Banff is a town in the Banff and Buchan area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Banff is situated on Banff Bay and faces the town of Macduff across the estuary of the River Banff is a previous royal burgh, as well as is the county town of the historic region of Banffshire. Banff's very first castle was built to ward off Viking intruders and a charter of 1163 AD shows that Malcolm IV was living there at that time. Throughout this duration the town was an active trading centre in the "cost-free hanse" of Northern Scottish burghs, despite not having its very own harbour up until 1775. The very first documented Sheriff of Banff was Richard de Strathewan in 1264, and in 1372 Royal Burgh standing was provided by King Robert II. By the 15th century Banff was one of 3 principal communities exporting salmon to the continent of Europe, in addition to Aberdeen as well as Montrose. There was a lot of lawlessness in seventeenth-century Scotland, and a few of the worst offenders were participants of the nobility. According to documents kept by historian William Cramond, the tolbooth (courthouse as well as jail) of Banff was, in 1628, the website of a run-in between Lord Banff and also James Ogilvie, his family member. Apparently, he struck James Ogilvie upon the head with a baton throughout a court hearing. Twenty of his close friends as well as fans then assaulted Ogilvie with swords prior to chasing him right into the street and finishing him off with a gun shot. Banff and also Macduff are separated by the valley of the River Deveron. This uncertain river was ultimately subjugated by the 7 arched bridge finished in 1779 by John Smeaton. An earlier bridge had actually been constructed in 1765, but was swept away in 1768. The old ferry was brought back right into usage, till it was lost in a flooding in 1773. A public meeting was kept in 1800 as well as passed a resolution for the building of a turnpike road between Turiff as well as Banff as the existing roadway remained in a depressing state of repair service. Later on 19th century transport enhancements consisted of the structure of two train lines, from Macduff to Turiff in 1860 as well as the Banff, Portsoy and also Strathisla Train in 1859 which linked to the main Aberdeen to Inverness line. During the 19th Century the Banff Fishery District (consisting of the ports from Crovie to Sandend) was important to the herring profession, with production peaking in 1853 at more than sixty-thousand barrels, of which nearly thirty-four thousand were exported, nevertheless by 1912 manufacturing had actually decreased to just over eight thousand barrels. Currently, the languages talked in the town and in its vicinity tend to be the Doric dialect of Scots, and English.