Fraserburgh and Portsoy: Scotland '22 Part 4

Lighthouses and a Salmon Bothy

Setting the Scene

Scotland

Moray

After driving north from Glasgow we spent the next week in a borrowed cottage (thank you Jenny and Bob) in the delightful fishing village of Findochty, pronounced (for no obvious reason) ‘Finechty’, beside the Moray Firth. During our week we travelled west as far as Culloden, east as far as Scotland goes, south to Huntly and Fyvie and north to the harbour wall. This post is about the journey east to Fraserburgh.

Our travels around Findochty fit neatly into the red oval

Findochty to Fraserburgh

Findochty to Fraseburgh is 54km (33miles) as the crow flies, but as almost the whole route would be over water, it is strictly a bird route. The A98 makes a dip to the south pushing the distance up to 69km (43miles). It makes the driving easier, but I tapped ‘shortest’ rather than ‘recommended’ to make life more interesting.

Moray and Aberdeen

Aberdeenshire

Findochty is too small to appear on the map above but it lies on the coast between Buckie and Cullen. Beyond Cullen we left Moray and entered the ‘council district’ of Aberdeenshire.

The A98 took us to Portsoy (of which more later) and from there our sat nav selected a direct approach to Banff along the B9139. The extraordinarily narrow road ran across flat farm land, with a view of the sea to the left – or so I am told, I kept my eyes on the road. We saved about 1km on an 8km journey, but it took longer and the breaking and accelerating probably used more fuel.

Banff and Macduff are small towns either side of the mouth of the River Deveron. Until the 1975 reorganisation, Banff was the county town of Banffshire. The coast of Banffshire ran from west of Buckie to Gardenstown, while the hinterland straggled southwest in the shape of a carelessly wrung out floorcloth. It is now divided between Moray and Aberdeenshire.

The B9031 from Macduff to Fraserburgh is pleasant road that cuts off the southern loop of the A98, but introduces plenty of smaller digressions of its own. The road runs mostly through farmland on a plateau some 100m above the coastal strip but at Pennan it descends to the harbour. Half a mile before the village the road drops steeply out of view suggesting that if you put your foot down hard you would take off and soar serenely out to the sea. Actually, you wouldn’t.

Fraserburgh and The Museum of Scottish Lighthouses

We drove through Fraserburgh to our destination, Kinnaird Head on the north east corner of the town and a candidate for the most north-easterly point in Scotland. Scotland’s particular shape provides a second candidate, Duncansby Head near John o’ Groats which is much further north but nowhere near so far east. As there is no definition of ‘most north-easterly’, it’s your choice.

The award winning Fraserburgh Heritage Centre would have been worth a visit, but unfortunately Storm Arwen removed the roof in November 2019. The volunteers who run the Heritage Society still seem to be active online, but there is as yet no sign of a re-opening, or re-roofing.

Fraserburgh Heritage Centre

On the same site is the rather better roofed Fraserburgh Museum of Scottish Lighthouses. We popped through the Hobbit hole to buy tickets, then popped out again and walked round the back.

Museum of Scottish Lighthouses, Fraserburgh

It is a reasonable possibility that a lighthouse museum might contain a lighthouse, but not inside the building, obviously. The Kinnaird Head Lighthouse, round the back, is a remarkable, possibly unique example.

Kinnaird Head Castle and Lighthouse

Sir Alexander Fraser, 8th laird of Philorth, an area to the south of the modern town, built himself a castle on Kinnaird Head in 1570. Nine years later he built a port nearby and in 1588 he obtained a charter establishing it as a 'burgh of barony'. His building works having combined the villages of Faithlie and Broadsea, he successfully sought the right to rename the newly created town Fraserburgh.

One Fraser or another lived in the castle until they ran out of Frasers in 1764. In 1787 the building was leased to the Northern Lighthouse Board which had been set up ten years earlier to improve safety at sea. Thomas Smith, the board’s first chief engineer set a whale oil lantern backed by an array of parabolic reflectors on the castle tower. The most powerful light of its day it, was visible from as much as 22km.

In 1824 Robert Stevenson erected a new lighthouse tower within the castle with a new improved lantern and reflector array.

Robert Stevenson was the stepson and former apprentice of Thomas Smith. He built 18 lighthouses in his career, the most remarkable being the Bell Rock Lighthouse, 11km east of the Firth of Tay and the oldest sea-washed lighthouse still standing. He also spawned a dynasty of lighthouse engineers, the family tree being set out in the adjacent museum.

The Stevenson family

Alan Stevenson, installed a first order dioptric lens at Kinnaird Head in 1851. The first purpose-built accommodation blocks were designed by David and Thomas Stevenson in 1853. In 1902 David Alan Stevenson installed a flashing lens apparatus designed by himself and his brother Charles Alexander Stevenson that was visible form 40km away. The black sheep of the family was Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island, Kidnapped and more, but he was as successful in his chosen career as the rest of the family were in theirs.

I also learned not to confuse Robert Stevenson with Robert Stephenson, member of another dynasty of engineers, but railway rather than lighthouse focussed. Robert Stephenson was busy building ‘Stephenson’s Rocket’ when Robert Stevenson was industriously constructing Tarbert Ness lighthouse.

Climbing the stairs of Robert Stevenson’s new tower….

Climbing Stevenson new tower, Kinnaird Head lighthouse

….we dropped in on the keeper’s room, looking untouched since the 1970s. There was always a duty keeper in case of emergency and, in the early days, to carry the oil up the stairs and replenish the tanks.

