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NB Thanks to Forth Ports this fascinating walking tour of our historic harbour is no longer possible.
Listed Harbour
In 1995 Historic Environment Scotland (HES) “listed” Burntisland Harbour as being of special architectural or historic interest. It is a major example of a particular period, style or building type. In our case the listing refers to examples of Victorian industrial design and building. The listed area runs from the west boundary of the Scott Timber (Pallets) compound to the far wall of the BiFab hangar, it includes both the East and the West Docks and the bits in between.
But why? Take a walk with me!
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Let us start under the pillars of the railway station, rather too grand for Burntisland and no longer a station. Until the opening of the Forth Rail bridge in 1890 the only “dry” crossing of the Forth was by way of a bridge at Stirling, there were however ferries. For larger ferries the safest, but not shortest, was by way of Leith or Granton to Burntisland. Thus in 1846 Burntisland was chosen as the southern railway terminus of the Edinburgh and Northern Railway (E&NR) a line to be built up the east coast. The terminus required a station with status. With your back to the red “Bouch” disc head out and look right to the pebbled dashed apartment block built on the site of the Parish Church Manse, later converted to the railway’s Forth Hotel, and finally to the “Control”, a railway signalling centre for the south of Fife railways. Just to left, with an arched entrance, is, or was, Downie’s stables, a coaching yard, later accommodating a variety of activities from a ships’ chandlery to consulates (Norway and Russia). Go right on the street corner, and look closely at first floor level – you can just see “SHORE DUES OFFICE” painted on the wall. Cross the road and descend the narrow steps between the cast iron railings of the Victorian curtilage. The steps led to a “pissoir”, moved (1982) to a railway museum – pity!
Walk and stop by the red brick hut by the Briggs Building. You are on the site of Mr James Farnie’s dry dock, an essential feature of any harbour of note. A dry or graving dock enabled the repair and maintenance of the underwater parts of a ship. In 1832 the enterprising Mr Farnie applied to “flense” whales here, in the dry dock; an idea that was resisted by many in the town more interested in developing an odour free tourist industry.
Keep the Briggs building and fence on your right, and move over the Victorian landfill, through the “Deadboats” yard and on to the end of the jetty where a light beacon stands behind a fence. Pause. If I could, I would move that big crane in front the BiFab hangar over here and create an observation platform. So, what are we looking at? Look at the shoreline under the hangar, can you see seaweed and rock? It is part of a rocky reef that runs back to the foreshore, later reinforced by Cromwell’s Dyke or the West Bulwark to form the western wing of Burntisland’s 16th century harbour. The east wing is formed by the town’s shoreline. The two wings created a narrow entrance roughly where we stand to form the Portia Gracia or Port of Grace.
The arrival of steam power and the international demand for Fife coal led to a rapid expansion of the port. In 1876 the Port of Grace was divided by a new jetty, roughly along a line from our present position to the castle. To the left lay the Inner Harbour, tidal and muddy, to the right the West Dock, enclosed, with deep water and protected by a lock, both harbours were well served by railway lines and coal marshalling yards. In 1918 the Inner harbour became a ship building yard (322 ships in 40 years) before being cemented over in the sixties to become the covered ship building hard that we see today. The West Dock has lost its coal marshalling yards but retained its shape.
Time to turn about and head back along the seaward side of this land fill and to peer over the sandstone wall. Look down and you will see a wide ramp descending, parallel to the wall, into the sea. You are looking at the 1901 “passenger slip”, here a ferry could moor alongside, at any state of the tide, to embark or disembark passengers.
Stop now at the corner with the crossing jetty. Today the view towards the Lammerlaws is dominated by the East Dock. Back In 1840 the view was of a tidal foreshore of sand and rockpools backed by the rocky cliff that ran unbroken to the Lammerlaws. Over the next 50 years the railway and coal changed this idyllic littoral scene. The creation of the East Dock was in two phases, the first (1870) created a breakwater to form a basin much as we see it now, and then in 1900 a second breakwater was added roughly parallel to the first but further out to sea and the gap between the two filled with sand and rock from the truncating Lammerlaws. The sea entrance to the basin was closed off with a further crossing jetty and central lock gate. Bingo – the East Dock as we see it now. Let us walk around the edge.
The first section was mainly for the import of goods, dominated, from 1917, by Bauxite for the Alumina works, first in ships and later in lighters. The Bauxite going by train or lorry to the works to the NW of the town, you can see the widely spaced rails for the cranes parallel to the dockside. Move on along the dockside and stop at point in line with the station pillars. Now imagine that it is 1844 and look out towards Edinburgh – there is no East Dock and as yet no railway. You are looking along the line of the 1844 Prince Albert Pier built for the paddle steamer ferries emerging from Granton. The pier stuck out into the Forth, some 150 metres long with no shelter from the sea. The railway acquired the pier and built their terminus station at its root. The line opened in 1847 and ran to Tayport and on, via a ferry, to Dundee. In 1849 the pier was widened to accommodate the world’s first Roll-on-Roll-off ferry (Ro-Ro), the cargo being mostly coal for Edinburgh.
With the opening of the Forth Rail bridge the Burntisland terminus gave way to a new “through” station, so now cross back across the grass to the railings just to the right (east) of the artists’ station workshops. Peer through the railings to the white brick lined tunnel linking the two platforms – could it be adapted to provide disabled access to the #2 or “down” line platform – apparently not!
Back to the waterfront and stop at the halfway kink. This marks the site of a coal loading hoist, one of three. Eleven metres high, a single hoist could raise, tip, and empty a coal truck at the rate of one a minute, or 480 tons of coal per hour. Keep walking and look up to your left, you might be able discern two sets of stairs descending from the top of the cutting to disappear into tunnels that run under the railway (now blocked!). These stairs and tunnels provided safe access to the foreshore. At the head of the basin turn right and follow the road, Scott Timber to the left, caustic soda tank to the right. The Scott Timber compound is based on the “Blue Shed”, a warehouse built for Alumina products. The caustic soda tank was built in the 1980s for the import and storage of caustic soda, mainly for the Alumina works. Of more interest, under the dock edge immediately in front of the tank lies the Ro-Ro ferry slip moved here from the Prince Albert Pier in 1870, and by 1890, with the opening of the Rail Bridge, redundant. Go round the tank and rejoin the dock edge. Look along the basin edge you will see two more masonry stubs, the sites of the second and third coal hoists. The function of the 4 wooden jetties is a mystery to me – I suspect they were to hold vessels clear of the sloping dockside.
We have now reached the sailing club and the junction with the cross jetty. Behind the wire of the sailing club pontoon sit derelict buildings, once the home of a naval degaussing range and calibration unit. In simple terms metal ships act as magnets that can trigger appropriately fused explosive mines (warfare not coal). To counter the risk, ships sailed over seabed sensors that measured their magnetic field, such sensors were laid off the coast of Burntisland. Ships can reduce their magnetic field by passing electric currents through wires coiled around their hulls. Mine hunting ships are made of non-magnetic wood or fibreglass and are checked for stray magnetism by rocking the hull. Here in the East Dock mine hunters were rocked by compressed air chambers that were loud and distinctive – thankfully no more.
Our walk is over – you can return along the narrow seaward side of the breakwater, take care. You might meet a line fisher, you could ask what he expects to catch, I’ll bet mackerel, or maybe cod or possibly wrasse.
Andy Wight-Boycott
This walk is, in its entirety within the listed area. For further reading see Burntisland, Fife’s Railway Port by Peter Marshall and Burntisland Port of Grace by Iain Sommerville.
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