Cullen () is a village and former

royal burgh A royal burgh ( ) was a type of Scottish burgh which had been founded by, or subsequently granted, a royal charter. Although abolished by law in 1975, the term is still used by many former royal burghs. Most royal burghs were either created by ...

Moray Moray ( ; or ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland. Its council is based in Elgin, the area' ...

but historically in

Banffshire Banffshire (; ; ) is a historic county in Scotland. The county town is Banff, although the largest settlement is Buckie to the west. The historic county ceased to be used for local government purposes in 1975. Since 1996 the area has been spli ...

, Scotland, on the

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

coast. The village had a population of 1,327 in 2001.

United Kingdom Census 2001 A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th Census in the United Kingdom, UK census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194. The 2001 UK census was organise ...

Cullen census data
The organs of the wife of

Robert the Bruce Robert I (11 July 1274 – 7 June 1329), popularly known as Robert the Bruce (), was King of Scots from 1306 until his death in 1329. Robert led Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland during the First War of Scottish Independence against Kingdom of Eng ...

are said to have been buried in its old

kirk Kirk is a Scottish and former Northern English word meaning 'church'. The term ''the Kirk'' is often used informally to refer specifically to the Church of Scotland, the Scottish national church that developed from the 16th-century Reformation ...

after her death in Cullen Castle.Coventry, Martin (2001). ''The Castles of Scotland''. Musselburgh: Goblinshead. p. 138 Robert made an annual payment to the village in gratitude for the treatment of his wife's body and its return south for burial.Presbytery of Moray
In 2000, the recent non-payment of this sum by the government was challenged and settled to the village's favour.

History

Cullen has a long history, well-documented thanks to the survival of a number of sources. These are summarised in two key books: the ''Annals of Cullen'' by W Crammond (1904) and the ''Church Annals of Cullen'' by W Robertson (1938). The first deals primarily with the civil governance and the latter with church governance up to the disruption. Cullen received

status between 1153 and 1214 AD during the reigns of

Malcolm IV Malcolm IV (; ), nicknamed Virgo, "the Maiden" (between 23 April and 24 May 1141 – 9 December 1165) was King of Scotland from 1153 until his death. He was the eldest son of Henry of Scotland, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon, Henry, Earl of Huntingdon ...

and

William I William I may refer to: Kings * William the Conqueror (–1087), also known as William I, King of England * William I of Sicily (died 1166) * William I of Scotland (died 1214), known as William the Lion * William I of the Netherlands and Luxembour ...

. It is also known to have received a charter in 1455 AD from James II. The burgh was abolished in 1975 by the

Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (c. 65) is an Act of Parliament (UK), act of Parliament of the United Kingdom that altered local government of Scotland, local government in Scotland on 16 May 1975. The act followed and largely impleme ...

. Around 139–161,

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

mentions in his ''Geography'' the River Celnius in the North East of Scotland. Both

William Forbes Skene William Forbes Skene Writer to the Signet, WS FRSE Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, FSA(Scot) Doctor of Civil Law, DCL Legum Doctor, LLD (7 June 1809 – 29 August 1892), was a Scotland, Scottish lawyer, historian and antiquary. He co-found ...

and George Chalmers identified the Celnius with Cullen Burn. The first mention of Cullen in Scottish history was in 962, when King

Indulf Ildulb mac Causantín, Anglicisation, anglicised as Indulf or Indulph, nicknamed An Ionsaighthigh, "the Aggressor" (died 962) was king of Alba from 954 to 962. He was the son of Constantine II of Scotland, Constantine II; his mother may have b ...

was killed by the Norwegians (and/or Danes) at the mouth of the River Cullen and referred to as the Battle of the Bauds. "Atween Coedlich and the sea, There lies Kings' sons three." Legend has it that within the vicinity, a Scots, a Danish and a Norwegian King are buried, marked by the three isolated rocks within Cullen Bay and named the "Three Kings". However, it is possible that these rocks derive their name from the similarity of the name Cullen with Culane (Cologne) as in the medieval mystery play "The Three Kings of Culane". The church was founded as a chapel by King Robert the Bruce. The organs of Robert's wife are said to have been buried in its old

after her death at Cullen Castle; the King then made an annual payment to the village in gratitude for the treatment of his wife's body and its return south for burial. This payment was stopped after a 1975 reform of Scottish local government. In 2000, the non-payment of this sum was challenged and settled to the village's favour.

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the List of national poets, national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the be ...

stayed overnight at what was then the old town of Cullen in 1787 during his tour of the Highlands. Travelling from the west to the east he remarked that up to this point, "the country is sadly poor and unimproved". The old town of Cullen was demolished in 1822 and its remains are next to Cullen House. It was under James Ogilvy, 7th Earl of Findlater, that plans were first mooted for moving the town, but it was not until his successor Ludovick Ogilvy-Grant, 5th Earl of Seafield, that the plans were enacted. The town was moved away both to modernise (the houses of the old town flooded from water running down off the raised road when it rained heavily) and to provide the Earl with greater privacy. The new town was planned by George MacWilliam and built between 1820 and 1822. The central market cross in the town square originally stood in the old town. During the building of the new town, it was temporarily erected at the top of the ancient fort structure that guards the entrance to the Cullen Burn, known as the Castle Hill. This resulted in the present layout of the village, a generous cross shape of two major streets, Seafield Street and Grant Street, with a central town square and "the Seatown" sandwiched on the false beach between the mouth of the

burn A burn is an injury to skin, or other tissues, caused by heat, electricity, chemicals, friction, or ionizing radiation (such as sunburn, caused by ultraviolet radiation). Most burns are due to heat from hot fluids (called scalding), soli ...

and the harbour. In the previous layout, the town was spread along a road above and parallel to the burn, running between the Castle Hill and Cullen House, the Seatown being at the mouth of the burn where boats used to be pulled up onto the beach. The most prominent building in the new town is Cullen Town Hall, which was completed in 1823. The fishing industry developed quickly in the 1880s, and the harbour was busy with large fishing boats, these giving way to steam drifters at the start of the 20th century. The industry became centralised on larger harbours, the boats became larger diesel-engined designs that required non-tidal access. The site of Cullen railway station was redeveloped after the station closed in 1968. The main part of Cullen House dates from 1543. An east wing was added in 1711, and there were alterations by

David Bryce David Bryce Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, FRSE FRIBA Royal Scottish Academy, RSA (3 April 1803 – 7 May 1876) was a Scotland, Scottish architect. Life Bryce was born at 5 South College Street in Edinburgh, the son of David B ...

in 1858. The House and estate buildings were converted into fourteen dwellings in 1983 by Kit Martin. Prior to the use of Cullen House by the Earls of Seafield, the castle of Findlater, now a ruin, on a rocky coastal outcrop approximately to the east, was the Earl's seat.

Attractions

The village now has a population of 1,327. Cullen is noticeably busier in summer than winter due to the number of holiday homes owned. The village has a beach and golf course. The Bin Hill (or Bin of Cullen) is a nearby hill with an associated footpath.

References

External links

* {{authority control Villages in Moray Ports and harbours of Scotland Royal burghs