INVERBERVIE HISTORY

The present site of Inverbervie and its neighbourhood has been occupied by man since the Middle and New Stone Ages. Discoveries of stone and flint tools, weapons, coins, cist-graves and cairns, also the pre-historic burial mound of War-Woof o’ Cairn near the Lang Rig (Old Turnpike Road), point to its continuous occupation for thousands of years. Its site seems to have been selected as it adjoined a bridging point of the river; it could be easily defended, it commanded the high ground (raised beach) at the top of the Bervie Bay. Access to the sea, good water supply and drainage were also important features of location.

A royal burgh in the South Aberdeenshire parish of Bervie, it is situated at the mouth of the Bervie Water on the A92 road, 12 miles (19 km) north of Montrose. Also known locally as Bervie, the town received its first royal charter in 1342 from David II. In 1341, King David II and his Queen, Joanna were returning after nine years in exile and although their destination is not certain, it is known that Bervie Beach was often used by the Royalty about that period when they were on their way to Kincardine Castle, near Fettercairn. In thick fog, their ship came ashore on the rocks below Bervie Brow, a few hundred yards north of the mouth of the Bervie Water. The ship was wrecked and after scrambling ashore, they searched the area and came across a group of fishermen who took them to their homes. As a result of the hospitality they received, the King elevated the small hamlet to the status of a Royal Burgh.

A Carmelite friary once stood at Friar's Dubh near Bervie Bridge and on the shore of Bervie Bay stands Hallgreen Castle, a 14th Century stronghold of the Dunnets that passed to the Rait family in the 15th century.

Inverbervie developed from a market town to an industrial centre following the establishment of Scotland's first flax mill here in 1788 and went on to have textile and food processing industries.

In 1969 Sir Francis Chichester unveiled a memorial to Inverbervie's most famous son, Hercules Linton (b.1831), builder of the Cutty Sark tea clipper. The Linton Memorial, near the Bridge, was erected by the Town Council and the Cutty Sark Society to commemorate the life and work of Hercules Linton, designer of the clipper ship, Cutty Sark, who was born in Inverbervie in 1836 and died here in 1900. A service of re-dedication was held at Linton's memorial at Jubilee Bridge in July 1997, with the unveiling of a new monument.