- Rattray, Aberdeenshire
Rattray (historic: Rettre; occasionally: Rattery), "(found at gbmapping|NK088578)" had been settled as far back as 4000BCcite web|url=http://www.webhistorian.co.uk/pages/index.php?id=45|title=The Web Historian|accessdate=2007-01-26] and was named a Royal Burgh in
1563 by Mary, Queen of Scots "to put an end to the disputes about superiority over it between William Keith, 4th Earl Marischal and George Hay, 7th Earl of Erroll".citeweb|url=http://www.rattrayhead.net/history/buchanfieldclub.htm|title=Buchan Field Club|author=Rattray Head.net|accessdate=2007-08-06] The ancient burgh was located near toCrimond ,Scotland but the village was largely destroyed and never recovered after a storm in the 18th century that covered it in shifting sands from the nearby dunes atRattray Head . There is still a small modern settlement in the area.The nearby lagoon, "Strathbeg Bay (or; Strathbeg Water; or; Water of Rattraycitebook|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=ptYAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA131&dq=Rattray+Castle&as_brr=1#PPA131,M1|author=J. Fraser|publisher=John W. Parker and Son, West Strand, London|date=1859|language=English|title=Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country, Vol. LX, July to December 1859] )" had been an "open estuary which was navigable to trading ships" suiting itself to "Starny Keppie" harbour around which Rattray flourished. However by 1654 the harbour was silting up badly and was finally cut off when shifting sands during a massive 1720 storm cut off the lagoon to form
Loch Strathbeg , "trapping a small vessel laden with slates", which were subsequently used for the roofs in Crimond and Haddo House.citeweb|url=http://www.world66.com/europe/unitedkingdom/scotland/rattray_head|title=Rattray Head Travel Guide|publisher=World 66|accessdate=2007-07-06] citebook|title=The Bard O' Buchan Vol 1'|author=Stanley Bruce|date=2005|language=English|isbn=0-9547960-2-0|publisher=Bard Books]The harbour was guarded by two of the
the Nine Castles of Knuckle . The Comyn family'sCastle of Rattray stood on Castlehill (at the time a rock on the coast) on the harbour side and Lonmay Castle on the north shore,fact|date=July 2007 of which there are little remains due to quarrying and the site being covered in sand dunes.fact|date=July 2007Still clearly visible today, the ruined St Mary's Chapel was built as a private place of worship, by the Comyn family at the same time as the construction of the
Castle of Rattray .fact|date=July 2007To the west of Rattray on the banks of Loch Strathbeg is the historical site "Battle Fauld". The name most likely comes from the "scene of a conflict with the Danes in the time of their later invasions." Indeed the same source explains that the local dialect and pronunciation (in 1888) used words that "are good Danish or Norwegian" and calls the type of language features used as "thoroughly Norse" to anyone "who knows anything about the Norse family of speech".
The ballad,
Sir James the Rose was set in Battle Fauld where he is supposedly buried.citeweb|url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/gaztext_page.jsp;jsessionid=98054EA7DAA3A642A519085D7E2787C0?u_id=10146380&c_id=10107260|title=Descriptive gazetteer entries for Crimond|author=History of Britain.com|accessdate=2007-08-06]References
External links
* [http://www.visitpeterhead.org.uk/ Official Tourism Web Site]
* [http://www.nlb.org.uk/ourlights/history/rattray.htm Rattray Head Lighthouse history]
* [http://www.webhistorian.co.uk/pages/index.php?id=44 Web Historian Rattray Lighthouse]
* [http://www.webhistorian.co.uk/pages/index.php?id=43 Web Historians Guide to Rattray]
* [http://www.abandonedcommunities.co.uk/shiftingsands2.html Rattray and other places in NE Scotland deserted as a result of shifting sand]
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