Burghead

Burghead Harbour

Burghead was a important Pictish fortress and port from as early as the AD300s. The headland projecting north west into the Moray Firth was heavily defended with ditches and ramparts on all sides. At the landward end of the headland there were three rows of these defences, each 800ft long and chevron shaped.

Harbourside Flats Harbour Inn Grant Street Old Fishing Boat

The seafaring Picts who lived here did so for up to 500 years. The evidence suggests that the fortifications were finally overrun and destroyed in the 800s, probably by the Danes. The Danes were in turn eventually expelled from this part of the country by the Scots in 1010.

Dunbar Street

Headland Site of Pictish Fortress

View East From Burghead

For the next significant episode in Burghead's history you need to wait until 1750, when the Stephen family began to build ships in the small fishing village that had developed here. As late as 1793 most of the earthworks from the pictish fortress still remained, believed at the time to be relics from an age of Viking pirates.

Everything changed in 1805. The village and surrounding land was brought by William Young of Inverugie, who laid out a much larger settlement on a regular, gridded street plan. From 1807 the harbour you see today was built by Thomas Telford, complete with surrounding three storey stone warehouses, three of which remain. A coastguard station and fish curing facilities were also built from 1807, and Burghead rapidly became an important herring fishing port.

The result was a thriving town, but in the process most of the pictish fortifications were obliterated and today only partial remains can be seen around the outer end of the headland.

By 1834 Burghead was important enough to warrant a regular steamer service to Glasgow via the Caledonian Canal, calling at Cromarty en route. And it was also home to 40 fishing boats. The fishing industry has declined in recent years, but Burghead remains home to a number of vessels.

From the 1960s Burghead also became important centre for the malting industry, with barley being malted here before being transported, initially by rail, to Speyside's distilleries. A further large maltings was built a little to the south of Burghead in 1980, though the rail link ceased in 2000.

Burghead today is an attractive mix of planned town, harbour and holiday resort. Little may remain of the pictish fortifications on the headland, but the area does afford wonderful views back over the town and along the coast.

One of Telford's warehouses by the harbour has been converted into extremely attractive flats, though another still lies unused (and others have been demolished). Meanwhile the dunes and forest to the south opens up a completely different environment for visitors now linked by attractive grassy areas around the old railway sidings to the harbour.