Portsoy
| Portsoy | |
| Scottish Gaelic: Port Saoidh | |
 Portsoy Old Harbour |
|
  Portsoy Portsoy shown within Aberdeenshire | |
| Population | 1,734 (Census 2001)[1] |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | NJ589660 |
| Council area | Aberdeenshire |
| Lieutenancy area | Aberdeenshire |
| Country | Scotland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | BANFF |
| Postcode district | AB45 |
| Dialling code | 01261 |
| Police | Scottish |
| Fire | Scottish |
| Ambulance | Scottish |
| EU Parliament | Scotland |
| UK Parliament | Banff and Buchan |
| Scottish Parliament | Banffshire and Buchan Coast |
Portsoy (Scottish Gaelic: Port Saoidh)[2] is a village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
The original name may come from Port Saoithe, meaning "saithe harbour".[3]
Portsoy is located on the Moray Firth Coast of North East Scotland, 50 miles North West of Aberdeen & 65 miles East of Inverness. It has an approximate population of 2000 persons.
Portsoy is known for:
- local jewellery made from "Portsoy marble" (which is not marble, but rather serpentine)
- locally milled oatmeal which is sold around the world
- The Scottish Traditional Boat Festival, started in 1994, occurs annually, which is worth over £4 million to the local economy.[4][5]
- 17th Century "Old" Harbour & 18th Century "New" Harbour
- a pottery, whose ceramics are noted for their delicate colouring, located at "Portsoy Marble" at the Old Harbour area
Notable people
- Jimmy MacBeath, the wandering singer, was born in Portsoy and is buried there
- Eoin Jess, the former Aberdeen and Scotland footballer, was born in Portsoy
- Jimmy Paterson, trombonist with Dexy's Midnight Runners, was born and raised in Portsoy
Town Amenities
The town currently has two public houses, The Station Hotel on Seafield Street, and The Shore Inn, on Shore Street.
A Cooperative foodstore, petrol station, TSB bank, 3 hairdressers, chemist, 2 bakers, hardware store & cafe, kilt hire shop, 3 taxi businesses, bowling club, sports pavilion & gymnasium, boiler & heating engineers & showroom, thrift shop, marble shop, Antiques store, fish processor.
Portsoy Ice Cream sells home made ice cream, widely known for its various choice of flavours, as well as many other grocery goods.
Portsoy Primary School located on Aird Street.
References
- ↑ Scotland's Census Results OnLine
- ↑ "Gaelic Place-Names of Scotland database". Ainmean-Àite na h-Alba. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
- ↑ "Scottish Parliament: Placenames collected by Iain Mac an Tailleir". Retrieved 8 January 2013.
- ↑ Portsoy Boat Festival
- ↑ Banffshire Journal, 11 Aug 2009
External links
Media related to Portsoy at Wikimedia Commons
Portsoy travel guide from Wikivoyage
- Portsoy's page in the Gazetteer of Scotland
- Panorama of Portsoy Harbour (QuickTime required)
| |||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
