaigns fought between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. The First War (1296–1328) began with the English invasion of ...

, the Scottish Crown Jewels were hidden there. In 1296, King

Edward I of England Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassa ...

took the

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

only for

William Wallace Sir William Wallace ( gd, Uilleam Uallas, ; Norman French: ; 23 August 1305) was a Scottish knight who became one of the main leaders during the First War of Scottish Independence. Along with Andrew Moray, Wallace defeated an English army a ...

to reclaim it in 1297, burning down the

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

in the process with the entire English garrison still in it. In 1650,

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...

sacked the castle to find the Crown Jewels following an eight-month siege (having previously destroyed the English Crown Jewels). However, just before the castle fell, the Crown Jewels were smuggled out by some ladies who took them by boat to a small church just down the coast in the village of

Kinneff Kinneff is a roadside hamlet in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, just north of Inverbervie.Kinneff.
Jacobite town in the Fifteen and it was a safe base for the retreating Jacobite army to stay overnight on the night of 5–6 February 1716. In the

Forty-Five Forty-fives (also known as Auction Forty-Fives, Auction 120s, 120, and Growl) is a trick-taking card game that originated in Ireland. The game is popular in many communities throughout Atlantic Canada (New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, P ...

Stonehaven, part of the

Episcopalian Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the l ...

north-east, was again ‘reliably Jacobite’ and it was one of the north-eastern ports where reinforcements, plus money and equipment were periodically landed from France. After 1709, when

Dunnottar Parish Church Dunnottar Parish Church is a parish church of the Church of Scotland, serving Stonehaven in the south of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is within the Church of Scotland's Presbytery of Kincardine and Deeside. During 2020, the congregation united to ...

was taken over by the

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...

Episcopalian services were held in the

tolbooth A tolbooth or town house was the main municipal building of a Scottish burgh, from medieval times until the 19th century. The tolbooth usually provided a council meeting chamber, a court house and a jail. The tolbooth was one of three essen ...

until a meeting house was built in the High Street in 1738. Following the failure of the Forty-Five, the

Duke of Cumberland Duke of Cumberland is a peerage title that was conferred upon junior members of the British Royal Family, named after the historic county of Cumberland. History The Earldom of Cumberland, created in 1525, became extinct in 1643. The dukedo ...

ordered the building's demolition. Services were then held in a house on the High Street.

Stonehaven Town Hall Stonehaven Town Hall is a municipal building in Allardice Street, Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The building, which is largely used as an events venue, is a Category B listed building. History The first municipal building in Stonehaven ...

, which is an events venue in the town, was completed in 1878. Near the

Cowie Bridge Cowie Bridge is a roadway bridge which carries the B979 across the mouth of the Cowie Water in Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Historically, the area in the vicinity of the Cowie Bridge site has been an old fishing village known as Cowi ...

, at the north of Stonehaven, was a fishing village known as

Cowie Cowie may refer to: People *Cowie (surname) Places *Cowie, Aberdeenshire, an historic fishing village located at the north side of Stonehaven, Scotland **Cowie Castle, a ruined castle in Aberdeenshire, Scotland ** Chapel of St. Mary and St. Natha ...

, which has now been subsumed into Stonehaven. Somewhat further north are the ruins of

. Slightly to the west of Stonehaven is the ruined

Ury House Ury or URY may refer to: Places * River Ury, in Aberdeenshire, Scotland * Ury House, Stonehaven, Kincardineshire, Scotland, an historic mansion * Ury, Seine-et-Marne, a commune in the Seine-et-Marne département of France * Ury, West Virginia, ...

, originally a property of the

Frasers House of Fraser (also operating as Frasers) is a British department store group with 44 locations across the United Kingdom, which is now part of Frasers Group. It was established in Glasgow, Scotland in 1849 as Arthur and Fraser. By 1891, it w ...

. A

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

of the oldest known land animal, ''

Pneumodesmus newmani ''Pneumodesmus newmani'' is a species of myriapod that lived in the Paleozoic. Its exact age is uncertain; it was originally interpreted as living , in the Late Silurian; however, subsequent research dates it to around 414 million years old, in ...

'', a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

millipede Millipedes are a group of arthropods that are characterised by having two pairs of jointed legs on most body segments; they are known scientifically as the class Diplopoda, the name derived from this feature. Each double-legged segment is a resu ...

, was found at Stonehaven's Cowie Beach in 2004.

