The Havens of Fetteresso Parish
Bob Mathewson (A&NESFHS)

(3) The Seatown of Cowie

The village of Cowie formerly known as the Seatown of Cowie is situated  on the coast of Fetteresso Parish, North of the Cowie River where it approaches the shore in Stonehaven Bay.  It is the most southerly fishing village of Fetteresso Parish lying within the estate of Cowie. The village was populated mainly by white fishermen adhering  to the Episcopalian faith and therefore in the eighteenth century were likely to favour the Jacobite cause and the majority of the inhabitants were buried in the Churchyard of St Mary of the Storms just North of the village of Cowie.

From the twelfth century, or perhaps even earlier, up to the seventeenth century the Royal Burgh town of Cowie was situated on the Hill of Megray near the Old Causey Mount Road which ran behind the present Cowie House connecting Cowie and the South to Aberdeen. At that time the burgh of Cowie was far more important than Stonehaven. There was also a "laigh toun of Cowie" which was situated at the foot of cliffs slightly North of the present day village of Cowie. In March 1645 Montrose "brynt wp the haill toune of Cowie, houssis, bigginges, cornis and cornyairds, and siclike; plunderit the haill goodis, geir, nolt, scheip, quhilk thay culd get", and no doubt the fisherfolk in the "laigh toun of Cowie" suffered in a like fashion.

In the Statistical Account for Fetteresso, written in 1790 by the Parish Minister the Rev. Mr. John Hutcheon, reports that the white fishing at Cowie was the property of Mr. Innes of Cowie and that there were three boats employed with six hands to each boat. This would suggest 18 fishermen but there were probably more if old men and younger boys were to be included, who generally worked in smaller boats or yawls, nearer the shore.
    
According to the 1841 census there were 33 houses in the Fish Town of Cowie with 174 inhabitants of which 172 belonged to families connected with whitefishing there were 44 men employed as Whitefishermen. (8 were named Masson, 5 Adams, 9 Lees, 9 Taylor, 4 Brodie, 4 Christie, 4 Blair, and 1 Williamson) Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries fishermen migrated from one fishing village to the other, often they marrying girls from adjacent fishing villages. In the early 1780's Alexander Lees son of John Lees of Cowie moved to his wife's village of Skateraw probably to be one of the crew of the boat that his father in law Andrew Stephen sailed in. The Taylors mentioned came originally from the Seatown of Muchalls and a  Sandy Taylor who was five years old  when the Seatown of Muchalls was abandoned moved initially to Skateraw, perhaps his mother's hometown and where he and his family grew up and then in 1806 at the age of 53 he moved along with his family from Skateraw to Cowie, and one of his sons David became a Fisherman in Catterline later moving to Gourdon the rest remaining in Cowie, the nine fishermen mentioned named Taylor being his descendants. James Masson son of Alexander moved from Skateraw to Cowie about 1810 and when his wife Mary Watt died in 1824 his sister Isabella moved to Cowie to look after his children. Other Massons had lived in Cowie as far back as the early eighteenth century.
   
Other migrations took place from time to time George Adam and his family moved from Cowie to Crawton before 1861 and Andrew Adam moved to Stonehaven about 1846, the family of Andrew Lees moved from Cowie to Cowie Court in Stonehaven in 1857. In 1851 there were nine families in Cowie with the name Lees and by 1871 this was reduced to two. The Blair family moved from Cowie in stages, first Alexander Blair son of  James Blair moved to the High St. Stonehaven about 1844. his brother John Blair moved to Stonehaven after 1863.
   
Disease was another factor in the demise of the fishtown of Cowie. In 1863 the family of John Lees were laid low with Typhus, firstly his wife who was 65 died on 19th Nov. then his family Isabella, William, Andrew and George were laid low and finally the widow of his son George, Jean Brodie succumbed. The following year, 1864 the Typhus epidemic persisted along with occasional cases of Smallpox, and due to the unsanitary conditions prevailing at that time it proved extremely difficult to rid the village of disease. In 1871 there were still 44 fishermen living in Cowie then more families moved to Stonehaven and by 1881 the number of fishermen at Cowie was reduced to 30 (still consisting of 8 named Masson, 3 Adams, 3 Lees, 10 Taylors, 1 Brodie, 4 Christies and 1 Williamson but no Blairs). Of the 44 fishermen recorded in 1841 only nine were over 50 whilst in 1881 of the 30 fishermen eleven were over 50. In 1881 there were seventeen fishing boats registered to Cowie, and despite having a pier built in 1885 by the proprietor, by 1895 there were only two, reducing to one in 1900 rising again to six in 1910 then back to two small boats by 1930 employing four fishermen. Throughout this period Stonehaven kept upwards of thirty boats still mainly with sail, whilst the fleet in Aberdeen rose from 76 in 1895 to 237 in 1909 consisting mainly of steam powered vessels of 50tons or more.

About a half mile North of Cowie village along the cliff top path stands the ruin of the ancient church of Cowie or more correctly the Chapel of the Virgin Mary and St Nauchlan, believed to have been built at the expense of St. Nauchlan and after having been rebuild was dedicated to the memory of the Virgin Mary on the 22nd May 1276. It was never a parish church itself but it seems to have been an extremely important place for it was frequently visited by King James IV on his travels to the North and he made many gifts and offerings of money at about two yearly intervals until 1507. Not long afterwards, however, and certainly before 1567, the Church fell into disrepute and it is believed that the Ecclesiastical authority caused the Church to be unroofed on account of certain scandals. In 1593 the lands and revenues of the Chapel were given to the Marischal College in Aberdeen by a charter of George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal. The graveyard of this chapel has been used until very recently, predominantly by Episcopalians mostly fishermen from Stonehaven, Cowie, Muchalls, Stranathro and Skateraw and their descendants.