A small stone basin on the Moray Firth, with warehouses and houses of two to four storeys around it.
What Portsoy Harbour looks like
The is a rectangular basin of rubble, with some of its masonry laid vertically. An L-shaped pier runs out on the seaward side. A straight pier lies on the east side, and stone bollards stand along the quays. The basin is dated 1692, and the houses and warehouses round it date from 1726 to about 1800.
The Corf Warehouse fronts the basin as a narrow building of four storeys and seven bays, with tooled ashlar dressings. The house at has three storeys and an attic. Its gables are crowstepped, and its five-bay frontage faces the water. is two storeys and an attic, with a harled frontage to Shorehead.
Harled walls with sandstone ashlar margins recur along Shorehead. The former warehouse, now a marble workshop, is three storeys high and four bays wide.
The lies on Shore Street, in the northeastern corner of the promontory. Its walls are rubble and concrete, and its seaward face is a concrete sea wall.
Streets wind down to the harbour from the town above. Shorehead and Shore Street run along the harbour's southern edge and meet at Low Street.
Shot in Portsoy Harbour
The 2016 film Whisky Galore! used the harbour as part of the island of Todday. The BBC One series Peaky Blinders turned the old harbour into a French village in its sixth series.
Whisky Galore!, 2016
Portsoy Harbour
Played Todday, Hebrides, 1940s
Portsoy stood in for the fictional Hebridean island of Todday, where the story is set during the Second World War. VisitScotland's map of the film's principal locations lists Portsoy Harbour. Street View
Peaky Blinders, series six, 2022
Played a French village, 1930s
For the sixth series the old harbour was turned into a French village, with timber cladding fixed to the buildings and outbuildings put up on the promenade for a twentieth-century look. The production closed the streets round the harbour during filming. Shorehead and Shore Street were among them. Street View
Peaky Blinders, series six, 2022
The Shore Inn
Played Hotel Lalanne, a French village, 1930s
The Shore Inn stood in for the fictional Hotel Lalanne during the sixth series. Its harled frontage faces Shorehead, and its yard wall runs to Church Street. Street View
What Portsoy Harbour can double for
Crail Harbour in Crail, Fife
Crail's old stone harbour walls have their inner faces built with stones set vertically, the same stonework that shows in the Old Harbour at Portsoy. Frame low and close on the inner walls, and keep modern fittings out of the wide shots. Try searching old stone harbour walls now.
Robin Hood's Bay in Robin Hood's Bay, North Yorkshire
Robin Hood's Bay has sandstone cottages with red-tiled roofs and steep lanes that drop from the cliff top to the shore, the way Portsoy's streets wind down to its harbour. Red-tiled roofs and the lane falls show in any wide shot, so frame close on the stone walls and quays. Try searching sandstone cottages steep lanes now.
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