Fife Ness Harbour - Balcomie, Fife - UK Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

This historical information can be found on a wooden constructed board on the Fife Coastal Path at its furthest point east as it reaches Fife Ness at Crail Golf Course. It tells of the harbour and its activities that took place at this point from the year 1537 when there was a first mention of a harbour here. The text reads as follows:

'Before you lies the harbour and a rare example of a sea beacon construction yard.
The harbour, first mentioned in 1537, was one of the creeks from which the burgh of Crail collected customs and shore dues. By 1790 there was only one fishing boat. The harbour was also used for shipping stone from Craighead quarry situated below the golf club house. Craighead stone, suited to the finest operations of masonary was said to have been used to repair St Andrews cathedral in 1455, and to build Cromwell's fortifications at Perth and the Scots church at Rotterdam.
The North Carr Rocks have always been a hazard to shipping entering the Firth of Forth. In 1625 the owner of Balcomie Castle offered to set a light on his tower, but eventually a lighthouse was built on the Isle of May in 1636. In 1809 a buoy was moored on the North Carr Rocks, but it kept breaking loose. The great lighthouse engineer Robert Stevenson proposed building a stone beacon 40ft high at the other end of the reef, with a bell at the top worked by the tide. The base for this construction work lies in front of this board.
Construction started here in 1813, but proved very slow and difficult. After five years, when it was nearly completed, the beacon was demolished in a winter gale. In 1840 it was decided to erect a metal beacon on the surviving base, which survives to this day. This had no light or no fog signal, and so in 1844 a second, low light was lit on the Isle of May. Eventually with improved technology a lightship became a practical possibility, and in 1877 the first of the lightships was moored to seaward on the North Carr Rocks. In 1975 the ship was replaced by an automatic beacon on the rocks and a low light on Fife Ness. The last lightship can be visited in Anstruther Harbour.
The simple harbour had a quay added when the beacon was being built. Stone was brought here, cut to size, and then shipped out to the North Carr Rocks. On the quay are traces of a possible crane base, and between the quay and the shore is a levelled area of rock, with circles cut in it. This is where workmen assembled and checked cut stones before loading them. There are also traces of a tram way to carry the stone to the quayside. The drawing by Robert Stevenson shows how the original beacon was built of interlocking stones.
There has been a coastguard station here since at least 1846, first in the cottage by the harbour, and since 1905 on its present site.'

Type of Historic Marker: Information board Historical Marker Issuing Authority: Fife Council Give your Rating: Age/Event Date: Not listed Related Website: Not listed

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