Snow on the Line in Fraserburgh

Looking along the Line towards the CPT Factory, the spire of Fraserburgh West Parish Church is prominent and the 'Toolies' factory looks less grim than usual under a fresh covering of snow.

A handsome Gothic building, completed in 1876, in response to the needs of  a growing community, and as an extension of the Old Parish Church in the Broadgate, the West Parish Church was described as being situated, 'among the green fields high on  a slope on the edge of the town'. It is now situated in the middle of  a traffic island, the Hexagon, which owing to the continued expansion of the burgh is now considered to be a town centre location.

Golden Horn, Fraserburgh: The Mystery Solved?

The recent references to the light house at the end of the Balaclava Breakwater have caused great controversy as to why, what has usually just been referred to as the lighthouse or the beacon, should be called the Golden Horn. It did seem that this name is a recent development but today  Grey Granite was informed by a most knowledgeable Brocher that it has 'aye been ca'ad' the Golden Horn but usage of the name has fluctuated. Apparently, when the lighthouse was being constructed between  1875 and 1882, a gold sovereign was placed, for luck, at the base of the tower. This sounds a more plausible  story than other theories about the origins of the name.

Prior to the extending of the  Balaclava Pier and  building a breakwater, boats trying to enter the harbour were frequently damaged in stormy weather. The original Balaclava Pier was much modified and extended during the 19th century as the needs of the fishing industry changed.

The laying of the foundation stone of the Balaclava Breakwater by Lord Saltoun, on 23rd October 1875, was an occasion of great pageantry, followed by ceremonial dinner for the Harbour Commissioners and the great and good of the town .  As part of  the parade in which all the trades of the town were represented Lord Saltoun was ceremoniously seated in  a Broadsea yole, mounted on  a specially built carriage and pulled from North Lodge Philorth to the pier by 100 grateful Broadsea fishermen. 

The Grey Lady of Kinmundy

In May 2011 an Icelandic ash cloud resulted in  an abortive attempt at reaching the Chelsea Flower Show  so that  Grey Granite and her friend, Dr Anne  found themselves in Dyce without a plane to catch. Grey Granite and Dr Anne walked from the start of the Formartine Buchan Way to Brokenwynd Farm where they saw this strange Grey Lady.

 

Grey Lady-wire sculpture by the Line close to Kinmundy Home Farm
Is anyone able to tell Grey Granite how this extraordinary lady, who has a more than passing resemblance to Queen Victoria, comes to be loitering eternally by the Line?

Close to Dyce railway station, surrounded by offices and yards storing heavy oil related ironmongery, a field of buttercups and cuckoo flowers

Bridge over the River Don

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Philorth Halt:Rosehill Brick and Tile Works

This morning sunshine and a couple of inches of snow transformed the Line and the otherwise winter dreary golf course and fields between Philorth and Fraserburgh into a deserted, magical snowscape.

The line at Philorth Halt, looking down the Line towards Fraserburgh.

 Philorth Halt was built  and maintained by the railway company,  as a private station for Lord Saltoun  as a condition of the line being able to pass through the Philorth Estate.  Although, along with other stations on the line,  Philorth opened in April 1865, the station did not appear on public timetables until   1923 and  was reserved for the exclusive use of Lord Saltoun, his family and factor until 1926. 

The station was built at the point at which the Line crossed the road leading from Philorth Estate to the Cairnbulg road. Part of the  gate of  the level crossing for the road may be seen on the left of the picture above taken looking towards Rose Hill and Corbie Hill from the station.

 Philorth Woods from the Station

Rose Hill with Corbie Hill beyond seen from near the Golf Clubhouse

The small hill on the golf course close to Philorth Halt, where the Philorth road meets the Cairnbulg road, is known as Rose Hill. Writing in 1914 Cranna reports that, 'old men living in Fraserburgh a generation or two ago,  remembered that a brick and tile work was carried on at the Rosehill, the little hill which lies almost opposite the Corbiehill,  on the Cairnbulg turnpike'. The works would have made use of the clay which underlies the bents in this area. A house was built here in 1787 for the Philorth Estate pundlar who along with his duties rounding up stray cattle, seems also to have operated a ferry boat on the Water of Philorth. The hill gives its name to the nine hole golf course which it overlooks.

