Peterhead

Peterhead ( ; , ) is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is the largest settlement in the council area, with a population of 19,791 at the 2022 Census. It is the busiest fishing port in the United Kingdom for total landings by UK vessels, according to a 2019 survey. Peterhead sits at the easternmost point in mainland Scotland. It is often referred to as The Blue Toun (locally spelled "The Bloo Toon") and locals 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.

Peterhead ( ; , ) is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is the largest settlement in the council area, with a population of 19,791 at the 2022 Census. It is the busiest fishing port in the United Kingdom for total landings by UK vessels, according to a 2019 survey. Peterhead sits at the easternmost point in mainland Scotland. It is often referred to as The Blue Toun (locally spelled "The Bloo Toon") and locals 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. ==History== , looking west to the Town House. The Reform Monument is in view on the left.]] ===Listed buildings=== , located on High Street, to the west of the town]] Peterhead has many listed buildings across the three categories (A, B and C). The three Category A listed buildings are Buchan Ness lighthouse, Old St Peter's Church and the Old Parish Church (known colloquially as the Muckle Kirk). The majority of the listed buildings are on streets that fan out from the harbour, including Harbour Street, Broad Street, Jamaica Street, Maiden Street, Merchant Street, Port Henry Road, Queen Street and St Andrew Street. Queen Street was the main street of the new town laid out around 1805. North Street, which leads up into Roanheads, consists of 19th-century two-storey red granite homes. The dormer-windowed circa-1877 fisher houses in Great Stuart Street were constructed for fishermen quitting Burnhaven (hence its nickname Burnie Street). There are similar houses in Port Henry Road, Gladstone Road and Almanythie Road. The oldest building in Peterhead is the 16th-century Fish-House (also known as the Salmon House), located on today's Golf Road. Harbour Street Harbour Street was laid out in 1739. Redevelopment of the eastern end of Harbour Street, at its junction with Union Street, Farmer's Lane and Bridge Street, began in 2016. It is the home of the Peterhead office of Marine Scotland. 1 Harbour Street, built in the late 18th century. Category B listed Broad Street The former heart of the 19th-century town, Broad Street was bordered by the Peterhead Town House to the west, Arbuthnot House to the east, and lined on both sides "by good houses, hotels and banks". The slope between Broad Street and the harbour "contains some of the most picturesque urban streets in Scotland," according to historian Charles McKean. There are 22 listed buildings on Broad Street, including: Arbuthnot House, built in 1805. Category B listed 32 Broad Street, built in 1858¹. Category B listed 59 Broad Street, built in the mid-18th century. Category B listed 75 Broad Street, built in 1835. Category B listed Reform Monument, built in 1833. Category B listed Peterhead Town House, built in 1788. Category B listed Merchant Street 10 Merchant Street, built . Category B listed St. Peter's Episcopal Church, 22 Merchant Street, built in 1814. Category B listed The church hall of the above. Category C listed Statue of Field Marshal Keith, built in 1868. Category B listed ==Local government== Peterhead is the largest settlement in Buchan, a committee area of Aberdeenshire. The town was a burgh in the historic county of Aberdeenshire. In 1930 it became a small burgh under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929, but in 1975 small burghs were abolished and Peterhead became part of the district of Banff and Buchan within the new Grampian Region. When districts and regions were abolished in 1996, Peterhead became part of the new unitary authority of Aberdeenshire. Since 1975 Peterhead has had a community council, with limited powers. ==Demographics== The 2022 Census put the town's population at 19,791, making Peterhead the largest town in Aberdeenshire. English is the primary language of residents, although 56.4% can speak Scots. ==Social issues== Peterhead has been referred to as having some of the highest levels of deprivation in Aberdeenshire. According to the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation, the town centre (specifically a part of the harbour area) received the lowest ranking (1 out of 10) for four of the seven topics: employment, education/skills, housing and crime. That area also received a ranking of 2 for income. The other two rankings were a 4 for health and a 10 for geographic access. Overall, this part of the harbour area ranked lowest (1) in the decile and quantile statistics. By contrast, parts of Ugieside and Peterhead Links ranked markedly higher. Ugieside ranked above 5 in five of the seven topics: income (7), employment (6), health (8), housing (8) and crime (10). It received a 4 in education/skills and geographic access. Peterhead Links, meanwhile, ranked above 5 in all topics. ==Education== ===Academy=== Peterhead Academy houses around 1,300 pupils and the school is split into six houses (Arbuthnot, Buchan, Craigewan, Grange, Marischal and Slains), with all the names associated with areas of the town. The school has pupils coming from surrounding villages such as Boddam, Cruden Bay, Hatton, Inverugie, Rora, St Fergus and Crimond. The academy's motto is Domus Super Petram Aedificata, meaning "A House Built on a Rock" – a reference to the parable in Matthew 7:24-27. The academy is one of Scotland's largest schools at over of gross internal floor area. The building is split in two distinct designs. The older section of the school was built before the Second World War, whilst the newer section of the school with hexagonal designs came after. The latter section of the school shares space with the town's community centre, theatre and sports facilities. ===Primary and specialist schools=== Peterhead has six primary schools: Clerkhill, Buchanhaven, Meethill, Dales Park, Central and Burnhaven. There is one special school, Anna Ritchie, which caters for most specific learning difficulties, autism and other disabilities. The former North School, on King Street, closed in 1981. It has been converted into a business. ==Media== ===Newspapers=== Peterhead news appears in The Press and Journal and the Buchan Observer. The Buchanie, as it is known locally, has been published in Peterhead since 1863¹. The now-defunct Peterhead Sentinel was published on Tuesdays and Fridays between 1858 and 1907. ===Radio stations=== Peterhead is served by nation-wide radio stations, BBC Radio Scotland on 93.1, Northsound 1 on 103.0 FM, Original 106 on 106.3 FM, Greatest Hits Radio North East Scotland on DAB and online and Coast Radio, which broadcasts on 101.2 FM. Waves Radio, 101.2 FM, which aired between 1997 and 2023, broadcast from Blackhouse Way in the Blackhouse Industrial Estate. Coast Radio took over the frequency. ===Television=== Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC Scotland and STV North (formerly Grampian Television). Television signals are received from the Durris and local relay transmitters. ==Blueprint for Growth== In 2008, a Blueprint for Growth was published by Aberdeenshire Council – a plan to extend the town beyond its bypass. The plan involved 4,500 homes, four new primary schools, a new secondary school and a new hospital to be built in the next 20–25 years – hoping to bring 9,000 people to the town. In 2016, Aberdeenshire Council launched a regeneration strategy for Peterhead — the Peterhead Development Partnership Action Plan 2016–2021 — covering the themes of Peterhead economy, integrating communities and connecting, reinforcing and rediscovering Peterhead's town centres. ==Lighthouses== ]] Peterhead has four lighthouses, two of which are active. In chronological order of construction, they are: Buchan Ness lighthouse (1827; Robert Stevenson) is active. It stands on a small island, accessible by a bridge. South Breakwater lighthouse (1833; Robert Stevenson) is active, and it is the easternmost lighthouse on mainland Scotland. It is owned by Peterhead Port Authority. Harbour South lighthouse (1849; Thomas Stevenson). Now inactive, it originally stood on the Albert Quay, but it was relocated in 2015 to the junction of the Esplanade and Alexandra Parade. Harbour North lighthouse (1908). Now inactive, it is located in front of the Port Authority's control building on West Pier. ==Tourism== The harbours, maritime and built heritage, Peterhead Town Trail are the town's principal tourism assets alongside the Peterhead Prison Museum. Recent initiatives include investments in the Peterhead Bay area, which have included the berthing of cruise ships in the harbour. A number of projects are planned under the Peterhead Development Partnership and Rediscover Peterhead Business Improvement District initiatives, including tourism strategy development, enhancing existing attractions, improvements to the town's physical attractiveness, and increased marketing and promotion. The former Victorian-era prison, HM Prison Peterhead, which closed in 2013 due to the construction of a new and larger prison facility, has since been converted into a museum. ===Peterhead Trail=== The Peterhead Trail website was launched in early 2021, but the enterprise had erected 21 story boards around the town for a year or two beforehand. The story boards can be visited via three routes: the red route (an extension of the red route; long), the blue route ( ) and the green route ( ). The route begins at the Muckle Kirk, at the intersection of Kirk Street, Charlotte Street, Maiden Street and Erroll Street, in the southern part of the town. It travels east along Marischal Street, then south on Jamaica Street to Harbour Street. It continues north-east along Harbour Street to Broad Street, then north onto Seagate and North Seagate at Roanheads. The blue route begins here, while the red route turns west onto Port Henry Road, then south-west onto St Peter Street, where it ends, between Queen Street and Prince Street, at the Arbuthnot Museum. Back at the split of the two routes, the blue route continues north by looping around The Esplanade and Skene Street, then north-west along the shore on Gadle Braes to the old Harbour Street and then behind Ugie Hospital and the Fish-House to Golf Road. There, it turns south, then back east towards the centre of Peterhead, via Ugie Road, Hay Crescent, Queen Street and the short, curved section of Prince Street. Then it is a right turn (to the south-west) onto Landale Road, south-east down a section of York Street, north-east along King Street and an eastern turn onto Prince Street. The finishing point is, as with the red route, Arbuthnot Museum. The green route travels west and south along the bay, taking in The Links, St Peter's Churchyard, the Scottish Maritime Academy, the Reform Tower and the Prison Museum. ==Sport== Peterhead F.C. is a Scottish