Boddam, Aberdeenshire
Boddam, Aberdeenshire
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1407063

Boddam, Aberdeenshire

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1407063

Boddam, Aberdeenshire

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Boddam, Aberdeenshire

Boddam is a coastal village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is 29 miles (47 km) north of Aberdeen and 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Peterhead. The settlement of Stirling Village lies immediately to the west. Sea cliffs rise to 200 feet (61 m), south of the village: a coastal path leads along these to the Bullers of Buchan.

There is vicinity evidence of prehistoric man, particularly slightly to the southwest of Boddam where a number of prehistoric monuments including Catto Long Barrow, Silver Cairn and many tumuli are found. In that same vicinity of the Laeca Burn watershed is the point d'appui of historic battles between invading Danes and indigenous Picts.

While human occupation in the vicinity of Boddam is attested to from Neolithic times with the quarrying of flint deposits at the Den of Boddam and in more recent times by the fortified remains near the islet of Dundonnie just south of the modern-day village, for much of the early historical period there is little or no record of habitation in the location of the fishing settlement which grew up later.

Boddam Castle was built in the late 16th century by the Ludquharn branch of the Keith family, whose other strongholds in the area are at Inverugie Castle and Ravenscraig Castle, west of Peterhead. Sir William Keith, Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania and Delaware, was born here in 1669.

During the First World War about a hundred German prisoners were sent from Stobs Camp to work in the granite quarries nearby.

Like Peterhead, Boddam grew as a fishing town during the 18th century but until 1831, when the first of two harbours was constructed (one by William Aiton and his company) to the north of the lighthouse, boats had to be hauled onto shore by hand.

A marine villa, known as the Earl's Lodge, was built in 1840 for George Hamilton-Gordon, Earl of Aberdeen (later Prime Minister) and in 1842 he initiated construction of the second harbour situated next to the first, leading to a considerable increase in the local fishing industry and Registered Port status in 1845. By the mid-1840s the population of the expanded and improved village had grown to 526 inhabitants, with 22 haddock boats and 23 larger herring boats working from the harbour for the seasonal fisheries (March to July, and July to September respectively). 12 boats were employed during the winter months in the cod and white fisheries.

Harbour widening followed in 1878, and by 1881 there were 200 drifters based at Boddam. However, in an ironic twist this very growth led to an inevitable decline as Peterhead lying just to the north benefited from the far greater harbour space available for the continually growing fishing fleet.

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