Geography

Stonehaven is 15 miles (24 km) south of

sheltered in Stonehaven Bay. The Carron Water and

Cowie Water The Cowie Water ( gd, Uisge Chollaidh) is a river of Scotland. Geography The river rises in the Grampian Mountains in Kincardineshire, and discharges to the North Sea in the northern part of Stonehaven,United Kingdom Ordnance Survey Map Landra ...

run through the town. Stonehaven lies adjacent to a deeply indented bay surrounded on three sides by higher land between

Downie Point Downie Point is a prominent headland located at the southern edge of Stonehaven Bay in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. (United Kingdom, 2004) From the Stonehaven Harbour, there is a panoramic view of this cliff landform, especially from the tip of Bel ...

and Garron Point. The harbour, consisting of two basins, was improved in the 1820s by the engineer

Robert Stevenson Robert Stevenson may refer to: * Robert Stevenson (actor and politician) (1915–1975), American actor and politician * Robert Stevenson (civil engineer) (1772–1850), Scottish lighthouse engineer * Robert Stevenson (director) (1905–1986), Engl ...

(grandfather of the author

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...

), and became an important centre of the 19th century

herring Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae. Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, i ...

trade; the harbour is bordered on the north by

Bellman's Head Bellman's Head is a headland point comprising the northern boundary of Stonehaven Bay in Stonehaven, Scotland.United Kingdom Ordnance Survey Map, Landranger 45, Stonehaven and Banchory, 1:50,000 scale 2004 The corresponding headland at the sout ...

and the south by

. At the western edge of Stonehaven west of the

A90 road The A90 road is a major north to south road in eastern Scotland, running from Edinburgh to Fraserburgh, through Dundee and Aberdeen. Along with the A9 and the A82 it is one of the three major north–south trunk roads connecting the Centra ...

lies the village of

Kirkton of Fetteresso Kirkton ("church town") may refer to: Places Canada *Kirkton, Ontario, a community within South Huron, Huron County, Ontario * Kirkton, Perth County, Ontario, a community within Perth South, Perth County, Ontario Scotland *Kirkton, Dumfries and G ...

. Nearby to the south,

Fowlsheugh Fowlsheugh is a coastal nature reserve in Kincardineshire, northeast Scotland, known for its cliff formations and habitat supporting prolific seabird nesting colonies. Designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) by Scottish Natur ...

is a coastal

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

, known for its 230-foot-high cliff formations and habitat supporting prolific seabird nesting colonies. Stonehaven has grown rapidly since the

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

boom in Aberdeen. The increasing demand for new, middle-class housing has seen four new estates being appended to the town, creating an expanse of

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

s and Stonehaven has been bypassed since 1984. Because of its location at the

confluence In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...

between two rivers, Stonehaven is prone to

flooding A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrolog ...

following heavy rain.

Aberdeenshire Council Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially different boundaries. The Aberdeenshire Council area includ ...

has held meetings about the possible construction of

flood defence Flood control methods are used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters."Flood Control", MSN Encarta, 2008 (see below: Further reading). Flood relief methods are used to reduce the effects of flood waters or high water level ...

s. These are currently under construction. The

Highland Boundary Fault The Highland Boundary Fault is a major fault zone that traverses Scotland from Arran and Helensburgh on the west coast to Stonehaven in the east. It separates two different geological terranes which give rise to two distinct physiographic terr ...

traverses Scotland from the

Isle of Arran The Isle of Arran (; sco, Isle o Arran; gd, Eilean Arainn) or simply Arran is an island off the west coast of Scotland. It is the largest island in the Firth of Clyde and the seventh-largest Scottish island, at . Historically part of Butesh ...

and

Helensburgh Helensburgh (; gd, Baile Eilidh) is an affluent coastal town on the north side of the Firth of Clyde in Scotland, situated at the mouth of the Gareloch. Historically in Dunbartonshire, it became part of Argyll and Bute following local governm ...

on the west coast to immediately north of Stonehaven on the east coast.

Parks and green spaces

The largest park is Mineralwell, situated adjacent to the Glenury Viaduct which carries the

Dundee–Aberdeen line The Dundee–Aberdeen line is a railway line linking Dundee and Aberdeen in Scotland. History The present line was built by three companies. The first section to open was the line from Dundee to Arbroath in 1838, constructed by the Dundee and ...

. St Kieran's Well, a grade-C listed public fountain, is situated in the park. It was restored in 1982, though its water supply has since been severed. The park contains one of the largest purpose built radio controlled car circuits in the UK, located at the edge of the park beside the viaduct. The John McRobert Pavilion was opened in the park in 1993 and an artificial turf pitch opened in the park in 2015. The park is now home to a

parkrun Parkrun (stylised as parkrun) is a collection of events for walkers, runners and volunteers that take place every Saturday morning at more than 2,000 locations in 23 countries across six continents. Junior Parkrun (stylised as junior parkrun) ...

