Rattray, Aberdeenshire

It lay upon a natural harbour in the Loch of Strathbeg, which in former times was an inlet of the sea.

Overlooking the harbour entrance was the Castle of Rattray, built by the Comyn family (earls of Buchan).

[1] It was made a royal burgh by Mary, Queen of Scots in 1564.

The harbour entrance began to silt up in the next century, however, and it was finally closed by a storm in 1720.

This caused the burgh, which had never been much larger than a village,[2] to enter a terminal decline.