Macduff

Macduff, a police burgh and seaport of Banffshire, Scotland. Pop. (1901), 3431. It * lies on the right bank of the mouth of the Deveron, 1 m. E. of Banff and 504 m. N.W. of Aberdeen by the Great North of Scotland railway. The site was originally occupied by the fishing village of Doune, but after its purchase by the 1st earl of Fife, about 1732, the name was altered to Macduff by the 2nd earl, who also procured for it in 1783 a royal charter constituting it a burgh. In honour of the occasion he rebuilt the market cross, in front of the parish church. The harbour, safer and more accessible than that of Banff, was constructed by the duke of Fife, and transferred to the burgh in 1898. The inhabitants are chiefly employed in the herring fishery, but there is some boat-building, besides rope-and-sail making, manure works, saw-mills and oilcake mills. A stone bridge across the Deveron communicates with Banff. Good bathing facilities, a bracing climate and a mineral well attract numerous visitors to Macduff every summer. The burgh unites with Banff, Cullen, Elgin, Inverurie, Kintore and Peterhead (the Elgin burghs) in returning one member to parliament.