Bullers of Buchan

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

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Bullers of Buchan, a stupendous series of granite cliffs, with a- huge rocky caldron into which the sea rushes through a natural archway, in Cruden parish, Aberdeen shire, 1½ mile N of Slains Castle, and 5¾ SSW of Peterhead. The cliffs for a considerable distance are high and rugged, and at the Buller proper are pierced by a tunnel, open horizontally in front to the inward rush of the sea, and vertically within to the sky, forming there what is locally called the Pot. The rocks, both in front and in the Pot, are wall-like, and probably 100 feet in height; they terminate in so sharp a land surface as to leave but a narrow and precarious footway either for traversing the summit of the arch or going round the margin of the Pot. Sir Walter Scott's description of the Buller pales before that by Dr Samuel Johnson, who visited it with Boswell in 1773:-' We turned our eyes to the Buller or Bouillior of Buchan, which no man can see with indifference who has either sense of danger or delight in rarity. It is a rock perpendicularly tubulated, united on one side with a high shore, and on the other rising steep to a great height above the main sea. The top is open, from which may be seen a dark gulf of water, which flows into the cavity through a breach made in the lower part of the enclosing rock. It has the appearance of a vast well bordered with a wall. The edge of the Buller is not wide, and, to those that walk round, appears very narrow. He that ventures to look downwards sees that if his foot should slip, he must fall from his dreadful elevation upon stones on one side, or into the water on the other. We, however, went round, and were glad when the circuit was completed. When we came down to the sea, we saw some boats and rowers, and resolved to explore the Buller at the bottom. We entered the arch which the water had made, and found ourselves in a place which-though we could not think ourselves in danger-we could scarcely survey without some recoil of

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Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer