Lonmay to Mains of Park

Grey Granite is currently exploring circular walks involving sections of the Line and began walking at Lonmay, heading towards Mormond Halt. The line was very wet just beyond the Northpark bridge so we left the solum there and walked along the road towards Mains of Park

 Both sides of the shallow cutting between Smithyhillock and Northpark are densely covered in rosebay willow herb and in places bright bushes of wild fuchsias and tangles of brambles.

Boarded up and abandoned: Mains of Park Farmhouse, the large walled garden beyond the house and the extensive, empty yards close are now a desolate mass of weeds.

 In the mid 1800s, prior to the arrival of the railway,  the Park district was dominated by the premises of Messrs Willox, carriers. This company seems to have been of great importance to the local economy.

'The Howes o'Buchan' describes the company thus:

 A little to the right of Lonmay Station lies the estate of Park, the principle buildings on which are the premises of Messrs Willox, who carry on a very large trade as carriers and wholesale merchants. Large as is the trade of the Messrs Willox at the present time, (1865) it is a mere shadow to what it was thirty or forty years ago, when they had almost a monopoly of the carrying trade in Buchan. The central depot for the purchase or barter of goods, the only firm in Buchan which at that time possessed regular and established communication with London, 'Willox o' Park' was a name which stood to the people of those days in the place of railway, steamer, commission agent, and sometimes banker!'

A, presumably, 'set a side' field opposite Mains of park. Every so often in the field, which appeared to have   a rich crop of mayweed there were beautiful bushy blue plants.

On closer examination these plants proved to be Phacelia, a native of North America which is occasionally sown in U.K. fields as a green manure. A wide range of plant species was growing in the field, species in the photograph include, pineapple weed, red dead nettle, shepherds purse, mayweed, field pansy and redshank and there was extensive fumitory round the edges of the field. This diversity was a contrast to the willow herb dominated embankment on the Line.

The attractive flower is extremely attractive to bees.

Station Brae, Fraserburgh

Station Brae 

Fraserburgh railway Station was situated at the bottom of this short street, opposite the Dalrymple Hall seen here. The station was opened in 1865, the splendidly baronial Dalrymple Hall and cafe was built in 1881: its imposing design befits a period of growth and civic pride in the Broch. The building was partly financed by Captain John Dalrymple, after whom the street behind the building was named. This ambitious  building, with its five storey  baronial tower,  originally housed a cafe, dining room, newsroom, public hall, public baths and once a month was used for the sheriff court. The building, still known as 'The Cafe' is now an arts centre having been sold to the Town Council in 1945 for use as a public hall. The 'Silver Beetles', later 'The Beatles', performed  here on 23rd May 1960 as part of their Scottish tour.They were not well received.

The undated  6th Edition of the Fraserburgh Official Tourist Guide, published in the years following the 2nd World War, carried this advertisement for the Dalrymple Hall where luncheon could be enjoyed for under the equivalent of 7 pence.

The 'drifter' weather vane five storeys up on the Dalrymple tower

As the railway station opened two houses at the top of  Station Brae were hastily converted to form the Railway Hotel, by 1901 this had become the Station Hotel. Note the pediment over the second ground floor window from the right, converted from  a doorway.The hotel is now closed and controversially operates as a multiple occupancy establishment.

An Advertisement for the Station Hotel from an early 1960s guide to Fraserburgh when the town was  a popular tourist destination and the Station Hotel was one of several flourishing hotels.

The Curves building on Seaforth Street was for a time the home of the Fraserburgh Station Agent (Station master). Originally the Fraserburgh Station Agent was based at Philorth Halt. The beautifully symmetrical  classical building adjacent to it, Saltoun Chambers,  was the Saltoun Estate Office.

Seaforth Street as far as the junction with Victoria Street, where Saltoun Chambers is situated,  was built around 1858 at the direction of Lord Saltoun's agent as an extension of Broad Street. It was extended eastwards beyond the South Church, to where the Leisure Centre is now situated, by the Town Council in 1911 as a scheme to provide work for the unemployed.

Summer flowers at Milltown of Cairnbulg

The unaccustomed hot dry weather of the last couple of weeks, when temperatures have exceeded frequently 20c, unheard of during recent summers, has had a visible effect on the wildflowers along the Line. Suddenly there are dog roses, gowans, hawkweeds, foxgloves and broom in abundance amongst the already rather parched grass.

Looking towards Fraserburgh from the Miltown of Cairnbulg bridge, the dry conditions along the well drained solum contrast with the green vegetation in the lower, boggy ground round the farm.

 Miltown of Cairnbulg seen through the bridge carrying the line over a farm track and the mill laide.There is luxuriant growth on the low lying damp land.

Horses and a field of buttercups beyond the broom and foxgloves on the solum.

The dog roses have opened in the last few days.

 

Foxgloves and hawkweed

Oxeye daisy

White campion