The Ythan Mussel Beds

Coastal fishing was never as important at Newburgh on Ythan as it was in other NE coastal villages. However, the estuary of River Ythan has always been important to the fishing industry as a source of bait.

Lugworms were occasionally collected, but marine mussels were by far the Ythan's most important commodity for centuries. In the 1791-99 Statistical Account for the Parish of Logie Buchan, the minister, Mr William Paterson, reported that the Ythan mussel beds supplied "the fishers of the whole Buchan coast with bait".

Mussels were indispensable for the fishing community and huge quantities were required for baiting the short hooked lines used to catch haddock, cod and whiting.

Women carried the harvested mussels on their backs, in creels, along the coastal cliff paths to their home villages of Collieston, Slains, Whinnyfold and Port Erroll. There they shelled them and baited the lines.