Portsoy

File:The Hall, The Square, Portsoy (geograph 7190878).jpg, now used as a venue for religious gatherings]]

Portsoy became a burgh of barony in 1550, under Sir Walter Ogilvie of Boyne Castle, and the charter was confirmed by parliament in 1581.{{cite web|url=http://www.scottish-places.info/towns/townhistory182.html|title=Portsoy|last=Groome|first=Francis H.|work=Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland|publisher=Gazetteer for Scotland|access-date=30 March 2018}}{{cite web|url=http://www.rps.ac.uk/search.php?action=print&id=10221&filename=jamesvi_trans&type=trans|title=Ratification of the burgh in barony of the town of Portsoy, with certain other privileges|work=Records of the Parliament of Scotland|access-date=30 March 2018}}

From the 16th century until 1975, Portsoy was in the civil and religious parish of Fordyce but was administered by its own Town Council and Banffshire County Council.

Following the commencement of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, on 16 May 1975, lower Banffshire, including Portsoy, became part of Banff & Buchan District Council area which was, in turn, part of the larger Grampian Regional Council area.

A further reorganisation of local government in Scotland came via the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994. With effect from 1 April 1996, 32 unitary authorities came into existence covering the whole of Scotland, Banff & Buchan District Council and Grampian Regional Council ceased to exist and Portsoy came under the jurisdiction of the Aberdeenshire Council unitary authority.{{cite web |title=Burgh of Portsoy |url=http://www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/search/partner/Portsoy?id=5626&class=burgh |access-date=14 October 2015 |website=ScotlandsPlaces |publisher=Historic Environment Scotland}}

The "old harbour" dates to the 17th century and is the oldest on the Moray Firth. The "new harbour" was built in 1825 for the growing herring fishery,{{cite web|title=Portsoy|url=http://www.banffshirecoast.com/Portsoy/|website=Banffshire Coast|publisher=Banffshire Coast Tourism Partnership|access-date=14 October 2015}} which at its peak reached 57 boats.{{cite book |last1=McKean |first1=Charles |title=Banff & Buchan: An Illustrated Architectural Guide |date=1990 |publisher=Mainstream Publications Ltd. |isbn=185158-231-2 }} The Old Town Hall in The Square was completed in 1798.{{Historic Environment Scotland|num= LB40311|desc= The Square, The Hall |access-date=1 July 2022}}

Portsoy is known for local jewellery made from "Portsoy marble" (which is not marble, but rather serpentinite). The annual Scottish Traditional Boat Festival was started in 1993 to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the old harbour.{{cite web|title=Scottish Traditional Boat Festival|url=https://stbfportsoy.org/|publisher=Portsoy Community Enterprise|access-date=23 November 2017}}[http://www.banffshire-journal.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/4405/Festival_crowds_push_the_boat_out.html Banffshire Journal, 11 Aug 2009] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110212090037/http://www.banffshire-journal.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/4405/Festival_crowds_push_the_boat_out.html |date=12 February 2011 }}

Portsoy, notably the harbour, has featured in BBC period dramas The Camerons, The Shutter Falls and Peaky Blinders[https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/film-and-tv/peaky-blinders-filming-locations-where-it-set-cillian-murphy-and-cast-seen-portsoy-shooting-season-6-3129420 "Peaky Blinders filming locations: where is it set as Cillian Murphy and cast seen in Portsoy shooting season 6"] – The Scotsman, 9 February 2021 and a Tennent's Lager advert parodying the 1949 film Whisky Galore! It was also the principal location for Gillies MacKinnon's film Whisky Galore!, a 2016 remake of the 1949 film; Portsoy represented the fictional island of Todday.{{cite news|url=http://www.scotlandthemovie.com/movies/whiskyg161.html|title=Whisky Galore (2016) – Port Soy|publisher=Scotland: The Movie Location Guide|access-date=1 July 2022 }}

Portsoy railway station was formerly the terminus of the Banff, Portsoy and Strathisla Railway branch of the Great North of Scotland Railway system.[https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=ZrGM8n_uNOcC Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Graphic and Accurate Description of Every Place in Scotland], Frances Hindes Groome (1901), p. 1350 It closed in 1968.

• Jimmy MacBeath, the wandering singer, was born in Portsoy and is buried there
• William Boyd, Canadian pathologist and medical textbook writer, was born in Portsoy
• Eoin Jess, the former Aberdeen and Scotland footballer, was born in Portsoy
• Jim Paterson, trombonist with Dexys Midnight Runners, was born and raised in Portsoy[https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/aberdeen-aberdeenshire/947231/dexys-midnight-runner-musician-returns-to-portsoy/ "Dexys Midnight Runner musician returns to Portsoy"] – The Press and Journal, 15 June 2016

• Shore Inn, public house dating to the mid-1700s

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20220527180915/http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/137360 Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for Portsoy] (F. H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882–84)

{{Commons category|Portsoy}}

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• [http://www.scottish-places.info/towns/townfirst182.html Portsoy's page in the Gazetteer of Scotland]

{{Banff and Buchan, Aberdeenshire places|state=uncollapsed}}

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Category:Portsoy

Category:Burghs

Category:Banff and Buchan