Granda James Knowles told the origins of the FIREBALLS to his son Andrew & Grandson Stephen (me) in the shop one night in 1972.

He was there at the beginning of what is now known as the STONEHAVEN FIREBALL FESTIVAL.
It all began in 1903-04. In the month of December the fisherman in the Auld Toon couldna get to sea for a storm that lasted for a week or twa. Noo their wives were getting annoyed at them being under their feet for such a lang time wi naething tae dee. So some wives telt their men tae git a job cleaning out their sheds at the south of the harbour beside the shelter, where they can still be seen today.

The fish jetty is the one in front of Colin Masson's house or Wallace Wynd and used to be the dividing line between the Catholics and the Protestants. The Catholic/Chapel & Episcopalian families stayed to the south of the jetty and the Protestant & Presbyterian ones were to the north.

My grandfather and some of his pals were near the shelter playing amongst the rocks and getting some mussel’s and ‘buckies’ for bait for their fathers lines at ‘Bottany Bay’. He heard someone shouting for him and looking up he saw it was his Uncle George. His uncle taelt him tae gin up tae his mither’s shop and get some chicken wire an’ tae bring a bottle of paraffin wi him as weel. So up my granda goes to the shop at No.74 High Street where his mither asks fit he’s dean we the chicken wire an’ paraffin. My granda tells her it’s for his Uncle George (Dossie), so she gee’s him the stuff an’ he returns to the shed wi the goods.

Noo Alex Craig hid the maist rubbish on the shorehead fae his shed so he bundles it up an’ ties the chicken wire round the rubbish, pours some paraffin on it an’ lights it. An’ it burns, bye God it burnt a night an’ into the morn after. Now Jimmy Lees wis a clever man wi a good brain so it wis him that came up wi the idea tae pit the rubbish into a ball of chicken wire an’ make a wooden handle about 3ft. away. There was about a dozen fishermen an Alex Craig, who stayed at the southside, who really started it off. They gathered at the south end of the harbour, where the shelter is now (beside the Slippy), an’ walked along the Shorehead to the top of the old pier an’ back again. They did that once or twice ‘till the fireballs had burnt out. Some of the folk that lived on the Shorehead weren’t too happy with the flames and sparks that wis coming out of the fireballs as some of the houses had thatched roofs, so it was agreed to change the route for the next year. They decided to start from the old pier an’ go along the High Street to the ‘Bank Hoose’ jist across the road fae the cannon.

There were no fireballs in the year 1909-10 because of a great sna storm. In 1914-18 they did take place but it was a sad sight because so many of the men were away at the war. I don’t know about the 1939-46 war years.

So that’s the story about my family’s involvement in the beginning of the fireballs, but this is not the end yet.

Now I would like to tell you about the saying, ‘putting out of the :Evils to bring in the new’. Mrs. Jessie Cormack (who is a ‘Main’) told me some time ago that the fishermen did this before the time of the fireballs. They got some barrels an’ filled them with sticks, not too much so they wouldn’t sink, an’ they set them alight beside their boats. Just before midnight they got the big oars an’ pushed the barrels around the boats anticlockwise then at midnight they pushed them round clockwise. That was the way they felt would get rid of any evil left over from the old year. The boats would be dressed up for the occasion, flags, bunting etc.etc.

This is another family story. James Knowles,who was also a Baillie of the town council, was running short of fish one week in the 1860’s so he had to go by train up north to Peterhead as it was quicker than by boat. It was around New Year time, I think it wis about the 5th or 6th, which of course is Auld Yule Day. He saw the fishermen up there doing what I have described above. It’s rumoured that he came back to Stanehyve with this idea an’ told the fishermen what he had seen.

My granda took part in the beginning an’ now his grandson has passed on these facts to you.

ALEXANDER STEPHEN KNOWLES
September 2002