Located on the Buchan coast, Peterhead is the most easterly town in Scotland and is also the largest town in Aberdeenshire apart from Aberdeen city. In any
one year Peterhead will typically get 20% more sunshine hours than Edinburgh and, at less than 30 inches, it is firmly located in one of the driest corners of the
land.

Peterhead has been established for more than 400 years (celebrating its quatercentenary in 1987) and ever since it established itself it has depended on, and
flourished from, its close association with the sea. Indeed the oldest known building in Peterhead dates from 1585, the 'Old Smoke House' is located on the south
bank of the River Ugie estuary, it is still producing fine smoked fish products and is also the oldest working premises in the whole of Scotland.

A number of legends exist around the origins of the Peterhead name but most probably the name comes from the 13th C. St Peter's Church, the remains of which
still can be seen in the town.

Peterhead is also known throughout the world as 'The Blue Toon' and here again there are many legends on how this came about. However the strongest
contender undoubtedly is connected to the fact that the people of Peterhead are also known as 'Blue Mogganers. Moggans are a knitted sock favoured by the
seamen of yore and the Peterhead 'quines' always favoured a blue wool. The 'fisherman's ganzie' is the 'Blue Toon' fisherman's traditional jumper which is again
knitted in blue and worn, allegedly, in order that any body found at sea could be identified as being from his home town - in this case, Peterhead.

Peterhead also has its own specially designed 'Blue Toon' tartan.

The town's harbour was probably started by the Cistercian monks in the early 13th C but the oldest remaining part, Port Henry, dates from the latter part of the
16th century.

Before the Turnpike Act of 1795, there were very few roads in the Buchan area and there were no regular coaches serving the area before this time. When a coach
service was eventually established it is recorded that the Peterhead to Banff coach did the return journey in 13 hours, (a journey of around 30 miles), which
included a 3-hour stop over. It is estimated that at today's rates the coach fare between Peterhead and Aberdeen would have cost the equivalent of £300 to sit
inside and a mere £245 to sit outside!

Its town centre statue of 'Fisher Jessie' dramatically marks Peterhead's proud association with the sea. Carrying a large wicker basket of fish on their backs,
these 'creel wives' would walk through the Buchan countryside selling their wares right up to the 1950s.

The advent of whaling, although relatively short lived (1788-1895), brought the town immense wealth. The gallant crews of these ships travelled all over the northern
seas often leaving their lasting mark in places far afield as Greenland and Northern Canada.

Changes in markets led to the eventual decline of the whaling fleet and this was replaced by the hunt for herring. By 1914 no less than 186 steam herring drifters
were based in Peterhead, but by 1915 the navy had requisitioned the entire fleet! Following the Great War the herring industry recovered somewhat but the
catches never equalled those from earlier years.

The progressive change from herring to white fish provided Peterhead with another strong burst of activity through to the later part of the 20th century when
changing markets, and political edicts again brought about further market changes. Nevertheless, in 2002 no less than 110,000 ton of white fish, shellfish, herring
and mackerel were landed in Peterhead to a value of more than £70 million.

Peterhead is now clustered around a huge modern deep-water Harbour of Refuge, which, beginning in 1886 took more than 70 years to complete and in recent
years Peterhead has again seen dramatic changes in its industry base.

The North Sea oil industry, greatly developed since its discovery in the 1960s, continues to made its significant mark on the town

North Sea oil was first discovered in 1970, some 100 miles NE of Peterhead by 1975 the first North Sea oil (from the Argyll Field) was being pumped ashore just
to the south of Peterhead.

North Sea oil continues to come ashore to the south of the town, at Cruden Bay, whilst North Sea gas is brought ashore at St Fergus immediately to the north.
The ASCO North Base and South Base located within Peterhead Bay make up the largest fully integrated oil service base in the world.

Peterhead has the rather dubious privilege of having the last Convict Prison to be built in the UK. The prison dates from 1886 and at the time it was largely built by
the prisoners themselves; they also had to build the railway that served the quarry for the prison construction as well as for the south breakwater to Peterhead
Bay - although this breakwater was not actually finished until 1963 - long after the end of use of prison labour!

Another brief but very important industry developed throughout the 18th and 19th centuries was that of granite. Although the granite industry is no more in
Peterhead the beautiful colouring of the local granite can still be seen in many buildings throughout the area, and far beyond. Peterhead granite, for example, was
used extensively for the construction of Australia House, Southwark Bridge, the Stock Exchange, the Foreign Office and Covent Garden. Famous Victorian
engineers such as Thomas Tell`brd, John Rennie were particularly enthusiastic in the use of Peterhead granite. (Telford designed and built Peterhead's North
Harbour.)

The granite was not only quarried here in Peterhead but much of it was also polished and carved at one of the two major granite works in the town before being
taken out by train.