Buckie

Buckie is a historic fishing village, on the coast of the Moray Firth, it is ideally situated for exploring this magnificent area of Scotland, Moray. It extends along three miles of coastline. Buckie is the largest town in Moray District. It is made up of several communities, from Blackpool or Nether Buckie in the west through Easter Buckie to Ianstown and Portessie in the East. The earliest known reference to Buckie is believed to have been as long ago as 1362. There was a fishery settlement in Buckie from the middle of the seventeenth century, and by the end of the next century there were 14 boats and a yawl fishing from the village. The Moray Firth Coast Railway , a part of the Great North of Scotland Railway, opened for passengers on 1st May, 1866, and linked Buckie by rail to Elgin and the North, Aberdeen and the South. The railway closed at Buckie in 1968 which left Keith with the only Railway Station in Banffshire.

Buckie Harbour

The first harbour was built in 1843 and extended in 1852 to include a harbour of refuge. Boat and ship building was carried out at the end of the eighteenth century, it was 1860 that trading vessels of any size were built. In 1842 Buckie was a busy port with 117 large and 28 small fishing vessels. Buckie went from being a small port to become the major fishing port of the Moray Firth and by 1913 was to have the largest steam drifter fleet in Scotland. In 1874 work began on the construction of the Cluny Harbour, the harbour occupied a site of 9 acres. Work was completed in 1880. In 1909 ownership of the harbour passed to Buckie Town Council.

Buckie Today

Buckie today, displays a wide variety of architectural styles from the ubiquitous white painted stone cottages of the trawlerman to the splendid Roman Catholic Church, which opened in 1857 at the west end of the town.