BUCKIE, a post-town, in the parish of Rathven,
county of Banff, situated on the sea-shore, at the mouth
of the burn of Buckie, about a mile northward of the
turnpike-road from Banff to Elgin, and above five miles
eastward of the mouth of the river Spey. It is divided
into the Sea-town and New-town, the total population,
according to the last census, being 2165. The Sea-town
extends both east and west of the burn's mouth, and
has been a fishing station for about two centuries; the
New-town was commenced in the year 1779. West of
the mouth of the burn is a small pier, chiefly for the
benefit of the fishermen's boats, but coal and salt, with
other articles, are unloaded at it in summer. The whitefishing
is prosecuted by thirty-two boats and upwards
of 300 men; seven smoking-houses for curing haddocks
have been lately established, and a brisk trade is carried
on in exporting those fish. A considerable number of
boats also go from this shore to the herring-fishery: in
the year 1844, it appears that 152 boats went. On the
east side of the burn's mouth, contiguous to the coastguard
station, soundings were taken about the time the
Caledonian Canal was cut, with the design of constructing
a harbour of refuge for vessels making the transit from
the east to the west seas by the canal. The locality is
most suitable for a capacious and secure harbour: at
the point of the rocks, at a stream ebb, the depth of
water is six feet, and stream high water rises to twenty
feet. Both the agricultural and commercial interests
urgently call for the formation of a harbour. Buckie has
a branch of the North of Scotland Bank, and contains
places of worship for members of the Free Church, Episcopalians,
and Roman Catholics; also a school provided by
the members of the Free Church, who pay the teacher.