Buckie was the largest town in the old county of Banff and is still one of the largest in Moray District. It is made up of several communities, from Buckpool or Nether Buckie in the West through Easter Buckie to Ianstown and Portessie in the East. Although it extends along three miles of coastline, it is nowhere greater in depth to the South than one mile, nor does it anywhere touch the main A98 road, keeping the town pleasantly free of heavy through traffic. With its close association with the sea, it is no surprise that Buckie's principal industry is fishing. Cluny Harbour was completed in 1880 and was in its time one of the finest harbours in the Northeast of Scotland. The Board of Fisheries and Sir Robert Gordon of Letterfourie completed an earlier but smaller harbour at Buckpool in 1857. It was designed and engineered by the firm D&T Stevenson (associated with Robert Louis Stevenson's father). Having become too small for use by modern shipping standards it was filled in and landscaped to provide an attractive park.
Buckie Fish Market operates every morning when fish is available, but Thursdays and Fridays are usually the busiest days. By Friday night, if the weather has been favourable, the harbour is filled with fishing boats, catches have been unloaded, gear stowed and the boats prepared for their return to sea late on Sunday night or early Monday morning. The fishermen's houses in Buckie are fairly typical of the area and fall into two groups. Some of the earlier houses in the simple traditional style can still be seen in the Yardie and Seatown area of Buckie, in Portessie and in Bowie's Lane in Buckpool. Those built towards the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, when fishing prosperity reached an all-time high, were well designed and strongly built with good material with much attention paid to outside architectural detail. Any new developments in the Seatown have been designed to preserve the character of the existing area.
Few towns of its size can have so many religious groups represented as Buckie, and this is reflected in the many churches in the town. Some are architecturally quite noteworthy. The most striking is undoubtedly the twin-spired Roman Catholic Church at the west end of the town, opened in 1857; also noteworthy are the Episcopal Church in Cluny Square, built in 1876, the old West Church, and the north Church with its striking crown steeple, which in 1878 replaced an earlier building. Birdwatchers will find it rewarding to walk along the shore eastwards from Portessie towards Strathlene, or westwards to Portgordon where the mouth of the Gollachy Burn attracts seabirds and waders, while the "Winding Walk", from Queen St up the Buckie Burn can be surprisingly rich in smaller birds. The Moray Firth has one of only two resident populations of Bottle-nosed dolphins in Britain. There are thought to be about 150. Groups of 20 or more can often be seen on calm sunny days, jumping and playing in bays along the coast between Fraserburgh and Inverness. They are a protected species and sensitive to disturbance, so enjoy these beautiful creatures but respect them as well.
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