North Berwick Harbour
Encyclopedia
The Harbour at North Berwick
in East Lothian
, Scotland
, was originally a ferry
port for pilgrim
s travelling to St. Andrews in Fife
. Today the water is home to leisure craft, a famous tourist launch and the remains of the fishing fleet that once dominated the area, while on dry land the Scottish Seabird Centre
, East Lothian Yacht Club
and Auld Kirk Green are the main attractions.
The harbour was built around 1150, with the first documented record of its existence coming in 1177 . In the early days there were ferry services to Earlsferry near Elie in Fife, with up to 10,000 pilgrims passing through the port every year. When North Berwick received the Royal Charter
and became a Royal Burgh
in 1373, the design of a ferryboat was incorporated into the town crest, which remains unchanged today. However, pilgrims gradually became few and far between and after over 500 years of operation the ferry services had disappeared by 1692.
The focus of the harbour then switched to commerce and fishing. The main exports in 1794 being wheat and barley (corn), and the main imports wood and iron. The harbour was deepened in 1804 and again in 1831 allowing large commercial craft to dock. The arrival of the railway in North Berwick lessened the need for freight to be shipped in but allowed local fishermen to send their catches to all parts of the UK and beyond. As a result, the number of fishing craft swelled from the two recorded at the end of the 17th century to thirty by 1881. At one point there were plans for the railway to extend all the way to the harbour, and for the harbour to be connected to the island of Craigleith
by a long pier, but these plans were dropped and the harbour and railway have changed little since. Two shorter piers were built to accommodate larger craft and to allow others to dock when beaten by the tides, the first of which - The North Pier - lasted from 1811 until a huge storm finished it off in 1898. The Galloway Pier, opened in 1877, was initially busy but saw little or no traffic in the inter-war period and was eventually demolished in 1940 having fallen into disrepair. As larger ships no longer visit North Berwick there was no appetite to rebuild a large pier. A smaller, modern concrete pier exists in its place today.
The latter half of the 19th century also saw a boom in tourism, as wealthy famililes discovered North Berwick to be an ideal escape from the overcrowded cities. As well as Edinburgh, train services to North Berwick came direct from as far afield as London as people came to relax, walk, shoot and golf in the area. The outdoor swimming pool at the harbour was a focal point for galas and competitions, while visitors with an interest in nature were able to land on the island bird colonies of Bass Rock
and Fidra
.
Legend has it that on Halloween 1590, Satan himself attended a coven on the Auld Kirk Green, although a more earthly version of the tale records that Satan was "played" by Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell
. Stuart was a pretender to the throne and was apparently attempting to incite a storm which would sink the boat carrying James IV back from Norway with his new bride. In any case, this event so angered James VI that it triggered the North Berwick Witch Trials
and the witch hunts that would eventually sweep the length and breadth of Britain. Those known to have participated in rituals at North Berwick are said to have died during the subsequent investigations, most likely at the hands of their "investigators".
The church ceased to host services and funerals in 1673, although part of one original wall remained standing until 1845. The area has been excavated several times, most recently when the adjacent ground was being prepared for the building of the Scottish Seabird Centre, and finds have included Roman coins and Viking artefacts. Digs have also unearthed well preserved skeletal remains, including those of children and murder victims, and metal pilgrims badges in the form of St. Andrew during crucifixion.
St. Andrews Kirk was restored in 2005 as a tourist attraction after receiving a £50,000 grant from the National Lottery Fund. Visitors can learn more about the history of the Auld Kirk Green, from its beginnings in the 7th century, through pilgrim times and the mysteries of the witches, right up to the present day.
has become a major tourist attraction since opening in 2000 and tourists can still take Sula II to see the gannets, puffins and other birdlife in the area. The outdoor swimming pool finally closed in 1996. It has since been filled in and is now a dinghy park, although some of the original buildings and viewing galleries still remain intact.
The East Lothian Yacht Club
is an accredited centre of sailing and sail training excellence and hosts national and international yachting and boating events from the harbour. The racing and cruising yachts of ELYC members now make up the bulk of vessels in the harbour, with a fishing fleet of just 3 for company. Just up the road along the old causeway from the harbour is the RNLI Lifeboat station, with one of the famous Blue Peter
lifeboats always on call.
