Fraserburgh occupies an exposed position at a point where the
Buchan coastline turns west along the
Moray Firth following the rocky Phingask Shore to
Rosehearty. To the east a sandy beach stretches out along the edge of
Fraserburgh Bay into which flows the
Water of Philorth.
The short-lived Fraserburgh University was erected following a grant from the Scottish Parliament in 1595 but closed a decade later following the arrest of its first principal who had incurred the displeasure of King James VI by taking part in the 1605 General Assembly. The college building erected by Alexander Fraser was, however, used for a short time in 1647 when
King's College was forced to move from
Aberdeen to Fraserburgh following an outbreak of the plague.
Since the early 1800s the town's population has increased six-fold in response to the growth in the 19th Century of the herring fishing trade and in the 20th century the development of white fishing, food processing and machine tool industries. Ship repair, fish canning and the manufacture of refrigeration vans are important modern industries.
(1990) Banff and Buchan: An Illustrated Architectural Guide.
(2010) Historic Fraserburgh.