. In 2021, 120 cherry blossom trees were planted as part of the Sakura Cherry Tree Project. The trees are dedicated to

Thomas Blake Glover Thomas Blake Glover (6 June 1838 – 16 December 1911) was a Scottish merchant in the Bakumatsu and Meiji period in Japan. Early life (1838–1858) Thomas Blake Glover was born at 15 Commerce Street, Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire (council area), ...

. Nearby Baird Park occupies an area of four acres and was given to the town by Sir Alexander Baird in 1920, though it had been leased to the council for the previous twelve years. Stonehaven Recreation Grounds was opened in 1885 and is situated near the beach. It is owned by the council. It contains

tennis court A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both doubles and singles matches. A variety of surfaces can be u ...

s and a

bowling green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep on ...

. Dunnottar Woods is a woodland area managed by the

Woodland Trust The Woodland Trust is the largest woodland conservation charity in the United Kingdom and is concerned with the creation, protection, and restoration of native woodland Natural heritage, heritage. It has planted over 50 million trees since 1972 ...

Education

The town has a secondary school, Mackie Academy, which was founded at the site occupied currently by Arduthie School. Mackie takes pupils from a relatively large chunk of southern Aberdeenshire with its catchment zone stretching from

Johnshaven Johnshaven is a coastal village along the North Sea located in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. About southwest of Johnshaven lies Milton Ness, which includes a red sandstone cliff landform. The flax industry, sailmaking and fishing have historically b ...

in the south to Netherley in the north and out to

Glenbervie Glenbervie (Scottish Gaelic: ''Gleann Biorbhaidh'', Scots: ''Bervie'') is located in the north east of Scotland in the Howe o' the Mearns, one mile from the village of Drumlithie and eight miles south of Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire. The river Be ...

in the west. There are three primary schools: * Arduthie School is one of the three primary schools in Stonehaven serving a large portion of the north and east of the town as well as the surrounding countryside to the north-west. * Dunnottar School was founded in 1889. It is linked to the notable Parish Church and the historic Dunnottar Castle and is located at the edge of the old town. It serves the old town and the majority of the countryside surrounding Stonehaven As part of the Stonehaven flooding in 2009 the school was affected and pupils had to be relocated for a week while work was undertaken. * Mill O' Forest School, is located in the newer part of Stonehaven and serves the south and parts of the north of the town. One

special education Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...

school, Carronhill, opened in 1975. It is situated in the newer part of the town near Mill O' Forest Primary School.

Commerce and culture

Historically the chief commerce of Stonehaven lay in fishing. Led by the

fishery, the catch peaked around the year 1894 with a peak catch of about 15 million fish per annum and employment in the fishing industry of 1280 people. Due to overfishing to serve the expanding regional population, the fishing industry declined with diminishing catches, such that by 1939 only a remnant of the earlier fishing fleet continued to exist, and the catch mostly supported the local population from that point onward. Glenury distillery was situated near Mineralwell park, and closed in 1985. Bar_at_Marine_Hotel,_Stonehaven

Currently, the town's primary industries are marine services and

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

, with Dunnottar Castle, a local landmark, bringing in a large number of tourists every year. Dunnottar Castle is regularly used in promotional material by the Scottish tourism industry; in addition, it was used in the 1990 film ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

'', and appeared as a featured desktop background in the UK edition of

Microsoft Windows 7 Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, 2009. It is the successor to Windows Vista, released nearly ...

. Situated nearby is the war memorial, constructed after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. It is visible from much of the town thanks to its prominent position on a hilltop overlooking the bay. Another attractive feature of the town is the long beach facing the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

, with large cliffs at either end sheltering small rock pools and inlets. It is also famous for its Olympic-size outdoor swimming pool, which is heated and filled with filtered seawater. The local harbour features the

Tolbooth A tolbooth or town house was the main municipal building of a Scottish burgh, from medieval times until the 19th century. The tolbooth usually provided a council meeting chamber, a court house and a jail. The tolbooth was one of three essen ...

, the town's small museum of local heritage. During

Hogmanay Hogmanay ( , ) is the Scots word for the last day of the old year and is synonymous with the celebration of the New Year in the Scottish manner. It is normally followed by further celebration on the morning of New Year's Day (1 January) or i ...

festivities, crowds watch the annual fireballs ceremony in which volunteers walk down the High Street swinging their fireball - a homemade ball of burning waste materials with a chain and handle attached. The Fireball Festival was part of the content of STV's

coverage. The fireballs are finally thrown into the harbour. It is uncertain when the fireballs began, however, reports covering the event from as early as 1911 exist. The event has taken place annually, though has been cancelled during the world wars and in 2021 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Stonehaven's long-established pipe band plays at events throughout the year, including the folks festival and fireball ceremony. The band has competed at various levels throughout its illustrious history including several years at the prestigious Grade 1.