North Berwick
The Royal Burgh of North Berwick is a seaside town in East Lothian, Scotland. It is situated on the south shore of the Firth of Forth, approximately 25 miles east of Edinburgh. North Berwick became a fashionable holiday resort in the 19th century because of its two sandy bays, the East Bay and the...
in East Lothian
East Lothian
East Lothian is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a lieutenancy Area. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Scottish Borders and Midlothian. Its administrative centre is Haddington, although its largest town is Musselburgh....
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, was originally a ferry
Ferry
A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...
port for pilgrim
Pilgrim
A pilgrim is a traveler who is on a journey to a holy place. Typically, this is a physical journeying to some place of special significance to the adherent of a particular religious belief system...
s travelling to St. Andrews in Fife
Fife
Fife is a council area and former county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire...
. Today the water is home to leisure craft, a famous tourist launch and the remains of the fishing fleet that once dominated the area, while on dry land the Scottish Seabird Centre
Scottish Seabird Centre
The Scottish Seabird Centre is a visitor attraction in North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland. Opened by HRH The Prince of Wales in 2000 and funded by the Millennium Commission, the showpiece of the centre is the network of cameras which beam back live pictures from the bird colonies on islands such...
, East Lothian Yacht Club
East Lothian Yacht Club
The East Lothian Yacht Club or ELYC is based at the harbour in North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland. It was founded in 1928 and moved from its temporary base at the Fishermans Hall to the current building in 1931, since which time various expansions and redevelopments have taken place. Some of the...
and Auld Kirk Green are the main attractions.
History
Royal Charter
A royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organizations such as cities or universities. Charters should be distinguished from warrants and...
and became a Royal Burgh
Royal burgh
A royal burgh was a type of Scottish burgh which had been founded by, or subsequently granted, a royal charter. Although abolished in 1975, the term is still used in many of the former burghs....
in 1373, the design of a ferryboat was incorporated into the town crest, which remains unchanged today. However, pilgrims gradually became few and far between and after over 500 years of operation the ferry services had disappeared by 1692.
The focus of the harbour then switched to commerce and fishing. The main exports in 1794 being wheat and barley (corn), and the main imports wood and iron. The harbour was deepened in 1804 and again in 1831 allowing large commercial craft to dock. The arrival of the railway in North Berwick lessened the need for freight to be shipped in but allowed local fishermen to send their catches to all parts of the UK and beyond. As a result, the number of fishing craft swelled from the two recorded at the end of the 17th century to thirty by 1881. At one point there were plans for the railway to extend all the way to the harbour, and for the harbour to be connected to the island of Craigleith
Craigleith
Craigleith is a small island in the Firth of Forth off North Berwick in East Lothian, Scotland. Its name comes from the Scottish Gaelic Creag Lìte meaning "rock of Leith". It is 24 m at its highest point.-Geography and geology:...
by a long pier, but these plans were dropped and the harbour and railway have changed little since. Two shorter piers were built to accommodate larger craft and to allow others to dock when beaten by the tides, the first of which - The North Pier - lasted from 1811 until a huge storm finished it off in 1898. The Galloway Pier, opened in 1877, was initially busy but saw little or no traffic in the inter-war period and was eventually demolished in 1940 having fallen into disrepair. As larger ships no longer visit North Berwick there was no appetite to rebuild a large pier. A smaller, modern concrete pier exists in its place today.
The latter half of the 19th century also saw a boom in tourism, as wealthy famililes discovered North Berwick to be an ideal escape from the overcrowded cities. As well as Edinburgh, train services to North Berwick came direct from as far afield as London as people came to relax, walk, shoot and golf in the area. The outdoor swimming pool at the harbour was a focal point for galas and competitions, while visitors with an interest in nature were able to land on the island bird colonies of Bass Rock
Bass Rock
The Bass Rock, or simply The Bass, , is an island in the outer part of the Firth of Forth in the east of Scotland. It is approximately offshore, and north-east of North Berwick. It is a steep-sided volcanic rock, at its highest point, and is home to a large colony of gannets...
and Fidra
Fidra
Fidra is an uninhabited island in the Firth of Forth, north-west of North Berwick, on the east coast of Scotland.-Geography:...
.