Keeper's accommodation, Kinnaird Head lighthouse

Emerging on the roof of the castle…

On the roof of Kinnaird Head Castle

…there is a good view over the town of Fraserburgh…

Fraserburgh

…and over the docks. Fraserburgh is a major fishing port, the largest shellfish port in the UK and one of the largest in Europe.

Fraserburgh fishing port

You can also look down on the modern lighthouse, which does not need a fulltime keeper, and the now redundant foghorn.

The modern Kinnaird Head lighthouse

Back inside the lighthouse, we inspected the business end…

The business end of Kinnaird Head lighthouse

…before descending the steps to see the Kelvin diesel engines installed in 1950, replacing the earlier paraffin fuelled engines which had replaced the youngest keeper manhandling the fuel up the stairs.

Kelvin 44-HP diesel engines

Outside we had a look at the Stevenson designed keeper’s accommodation…

Stevenson designed keeper's accommodation, Kinnaird Head

…and then made our way into the museum itself. The Kinnaird Head lighthouse was by far the most interesting part of the museum. Inside, the display of lenses and reflectors would have been interesting to the specialist, but apart from the pleasing shapes, meant little to the average lighthouse ignoramus like me. On the other hand, I always appreciate photographs of lighthouses standing on lone wave-lashed rocks way out to sea.

Fraserburgh Lighthouse Museum

Lunchtime arrived so we dropped in to the museum café. The chicken stuck between two slabs of bread had been freshly cooked, not taken from a packet and pinged in a microwave. That earned a bonus point.

Record Temperatures

Driving back west, the brilliant sunshine displayed the coastline at its best.

Driving west from Fraserburgh

It had been breezy up the lighthouse, Kinnaird Head Lighthouse holds the record for the UK’s highest ever low-altitude wind speed (142 mph (229 km/h) in February 1989) and it was not until we stopped for fuel at a less exposed location that we realised how warm it was. The 18th and 19th of July 2022 saw temperature records set in Scotland, Wales and England. Coningsby in Lincolnshire recorded a toasty 40.3°C, while Charterhill in the Scottish Borders set a more modest Scottish record of 34.8. Beside the Moray Firth, some 230 km further north, it was, of course, cooler, the temperature gauge in my car read a steady 28°, though for some reason the Met. Office does not accept that as an official record.

Portsoy and its Salmon Bothy

Portsoy is bigger than most surrounding villages with a well-defined centre. Leaving the main road we descended towards the picturesque harbour nestling at the base of a small headland. The harbour has had something a showbusiness career, appearing in Peaky Blinders and starring in the 2016 remake of Whisky Galore!

Whisky Galore!

There was a DVD of Whisky Galore! in our borrowed cottage, so we watched it one evening. During WW2, when whisky is rationed, a ship carrying 50,000 cases of Scotch runs aground off the fictional island of Todday. The customs officer, the home guard, the police and the islanders all have their own ideas about what should happen next. Compton Mackenzie’s novel was written in 1947 and he wrote the screen play for the 1949 film which puts the 2016 version at a disadvantage, but the setting is beautiful photographed, the cast led by Gregor Fisher and Eddy Izzard seem to have enjoyed making it and we enjoyed watching it. It had mixed reviews; I understand why it did not go well in America, but the British reviewer who described the film as Too restrained and polite to really grip the attention missed the whole point. There are no real villains, there is no shooting, no loud explosions, no special effects, but who needs them?

Round the other side of the headland is Links Bay…

Links Bay, Portsoy

…which is the wide mouth of the tiny Burn of Durn. I suspect this is not a true ria, but that is a question for a geography teacher, not a former maths teacher.

Links Bay and the mouth of the Burn of Durn, Portsoy

Beside Links Bay is the Portsoy Salmon Bothy…

Portsoy salmon bothy

…and what, you might well ask, is a salmon bothy?

A bothy, from the Gaelic bothan meaning a hut, is a basic shelter, left unlocked and available for anyone to use free of charge. They were intended for estate workers and farmers but the decline of hill farming means upland bothies are now mostly used by hill walkers.

The Portsoy salmon bothy was purpose built in 1834 by the Seafield Estate, owners of the local salmon fishing rights. Larger and more elaborate than a standard bothy, it provided an office, ice house, fish preparation area, workshop and storage accommodation as well shelter and sleeping accommodation for the fishery workers.

Ice chamber, Portsoy salmon bothy

Stake-net salmon fishing began near the mouth of the burn in 1828 and continued until 1990 when the decline in salmon numbers brought it to a halt.

Boat used by salmon fishermen, Portsoy salmon bothy

The bothy was left unused until 2008 when it was acquired by Portsoy Community Enterprise who raised money for its restoration. It now houses a museum in the former ice chamber while the netting loft is a community space and venue used for performances and by local clubs and societies

Back to Findochty

By some remarkable co-incidence we arrive back at Findochty at precisely beer o’clock – strange how often that happens.

Beer o'clock, Findochty

Sunshine always attracts kids to the water, and quite a crowd spent several hours taking turns to demonstrate their bravado by jumping off the harbour wall. The air was warm, but the water may not have been and most seemed, at least from our distance, to be wearing wet suits.

Jumping off the harbour wall, Findochty

Later we walked as far north as we would venture on this trip to see the evening sun illuminating the Moray Firth.

The Moray Firth, Findochty

Scotland 2022

Part 1: Glasgow (1) Irn Bru, The Clyde and La Lanterna:
Part 2: Glasgow (2): A Walking Tour
Part 3: The Battle of Culloden and Cawdor Castle
Part 4: Fraserburgh and Portsoy
Part 5: Huntly and Fyvie
Part 6: Findochty, Portknockie and Cullen
Part 7: Stirling