A History of Forvie Sands
The following history and maps of Forvie Sands have been reproduced from an early 1950's poster presentation which was uncovered when clearing the contents of a room in the Culterty Field Station at Newburgh.
This presentation was originally prepared by Dr Sylvia Landsberg (nee Sylvia Barkley) on the occasion of the visit by members of the Ecological Society to the Sands of Forvie in 1955.
The text and illustrations were based on her PhD thesis, which was submitted at the University of Aberdeen in that year. The research was funded by the (then) Nature Conservancy.
The material was subsequently deposited in the University of Aberdeen, Culterty Field Station which opened in 1957.
Further information can be found in:
- SY Landsberg. The Morphology and Vegetation of the Sands of Forvie (PhD thesis, May 1955)
- SY Landsberg. The Orientation of Dunes in Britain and Denmark in Relation to Wind. The Geographical Journal, Vol CXXII Part 2, June 1956
- JH Burnett, ed., The Vegetation of Scotland, Edinburgh and London, 1964. (Chapter 4 is a summary with map, of the above thesis)
- JA Steers. The Coastline of Scotland Cambridge University Press, 1973, (p235-243 is a discussion, with map, of the sand dune element of the above thesis)
- W Kirk. Prehistoric Site at the Sands of Forvie, Aberdeenshire. Aberdeen University Review, 35, 150.
Dr Landsberg now lives in Southampton and was pleasantly surprised to find that her early work from 50 years ago has been used in this web site.
Please note that some of the following images are quite large in order to maintain the detail and may take some time to download. These pages are still under construction and some of the original figures and photgraphs used on the poster are still to be published.
The original text
Copy of original text
| Up to O.B.C. | Signs of human habitation south of line 0-0, Fig:14 Undated shell mounds and stones grouped together, built on sand. |
| About O.B.C. | Remains of an early Iron Age settlement at B built on sand. Stone circles, burial cairns, shell mounds, charred remains, pottery, querns, flint chips, etc. A stone circle at 2 is built on clay suggesting that sand had not advanced beyond B-B, approximately, by this time. (Fig: 14) (Fig 15-17). |
| 1261 - 1401 | Frequent references in literature to Milltown of Forvie (Not dunes). Haddow of Forvie (W. margin of dunes), church of Forvie (Fig 14) etc, after which, church is not mentioned. |
| 1526 | Boece, Scottish historian mentions a church at Cruden which “as oftimes occuris in thay parts was ourcassin be violent blasts of sandis”, suggesting sand movement in C16. |
| 1592 | Last reference in literature to “Hawdo of Forvie” though still no mention of sand. |
| 1569 | Parishes of Slains Forvie and Logie Buchan have been conjoined by this time. |
| 1680 | Countess of Forvie, mentions in M.S. that one of the wonders of Buchan is “the parish of Forvie, now wholly overblown by sand, they say”. |
| ? - 1680 | Field patterns, Fig 18, 19, indicated in aerial photos, are shown to be present below the sand, and the ridge and furrow dimensions are of a type prevalent before the end of C18. |
| 1759 | Reduction in rent through sanding of fields at Colliston. |
| 1782 | First recorded use of the term "Sands of Forvie", in a map which shows that present day northern limits - Fig 20, had been reached. |
| 1782 - 1866 | Change in shape of “sand loch” suggests small scale sand movements, Fig 21. |
| 1866 - 1946 | No further change in shape of loch indicated. |
| 1946 - 1953 | Local advance of dunes indicated in Fig 8a though sand is mainly sufficiently shallow to be recognised. |
Thus, sand appears to have been present in the area for at least 2000 years. Greatest movement of sand northwards probably occurred from about the beginning of the C16, till middle C17, though movement may have been initiated much earlier, Small scale movements still occurred at the northern limit till about 1866. Sand movement at present is very limited and there is evidence that movements south of line B-B, Fig: 14, represent a second advance of sand.
- Maps of Forvie Sands
- Dune evolution on Forvie Sands - Figure 3
- Knife edge dunes - Figure 4
- Fixed dunes - Figure 5 Distribution of dune types and associated vegetations - Fig 8b.
- Colonization of dune hollows - Fig 9.
- Other figures and images