Professional Football League club that plays in League One. They won the League Two championship in 2013–14, 2018–19 and 2024–25. The club reached the final of the Scottish Challenge Cup in the 2015–16 season. Peterhead Golf Club, reputedly the 18th-oldest in the world, sits on the banks of the River Ugie at its estuary with the North Sea, just over a mile to the north-west of the town. It has an 18- and a 9-hole course. Peterhead RFC is a Scottish Rugby Union team that plays at the Lord Catto playing fields. ==Transport== ===Road=== Today, Peterhead is contained largely inside the A90, which runs along the western periphery of the town and was built through the area in the late 1980s. It leads to Fraserburgh to the north and Edinburgh to the south. North Road (the A982) connects to the A90 to the north of town, in Ugieside; West Road (the A950) connects to it from downtown; and South Road (also the A982) connects to it south of the town, in the Invernettie area. The main roads in and out of downtown Peterhead (from north to south) are Ugie Street, Queen Street and West Road. ===Bus=== Peterhead has a number of in-town and out-of-town bus services. The in-town services (run by Stagecoach Bluebird) are the 82 (Chapel Street to Links Terrace), the 83 (Chapel Street to Windmill Road) and the 84 (Chapel Street to West Road). The 84 service does not run on Sundays. Out-of-town buses service Stirling Village (60, X60, 81, 82A, 82S and 747), Longhaven (60, X60, 61, 63 and 747), Hatton (60, X60, 61, X61 and 747), Ellon (60, X60, 61, X61 and 747), Cruden Bay (61, X61, 63 and 747), Newburgh (61, X61 and 63), Balmedie (61 and X61), Aberdeen (60, X60, 61, X61 and 63), Downiehills (66 and 66A), Longside (66 and 66A), Methlick (64), Mintlaw (66 and 66A), Old Deer (66 and 66A), Stuartfield (66 and 66A), Maud (66 and 66A), St Fergus (69, 69A and X69), Kirktown (69 and 69A), Crimond (69, 69A and X69), Inverallochy (X69), Lonmay (69), Fraserburgh (69, 69A and X69), St Combs (69A and X69), Cairnbulg (69A), Boddam (81, 82A and 82S), Foveran (747), Belhelvie (747), Dyce (747) and Aberdeen Airport (747). The 60, X60, 63, 69 and 84 do not run on Sundays. The 747 Peterhead to Aberdeen Airport service runs on weekdays only. It also has one return peak journey. HM Prison Peterhead is serviced by numbers 61, X61, 81, 82A and 82S. Watermill Coaches runs the Peterhead–HMP Prison–Stirling Village–Boddam route 82S on school days. A2B dial-a-bus is available on weekdays from 9:45 AM to 1:45 PM. ===Air=== The nearest airport with scheduled services is Aberdeen Airport. A heliport has been set up at the eastern end of the former RAF Buchan air base. Recreational aviation also takes place from a part of a former runway. Between 1952 and 2004 the Royal Air Force station RAF Buchan was located near the town. The radar unit ceased to be a RAF station on 1 September 2004 and was downgraded to a Remote Radar Head named RRH Buchan. ===Rail=== Peterhead is further from a railway station (at from Aberdeen) than any other town of its size in Great Britain. The town once had two stations, namely Peterhead railway station and Peterhead Docks railway station. Passenger trains on the Formartine and Buchan Railway stopped in 1965 under the Beeching Axe, and freight in 1970. The start of reconstruction of the Borders Railway to Galashiels (early 2013) has begun a local political debate into the possibility of reopening the line from Aberdeen to Fraserburgh and Peterhead. ==Twin town== Ålesund, Norway ==Notable people== ===17th century=== George Keith (1638/9 1716), missionary William Keith (1669 1749), colonial governor of Pennsylvania James Keith (1696 1758), soldier ===18th century=== James Wales (1747 1795), artist Peter Buchan (1790 1854), editor Donald Manson (1792 1880), whaler and harbourmaster of Peterhead Gilbert Mair (1799 1857), sailor and merchant trader ===19th century=== Thomas Abernethy (1803 1860), Arctic and Antarctic explorer William Hay (1818 1888), architect George Kynoch (1834 1891), engineering businessman George King (1840 1909), botanist Charles Creighton (1847 1927), physician and medical author Annie Gordon Baillie (1848 – after 1900), criminal William Gibson (1849 1914), Canadian politician Dugald McTavish Lumsden (1851 1915), soldier James Niven (1851 1925), physician Alexander Hall (1880 1943), professional footballer Frederick Martin (1882 1950), politician Eric Temple Bell (1883 1960), mathematician and science fiction author Arthur D. Hay (1884 1952), American attorney and judge William Aitken (1894 1973), Scottish League footballer ===20th century=== Margaret Jope (1913 2004), biochemist Jim Lovie (born 1932¹), professional footballer Peter Mullan (born 1959), actor and film maker Dame Laura Lee (born 1966), charity worker Jon S. Baird (born 1972¹), director Marino Keith (born 1974), professional footballer Jackie Dunbar, Scottish National Party Member of Scottish Parliament Stuart MacLeod, magician Jamie McLeary (born 1981), golfer Connor McLennan (born 1999), professional footballer ==See also== Peterhead Fish Market List of Provosts of Peterhead Clerkhill Buchanhaven – village within Peterhead Peterhead power station Scotland-Norway interconnector Whaling in Scotland ==References== ==External links== Peterhead Town Trail Peterhead Scottish Week – Annual gala in town Local Authority Covering Peterhead Area Peterhead Lifeboat Station Peterhead Tourism Peterhead Development Partnership Rediscover Peterhead Business Improvement District

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