Peterhead

The port founded in 1539 by George Keith (1553-1623), 5th Earl-Marischal of Scotland, was built using the local pink granite. The Young Pretender landed here in 1715 with the help of the 10th Earl and his brother, James Keith, who later became a field marshal in the army of Frederick II the Great of Prussia. He is commemorated by a statue presented to the town by William I of Prussia, in 1868, and which stands in front of the town hall.

The vast port infrastructure, begun in 1773, enabled Peterhead to become Britain's leading whaling port, and later one of its main herring ports, in the 19th century. Today it is a supply base for the North Sea oil rigs and Europe's leading whitefish port with a busy fish market.

The Peterhead Maritime Heritage Museum traces the history of the port in great detail, while the Arbuthnott Museum presents a collection of Inuit artefacts brought back by the whalers. Peterhead also has the oldest packing plant in Scotland (1585).

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