FINDOCHTY

The houses that cluster around the harbour of this Moray fishing village are brightly painted, making it one of the most attractive villages along this stretch of coast. The earliest recorded instance of the name was in 1440, while the following century the land around the port was acquired by the Ord family, who built a castle there, now a ruin. It was also the Ords who established the fishing activity in the port. Like so many of the smaller fishing villages, this facet of the economy has now largely been given over to leisure pursuits, but a reminder of the village's past as a fishing port remains in the form of a statue of a fisherman watching over the harbour, created by a local artist. There are many caves in the coast around here, and in 1899 prehistoric bones were discovered in one of them, identified as having been fashioned into implements. Walkers can strike out along the cliff top paths towards Portknockie to the east or Buckie to the west. Caravanners who are dolphin enthusiasts are in for a treat here in Findochty, because the caravan park looks out onto a bay where the famous Moray Firth dolphins can sometimes be seen.

Map of the area.

Findochty Harbour - geograph.org.uk - 688561. Photo by Ann Harrison, via Wikimedia Commons.