Towns > Peterhead (and Buchan) > 1853 - Peterhead almanac and directory

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Our space will not admit of a lengthened History
of Peterhead, but wo shall give a concise account of
its rise and progress from an early period.
"In 1593 Peterhead was formed into a Burgh of
Barony by George Keith, Earl Marischall. It was
then called Keith Inch. The peninsula on which it
is situated belonged originally to the Abbey of Deer.
In 1560 Queen Mary appointed Robert Keith, son
of William, fourth Earl Marischal of Scotland, Com-
mendator of Deer, and in 1587 James VI. created
this Robert a Peer, under the title of Lord Altree,
and converted the Abbey lands into a temporary
lordship in his favour. The peerage becoming ex-
tinct, the Abbey lands devolved to Earl Marischall.
In the year 1637, William, sixth Earl Marischall,
obtained a new charter from the Crown of the Abbey
lands, besides the tithes, great and small, of the
Parish of Peterhead, the patronage of the Church,
salmon and white fishing, &c. After the forfeiture of
Earl Marischall in 1715, the town, with the lands
belonging to that family in the parish, were bought
by the York Building's Company, which, failing in
1726, sold the town and those lands to the Gover-
nors of the Merchant Maiden Hosj^ital of Edinburgh
for £3000 sterling. The rental at that time amounted
to 191 bolls of bear, 199 bolls of meal, 2 bolls of
oats, and £80 sterling of money, besides the Feu
Duty for Property in Peterhead. The Governors
let these lands for £245 yearly, at which rent they
continued for 64 years. About 1774 the Governors
offered their property in Peterhead parish for sale,
when it was purchased by Mr. Garden of Troup,
M.P., for £10,000, who, thinking the price high, had
some time to consider of it, with an option to relin-
quish the bargain, if he thought proper, which he did
at the end of the period agreed on^ to the great sa-