Stonehaven

Stonehaven (Steenhive in the Doric dialect of Scots) and Cala na Creige in Gaelic is a town with around fourteen thousand inhabitants (9,577 in the 2001 census) on the northeast coast of Scotland. It is the county town of the historic county of Kincardineshire or The Mearns and the present day county of Aberdeenshire. It grew around an Iron Age fishing village, now the "Auld Toon" ("old town"), and expanded inland from the Seaside. As late as the 16th century, old maps indicate the town was called Stonehyve or Stonehive. The town is served by Stonehaven railway station. Historically the chief commerce of Stonehaven lay in fishing. Led by the herring fishery, the catch peaked around the year 1894 with a peak catch of about 15 million fish per annum and an employment in the fishing industry of 1280 people. Due to overfishing to serve the expanding regional population, the fishing industry declined with diminishing catches, such that by 1939 only a remnant of the earlier fishing fleet continued to exist, and the catch mostly supported the local population from that point onward.

At present day the town's primary industries are marine services and tourism, with Dunnottar Castle, a local landmark, bringing in a large volume of tourists every year. It was used in the 1990 movie Hamlet (directed by Franco Zeffirelli, and starring Mel Gibson and Glenn Close). Dunnottar Castle is a prominent landmark and is visible on many leaflets (flyers) advertising Scotland. The town has a long beach facing the cold North Sea, with large cliffs at either end sheltering small rock pools and inlets. It is also famous for its Olympic-sized outdoor swimming pool, which is heated and filled with a mixture of tap water and filtered seawater. Another attraction is the local harbour, which features the Tolbooth, the town's tiny museum of local heritage.

3 °C


Clouds, overcast clouds


Wind1.93 m/s
Cloudiness100 %
Temperature (min/max)2/6 °C
Pressure1008 hpa
Humidity94 %
Last update: 26 Apr 2024 @ 22:46

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