Cross Keys

This Wetherspoon pub occupies a site at the junction of Chapel Street and Back Street. Chapel Street acquired its name after the Episcopal chapel, erected on the site in 1747. The chapel was dedicated to St Peter, whose emblem is two cross keys, symbolising the keys to heaven.

Peterhead was a small fishing village, with a population of fifty hardy souls, until 1587, when George Keith, the fifth Earl Marischal, was granted permission to build a harbour and establish a town there. Keith was one of the wealthiest nobles in Scotland and a member of the family which had been hereditary Great Marischals (Marshalls) of Scotland from the 12th century. Until the late 1980s, Peterhead was Europe's largest white fish port, but the problems of fish stocks and EU quotas have since made for a significant reduction in the number of fishing vessels based at Peterhead. The town remains an important supply base for the North Sea oil industry.