Corbie Hill, directly beyond Rosehill, is named for the ravens which once flocked there. It in turn gives its name to the 18 hole golf course on the far side of the Cairnbulg road.

St Drostan's Episcopal Church Old Deer

During the winter when the trees are bare the church spire of Old Deer Church may be seen through the trees on the south of the Line as one walks between   Aden Park and Deer Abbey. St Drostan's Episcopal Church in Old Deer is associated with two remarkable people, the infamous John Graham of Claverhouse and the lesser known but equally inspirational, Deaconess Anna Ritchie.

St Drostan's Episcopalian Church

St Drostan's Episcopalian Church, which was built in 1851 on land gifted to the congregation by the Russells of Aden Park, is situated in Abbey Street.  Some bones from the tomb of John Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee, (Bonnie Dundee or Bluidy Clavers, according to ones perspective) were buried in the chancel in the 19th century.

Within a short time of the church being built  Dean Rankin, the incumbent, was presented by  a friend  with what were claimed to be some of the bones of Graham of Claverhouse which he had removed from Claverhouse's burial vault at Blair Atholl. Dean Rankin was a strong Jacobite and a fervent admirer of Claverhouse. Although his friend wished to honour the Dean by gifting him the relic, this created a great moral dilemma  for the Dean who  could not   return them to Atholl for fear of implicating his friend in  a sacrilegious crime,but  at the same time wished to ensure that the bones were treated reverently. Therefore Dean Rankin, 'at dead of night managed to prize up some of the tiles of the chancel and dig  a hole - just under the present window - where he deposited the prized remains' .Presently it began to worry the Dean that the resting place of the bones was unmarked so he installed a commemorative window and inscription close to the burial spot. 

The window on the south side of the chancel beneath which  Dundee's bones are said to be buried. 

The brass plaque below the window has the inscription: 'Sacred to the memory of John Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee, who died in the arms of Victory and whose battle cry was 'King James and the Church of Scotland'.

Collage of images from the Claverhouse Window

Portrait of Deaconess Anna Ritchie which hangs above what was her usual pew in the church.

Anna Ritchie, the daughter of Strichen farmers, was born  in 1884 and became an early female graduate of Edinburgh University. Anna married Tom Smith, a headteacher at Kilspindie near Perth, who sadly died of TB within a short time of their marriage. Following an early career as a teacher Anna  returned to Buchan to look after her widowed mother. Anna's second marriage to local Doctor Dr James Ritchie of Mavisbank, Old Deer also ended tragically when, on their wedding night, Dr Ritchie collapsed and died after having been out to attend a patient. Anna then  trained as  a Deaconess and became the first Deaconess in the Scottish Episcopal Church, serving as Deaconess at St Drostan's for many years. During her ministry at St Drostan's her interest in education was maintained and she not only set up a postal home Sunday School scheme, but also gave home tuition to those children who at the time were considered ineducable. Her unceasing efforts to set up a school for special needs was recognised by the education authority in 1963 when Anna Ritchie school in Peterhead was named in her honour. Anna Ritchie died peacefully in her sleep on 11thh December 1971 and her ashes a buried close in St Drostan's kirkyard on the right of the main door quite close to the part of the church in which she worshipped.

Anna Ritchie was awarded an MBE in 1958. She was a remarkable and inspirational pioneering woman who deserves to be more widely remembered than appears to be the case.

Udny Station to Tillycorthie

Grey Granite and Rufus walked this section of the Line on a very hot day in June 2011.

The village of Udny Station owes its existence entirely to the Formartine and Buchan railway and grew rapidly following the opening of the railway station in 1861 so that by 1894 the hamlet surrounding the station  had become a focus for trade in the area. Agricultural implements and goods ranging from day old chicks and seed potatoes to implement parts and the draff from Speyside distilleries (used as animal feed) were brought into, and exported from, the area by train. Udny was the nearest station to Haddo House so occasionally performers for the Haddo House concerts brought a touch of glamour. At its most prosperous period the village boasted a hotel, Bibby's store, post office, telephone exchange, general merchants, bank, garage and doctor.

The Station Hotel,  this was originally owned by the railway company but eventually was sold off. 

