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Fraserburgh, College Bounds
College (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Fraserburgh, College Bounds
Classification College (Period Unassigned)
Alternative Name(s) University College; Fraserburgh University; University Of Fraserburgh
Canmore ID 20777
Site Number NJ96NE 6
NGR NJ 9941 6718
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/20777
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Fraserburgh
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Banff And Buchan
- Former County Aberdeenshire
NJ96NE 6 9941 6718
(NJ 9941 6718) Site of College (NR).
OS 25" map, Aberdeenshire, 1st ed., (1869).
See also NJ96NE 25 and NJ96NE 50.
A charter for the foundation of a university or college in Fraserburgh was granted in 1592 (OSA 1793) and confirmed in 1597 (Cranna 1914) and a master or principal was appointed in 1600. (OSA 1793) (information from Records, General Assembly 1600)
It stood not far from the junction of Denmark Street and High Street, the Statistical Account (OSA 1793) described the sole remains as a quadrangular tower of three storeys.
OSA 1793; J Cranna 1914.
Although confirmed by Act of Parliament in 1597, (Acts Parl Scot 1597) there is no positive evidence, direct or indirect, that the College was ever in operation or even that the buildings were finished (Pratt 1901).
Acts Parl Scot 1597; J B Pratt 1901; New Spalding Club nd.
No evidence of a college in the area: no further information.
Visited by OS (NKB), 16 January 1969.
(Location cited as NJ 9941 6718). The site of the University of Fraserburgh is thought to lie on the N side of the road, near the junction between College Bounds and High Street. In 1529, Sir Alexander Fraser of Philorth was granted a charter allowing him to erect a unviersity and build up colleges. A later charter dated 1601 shows that by then he had already started to 'edify and big (build) up a college..'. Charles Ferme, of Edinburgh University, was appointed as Principal, but the project seemed to have come to a halt. However, in 1647, when plague broke out in Aberdeen, King's College was temporarily moved into the college buildings in Fraserburgh. These apparently stood on the site of 'an old quadrangular tower' [possibly NJ96NE 25].
Nothing survives of the college apart from 'Moses' Tablet', which is built into an interior wall of Fraserburgh South Parish Church [NJ96NE 50 at NJ 99853 66679]. The exact location of the college is unknown as there has been little excavation in this area.
[Comprehensive cited bibliography includes newspaper reference: Scotsman, 13 September 1888].
NMRS, MS/1739.
Publication Account (2010)
Alexander Fraser was also said to have made ‘considerable progress’ in relation to building work to house the university. But it may never have been completed and some accounts claim that the college was ‘soon used as a quarry for materials for the construction of other buildings’. One building erected for the university was subsequently used as accommodation for junior branches of the Fraser family.
Information from ‘The Scottish Burgh Survey, Historic Fraserburgh: Archaeology and Development’, (2010).