The Auld Kirk Green
The oldest remaining part of the harbour is the "Auld Kirk Green" or "Anchor Green", which lies on the opposite site of the original harbour island from the dock. St. Andrews Kirk (church) - which excavations have revealed was built on the foundations of an older church or pagan temple - was built in 1177 and used by pilgrims to pray for safe passage across the water. It later became the North Berwick Parish Church, which precipitated the construction of first a bridge and finally a causeway to the harbour island.Legend has it that on Halloween 1590, Satan himself attended a coven on the Auld Kirk Green, although a more earthly version of the tale records that Satan was "played" by Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell
Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell
Francis Stewart, Earl Bothwell , was Commendator of Kelso Abbey and Coldingham Priory, a Privy Counsellor and Lord High Admiral of Scotland. Like his stepfather, Archibald Douglas, Parson of Douglas, he was a notorious conspirator, who died in disgrace...
. Stuart was a pretender to the throne and was apparently attempting to incite a storm which would sink the boat carrying James IV back from Norway with his new bride. In any case, this event so angered James VI that it triggered the North Berwick Witch Trials
North Berwick witch trials
The North Berwick witch trials were the trials in 1590 of a number of people from East Lothian, Scotland, accused of witchcraft in the St Andrew's Auld Kirk in North Berwick. They ran for two years and implicated seventy people. The accused included Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell on charges...
and the witch hunts that would eventually sweep the length and breadth of Britain. Those known to have participated in rituals at North Berwick are said to have died during the subsequent investigations, most likely at the hands of their "investigators".
The church ceased to host services and funerals in 1673, although part of one original wall remained standing until 1845. The area has been excavated several times, most recently when the adjacent ground was being prepared for the building of the Scottish Seabird Centre, and finds have included Roman coins and Viking artefacts. Digs have also unearthed well preserved skeletal remains, including those of children and murder victims, and metal pilgrims badges in the form of St. Andrew during crucifixion.
St. Andrews Kirk was restored in 2005 as a tourist attraction after receiving a £50,000 grant from the National Lottery Fund. Visitors can learn more about the history of the Auld Kirk Green, from its beginnings in the 7th century, through pilgrim times and the mysteries of the witches, right up to the present day.
Modern day
Although the red sandstone harbour and buildings have changed little in their external appearance, the old granary is now home to modern flats and the interior of many others have been remodelled for housing, boat storage or office space. The Scottish Seabird CentreScottish Seabird Centre
The Scottish Seabird Centre is a visitor attraction in North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland. Opened by HRH The Prince of Wales in 2000 and funded by the Millennium Commission, the showpiece of the centre is the network of cameras which beam back live pictures from the bird colonies on islands such...
has become a major tourist attraction since opening in 2000 and tourists can still take Sula II to see the gannets, puffins and other birdlife in the area. The outdoor swimming pool finally closed in 1996. It has since been filled in and is now a dinghy park, although some of the original buildings and viewing galleries still remain intact.
The East Lothian Yacht Club
East Lothian Yacht Club
The East Lothian Yacht Club or ELYC is based at the harbour in North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland. It was founded in 1928 and moved from its temporary base at the Fishermans Hall to the current building in 1931, since which time various expansions and redevelopments have taken place. Some of the...
is an accredited centre of sailing and sail training excellence and hosts national and international yachting and boating events from the harbour. The racing and cruising yachts of ELYC members now make up the bulk of vessels in the harbour, with a fishing fleet of just 3 for company. Just up the road along the old causeway from the harbour is the RNLI Lifeboat station, with one of the famous Blue Peter
Blue Peter
Blue Peter is the world's longest-running children's television show, having first aired in 1958. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC channel. During its history there have been many presenters, often consisting of two women and two men at a time...
lifeboats always on call.
Sources and notes
- Original "Witch Trial" accounts. Selected quote; "Sindrie of the witches confessed they had sindrie times companie with the devill at the kirk of Northberwick, where he appeared to them in the likeness of a man with a redde cappe, and a rumpe at his taill."
- North Berwick at Undiscovered Scotland, accessed 24 March 2006
- http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=OEBKAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22agriculture+and+rural+economy+of+east+lothian%22&source=bl&ots=pcUjb_u2Xp&sig=gK-ur3EC0fsOc_3Cj7ijoarNG2U&hl=en&ei=HkJITZWmDoeohAfM4d2sBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false General View of the Agricultural and Rural Economy in East Lothian (1794). See especially top of page 27.