Portsoy

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox UK place Portsoy (Template:Langx)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> is a small town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Historically, Portsoy was in Banffshire until 1975. The original name may come from Port Saoithe, meaning "saithe harbour".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Portsoy is located on the Moray Firth coast of northeast Scotland, Template:Convert northwest of Aberdeen and Template:Convert east of Inverness. It had a population of 1,752 at the time of the 2011 census.<ref name=census2011>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

History

File:The Hall, The Square, Portsoy (geograph 7190878).jpg

The Old Town Hall, now used as a venue for religious gatherings

Portsoy became a burgh of barony in 1550, under Sir Walter Ogilvie of Boyne Castle, and the charter was confirmed by parliament in 1581.<ref name="OGS">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

From the 16th century until 1975, Portsoy was in the civil and religious parish of Fordyce but was administered by its own Town Council and Banffshire County Council.

Following the commencement of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, on 16 May 1975, lower Banffshire, including Portsoy, became part of Banff & Buchan District Council area which was, in turn, part of the larger Grampian Regional Council area.

A further reorganisation of local government in Scotland came via the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994. With effect from 1 April 1996, 32 unitary authorities came into existence covering the whole of Scotland, Banff & Buchan District Council and Grampian Regional Council ceased to exist and Portsoy came under the jurisdiction of the Aberdeenshire Council unitary authority.<ref name="burgh">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The "old harbour" dates to the 17th century and is the oldest on the Moray Firth. The "new harbour" was built in 1825 for the growing herring fishery,<ref name=banffcoast>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> which at its peak reached 57 boats.<ref name="McKean">Template:Cite book</ref> The Old Town Hall in The Square was completed in 1798.<ref>Template:Historic Environment Scotland</ref>

Economy

Portsoy is known for local jewellery made from "Portsoy marble" (which is not marble, but rather serpentinite). The annual Scottish Traditional Boat Festival was started in 1993 to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the old harbour.<ref name="stbf">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Banffshire Journal, 11 Aug 2009 Template:Webarchive</ref>

In popular culture

Portsoy, notably the harbour, has featured in BBC period dramas The Camerons, The Shutter Falls and Peaky Blinders<ref>"Peaky Blinders filming locations: where is it set as Cillian Murphy and cast seen in Portsoy shooting season 6" – The Scotsman, 9 February 2021</ref> and a Tennent's Lager advert parodying the 1949 film Whisky Galore! It was also the principal location for Gillies MacKinnon's film Whisky Galore!, a 2016 remake of the 1949 film; Portsoy represented the fictional island of Todday.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Transport

Portsoy railway station was formerly the terminus of the Banff, Portsoy and Strathisla Railway branch of the Great North of Scotland Railway system.<ref name=ord1350>Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Graphic and Accurate Description of Every Place in Scotland, Frances Hindes Groome (1901), p. 1350</ref> It closed in 1968.

Notable people

• Jimmy MacBeath, the wandering singer, was born in Portsoy and is buried there
• William Boyd, Canadian pathologist and medical textbook writer, was born in Portsoy
• Eoin Jess, the former Aberdeen and Scotland footballer, was born in Portsoy
• Jim Paterson, trombonist with Dexys Midnight Runners, was born and raised in Portsoy<ref>"Dexys Midnight Runner musician returns to Portsoy" – The Press and Journal, 15 June 2016</ref>

See also

• Shore Inn, public house dating to the mid-1700s

References

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Further reading

• Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for Portsoy (F. H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882–84)

External links

• Portsoy's page in the Gazetteer of Scotland