Cuisine

The town's Haven Fish Bar was the likely origin of the

deep-fried Mars Bar A deep-fried Mars bar (also known as a battered Mars Bar) is a Mars-brand chocolate bar covered in batter then deep fried in oil. The dish originated at a chip shop in Scotland as a novelty item. Since various mass media began reporting on the ...

, a snack now culturally associated with Scotland - and its health record - as a whole. In 2012, the (since renamed) Carron

fish and chip Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

shop sold around 100–150 deep-fried Mars bars per week, with tourists accounting for around 70% of this figure. The Carron was awarded No 1 Fish and Chip Shop in Scotland 2020. Another local fish and chip shop, the Bay, was awarded the number one fish and chip shop in Scotland, at the National fish and Chip awards in 2012 and 2013.

Sports and events

Every July Stonehaven holds a Highland Games. All those competing in the heavy events (which include the Hammer, the Heavy Stone, and

Tossing the Caber The caber toss is a traditional Scottish athletic event in which competitors toss a large tapered pole called a "caber" (/ˈkeɪbər/). It is normally practised at the Scottish Highland Games. In Scotland, the caber is usually made from a l ...

) must wear full

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...

dress. Other events include the Stonehaven Folk Festival regularly attended by famous Glaswegian comedian

Billy Connolly Sir William Connolly (born 24 November 1942) is a Scottish actor, retired comedian, artist, writer, musician, and presenter. He is sometimes known, especially in his homeland, by the Scots nickname the Big Yin ("the Big One"). Known for his ...

. On the first Saturday in June, the Feein' Market recreates a 19th-century agricultural hiring fair. The RW Thomson Classic Car Rally is an annual celebration of the inventor of the pneumatic tire and attracts an impressive range of vintage and classic cars. There are two harbour festivals each summer. A

farmers' market A farmers' market (or farmers market according to the AP stylebook, also farmer's market in the Cambridge Dictionary) is a physical retail marketplace intended to sell foods directly by farmers to consumers. Farmers' markets may be indoors or o ...

is now held once a month in the market square where local food suppliers and producers can sell fresh fruit, vegetables, poultry, and other types of meat. Stonehaven supports a rugby club - Mackie Academy Former Pupils Rugby Football Club - which plays in the RBS Caledonia Regional League Division 1. They have previously trained on pitches at

Red Cloak Red Cloak is an industrial area of Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The site's settlement history is associated with events at the nearby Chapel of St. Mary and St. Nathalan. In current times Red Cloak is primarily an industrial dominated ...

. The town has a

Junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

football club - Stonehaven F.C. - that plays in the North Region

Scottish Junior Football North Premier League The North Region Junior Football League is a football league based in the north east of Scotland. The league sits at levels 6–7 on the Scottish football league system, acting as a feeder to the Highland Football League. Geographically, the le ...

. Home games are played at Glenury Park, set in Mineralwell Park. There are also three amateur football clubs, AC Mill Inn, Cowie Thistle, and Stonehaven Athletic as well as Stonehaven Youth Football Club who all play their games in Mineralwell Park. In 2015 a combination of Stonehaven Football Club, Cowie Thistle, Stonehaven Athletic, Stonehaven Youth Football Club, and Stonehaven Ladies Football Club created the Stonehaven Community Football Club which was recognised by the Scottish Football Association with a Quality Mark Community Level Award, and subsequently the Legacy Award in November 2017. Stonehave fireballs 2003

Local radio

The Local Community Radio Station ''

Mearns FM Mearns FM is a community run radio station based in the North East of Scotland. There are transmitters in Laurencekirk, Inverbervie, Stonehaven and Portlethen leading to a coverage area stretching from St Cyrus to Aberdeen. The studio is loc ...

'' broadcasts to the town and surrounding area, including

Inverbervie Inverbervie (from gd, Inbhir Biorbhaidh or ''Biorbhaigh'', "mouth of the River Bervie") is a small town on the north-east coast of Scotland, south of Stonehaven. Etymology The name ''Inverbervie'' involves the Gaelic ''Inbhir Biorbhaigh'', ...

and

Laurencekirk Laurencekirk (, sco, Lowrenkirk, gd, Eaglais Labhrainn), colloquially known as "The Lang Toun" or amongst locals as simply "The Kirk", is a small town in the historic county of Kincardineshire, Scotland, just off the A90 Dundee to Aberdeen ...

. Staffed completely by volunteers, it is run as a not-for-profit organisation, broadcasting under a community radio license, with a remit to provide locally focused news, events, and programming. Jointly funded by local adverts and local and national grants, ''Mearns FM'' has one of the largest listening areas of any community radio station owing to the Mearns' distributed population.

Notable residents

Stonehaven was the birthplace of

Robert William Thomson Robert William Thomson PRSSA FRSE (29 June 1822–8 March 1873), from Stonehaven, Scotland, was the inventor of the fountain pen and original inventor of the pneumatic tyre. Life He was born on 29 June 1822 in Stonehaven in the northeas ...

, inventor of the

pneumatic tyre Pneumatics (from Greek ‘wind, breath’) is a branch of engineering that makes use of gas or pressurized air. Pneumatic systems used in industry are commonly powered by compressed air or compressed inert gases. A centrally located and elec ...

. It is also the birthplace of

James Murdoch James Rupert Jacob Murdoch (born 13 December 1972) is a British-American businessman, the younger son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, and was the chief executive officer (CEO) of 21st Century Fox from 2015 to 2019. He was the chairman and CEO fo ...

, a journalist and Orientalist, Lord Reith of Stonehaven, the first Director-General of the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

, and Tom McEwen, a Canadian communist politician and trade union organiser. John Ellis, an architect who was born and lived here, was responsible for many local buildings including the War Memorial.

, Stonehaven, is the

ancestral seat A family seat or sometimes just called seat is the principal residence of the landed gentry and aristocracy. The residence usually denotes the social, economic, political, or historic connection of the family within a given area. Some families to ...

of the Viscounts Stonehaven. It was built by

Sir Alexander Baird, 1st Baronet Sir Alexander Baird of Urie, 1st Baronet, 2nd of Ury, GBE (22 October 1849 – 20 June 1920) was Lord Lieutenant of Kincardineshire from 1889 to 1918 and later served as president of the Permanent Arbitration Board in Egypt. Biography Baird was ...

in 1885. The novelist

Lewis Grassic Gibbon Lewis Grassic Gibbon was the pseudonym of James Leslie Mitchell (13 February 1901 – 7 February 1935), a Scottish writer. He was best known for ''A Scots Quair'', a trilogy set in the north-east of Scotland in the early 20th century, of which ...

(James Leslie Mitchell) attended school at what was the old Mackie Academy (now Arduthie Primary). Famous historical visitors include

and

Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scot ...

. Poet

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...

met friends in Stonehaven in 1787.

Transport

The town has been served by

Stonehaven railway station Stonehaven railway station serves the town of Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, United Kingdom. It is sited from Carlisle via Perth, on the Dundee to Aberdeen line, and is situated between Laurencekirk and Portlethen. There is a crossover ...

on the

since 1849. Initially located outside the town, Stonehaven has since grown and has absorbed the station. The

bypasses the town, and meets the A92 here. The town has a local service and is also on the

X7 Coastrider The X7 Coastrider is an hourly bus route between Perth and Aberdeen via Dundee operated by Stagecoach East Scotland. The service runs seven days per week. History The route was introduced on 12 September 2011 and was initially operated by a fl ...

route between

and

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

. A locally run

Land Train Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of the planet Earth that is not submerged by the ocean or other bodies of water. It makes up 29% of Earth's surface and includes the continents and various islan ...

runs from the town square to the outdoor pool, Dunnottar Castle and the harbour.

Public services

Woodcot Hospital Woodcot Hospital was a health facility in Woodcot Brae, Stonehaven, Scotland. It is a Category B listed building. History The hospital had its origins in the Kincardineshire Combination Poorhouse which was design by William Henderson and complete ...

operated from 1867 to 1998.

Kincardine Community Hospital Kincardine Community Hospital is a small hospital at Kirkton Road, Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is managed by NHS Grampian. History The hospital has its origins in the Kincardineshire Joint Isolation Hospital which was designed by Bro ...

continues to operate today. On Tuesday 11 June 2013, it was decided by the Justice Committee that Stonehaven Sheriff Court would be closed. This was despite a petition attracting nearly 300 signatures and disagreement from the local community. Lifeboats were provided by the local charity Maritime Rescue Institute until its closure in 2013. A

Royal National Lifeboat Institution The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the largest charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, as well as on some inland waterways. It i ...

station was subsequently established. Stonehaven Leisure Centre was opened in 1985 following an investment of £650,000 and contains sports halls and a 25 metre swimming pool.

References

{{Authority control Ports and harbours of Scotland Port cities and towns of the North Sea Towns in Aberdeenshire Former county towns in Scotland Highland Boundary Fault Populated coastal places in Scotland