A fishing village in the N Aberdeenshire parish of Pitsligo, situated on a promontory jutting into the Moray Firth 6 miles (9.5 km) west of Fraserburgh. It is said to be one of the oldest seaports in Scotland and to date from the 14th Century when a small group of shipwrecked Danes settled amongst local crofters and taught them to fish. A burgh of barony was created in 1681 and during the peak of the herring trade in the 1880s its harbour accommodated 88 fishing boats.
During the 20th century Rosehearty developed as a tourist resort and today has a 9-hole golf course and a Heritage Centre. Nearby stand the ruins of Pitsligo Castle, a former Fraser stronghold later owned by the Forbes family, and the castle of Pittullie which was probably built by the Frasers and enlarged by the Cumines. The Jacobite Alexander Forbes, fourth and last Lord Pitsligo, hid in the Cave of Cowshaven to the west of Rosehearty while a fugitive after the 1745 Rebellion.