The village had the distinction of being the first in the NE to be lit by electricity, this was thanks  to James Rollo Duncan of nearby Tillycorthie House who set up Duncan Electricity Company to provide the village with power. Duncan was born in New Leeds on 20th July 1859 and brought up by his maternal aunt who had a sweet shop there. In 1882 Duncan emigrated to Bolivia where he made his fortune in the tin and silver mines, becoming a partner in the mining firm Penny and Duncan, Bolivia. He returned  to Scotland and in 1899 bought  Tillycorthie Estate  south of Udny Station.  Houses in Woodside Terrace and Duncan Terrace, were built for his estate workers using granite brought by rail from quarries at Stirling Hill (Boddam).  Duncan became a major benefactor to the community. In 1915 Duncan  built the village hall and gifted it to the community, this is now a grain store having been replaced in the 1980s by a new community centre built by the villagers.  

Tillycorthie House was built by Duncan in 1911. This extraordinary building, one of the earliest in Scotland  to be constructed from concrete, is in a vaguely Spanish style and is thought to have been largely designed by Duncan himself. The estate grounds included an artificial lake, constructed from railway sleepers, a workshop with a rooftop skating rink and two baronial lodges. The house had a glass covered courtyard, large enough to allow the owner to turn his car in it and to accommodate a large granite fountain originally from the New Market in Aberdeen. By the late 1960s  Tillycorthie was used as an agricultural store but has since been restored.

The station platform looking south, this is the up (Aberdeen bound) platform

The Station Agent  at Udny was also responsible for the adjacent Newmachar and Logierieve Stations. From the 1930s the station agent lived at Newmachar although he remained based at Udny. When it first opened in July 1861 Udny had a single platform, on the 'down' side, where the original station  buildings were situated, and  a passing loop. The 'up' platform  was a later addition. A footbridge joined the  two platforms until sometime between the two world wars when it was removed and passengers had to cross from one side of the station to the other by by  a level crossing at the south end of the station, unnervingly passing in front of the waiting up train. There was also a goods yard with sidings, these are now lost under new housing and  a recreation ground.

Level crossing gates near Tillycorthie. The feathery plant in the lower picture is sweet cicely

During World War 2  a quantity of High Explosive bombs was dropped in a line stretching from a clump of trees near Tillycorthie House, across the  railway towards Corthymiur Farm. Of the 15 HE bombs one failed to explode. 20 incendiary bombs were also dropped around the farm setting fire to a grain store. 

A little to the west of Udny Station, towards Cultercullen, on the former site of  a wooden WW 2 Royal Observation Corps Observation hut is  a series of air vents, the remains of a later underground ROC station, in use   from 1959 to 2001 during the Cold War.

Fraserburgh:Balaclava Pier and the Golden Horn

The Esplanade looking west towards the harbour and 'Golden Horn' lighthouse

Looking East over the Esplanade from the South Links, the road follows line of the railway

After skirting the South Links for 0.25 miles east of  the site of Fraserburgh railway station the Formartine and Buchan Way  crosses South Harbour Road to join the Esplanade.  There are views to the east along the beach towards the Waters of Philorth and Cairnbulg Point where the wreck of the Banff registered Sovereign, which went aground on 18th December 2005, can usually be seen. The actual course of the Line is now under the South Harbour Road but may be picked up again close to the children's play area.  

The Golden Horn on a calm day

 The lighthouse at the end of the Balaclava Pier has, in recent years, become known as 'The Golden Horn', possibly because of the golden glow it takes on in certain lights. The lighthouse was erected when the Balaclava Pier  was extended. The original section of this  pier, at first  known as the New North Pier, was completed in 1856  or 1857 during the Crimean War and swiftly renamed to commemorate  the Battle of Balaclava. The lighthouse stands 22 metres above high water mark.

The  extension to the Balaclava   Pier was one of the first major marine structures in the country to be built entirely of concrete. Unfortunately,  since the  proportions of sand and stone to cement in the concrete were miscalculated, the  structure eroded very quickly and had to be extensively repaired within a relatively short time.

Battered by the storm, December 2012

Coinciding with high tides and described as the 'perfect storm' by the Meteorological  Office, this storm damaged the breakwater by the lighthouse.

Grey Granite would be pleased to hear from anyone who knows how the tag 'Golden Horn' arose.