Monday, 19 July 2021

Skulferatu #37 - Cramond Island, Edinburgh

 

I only discovered the joys of the walk out to and around Cramond Island during lockdown.  It was one of these places that I had always meant to go to though never quite got round to doing it.  I had cycled and walked along the front at Cramond and passed the causeway out to the island many times but had just never ventured out there.  One of the few joys of lockdown though was discovering new places to walk and making a point of actually going to places in my locale.  So, for maybe the third time in a year I went on a stroll out there today.  Before setting out I checked the tide times, crucial to avoid getting trapped on the island and wasting the time of the local Lifeboat crew.  I then took a stroll along the causeway to the island.

 

The causeway out to Cramond Island is a rough concrete path, raised a few feet up from the sand.  It is covered in cockles, and I found myself dancing around the path trying not to squash them.  Running along the side of the causeway is a very distinctive looking barrier of concrete pylons, this was built in WWII as an anti-boat barrier.

 

Causeway out to Cramond Island, Edinburgh with large, concrete pylons stretching out along it.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Causeway out to Cramond Island

 

Concrete Pylons built in WWII as an anti-boat barrier with a cloudy sky above them.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Concrete Pylons built in WWII as an anti-boat barrier

 

Gun emplacement at the South Side of Cramond Island, by the Causeway and concrete pylons. Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Gun emplacement at the South Side of Cramond Island, by the Causeway

 

Gun emplacement at the South Side of Cramond Island, Edinburgh.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project
Gun emplacement at the South Side of Cramond Island

 

View over to A view over the sea from Cramond Island to Granton gasworks with Arthur’s Seat and Edinburgh in the background.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project
View over to Granton and Arthur’s Seat from Cramond Island

 

On the island there is a path that takes you all the way around, past a host of abandoned concrete and brick buildings.  These are the remains of the fortifications that were built here during WWII and are the buildings that housed various gun emplacements and anti-shipping searchlights.  On one of the beaches are two huge concrete blocks, these were anchor points for an anti-submarine net that stretched over to Inchcolm Island and then over to the Fife coast.  

 

Abandoned WWII building on Cramond Island.  The building is overgrown and disappearing into the undergrowth. Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project
Abandoned WWII building on the island

 

Inside view of one of the abandoned WWII buildings on Cramond Island.  It is a concrete shell covered in graffiti.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project
Inside view of one of the abandoned WWII buildings

 

Abandoned WWII buildings on Cramond Island, Edinburgh.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project
Abandoned WWII buildings on the island

 

Abandoned WWII buildings on Cramond Island, Edinburgh.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project
Abandoned WWII buildings on the island

 

View over the Forth to Fife from the empty concrete window of one of the abandoned WWII buildings on Cramond Island, Edinburgh.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project
View over the Forth to Fife from one of the buildings 

 

Bunker at north side of Cramond Island, Edinburgh.  The outside of the wall of the bunker is colourful with graffiti. Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project
Bunker at north side of the island

 

Bunkers at north side of Cramond Island, Edinburgh.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project
Bunkers at north side of the island

 

Abandoned WWII building on north side of Cramond Island, Edinburgh.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Abandoned WWII building on north side of island

 

A set of large heavy doors covered in rust lie next to a small, demolished building on Cramond Island, Edinburgh.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Ruined building and rusting doors

 

Two large concrete blocks on the beach that were anchor points for an anti-submarine net.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project
Concrete blocks on beach that were anchor points for an anti-submarine net

 

Detail of one of the concrete blocks on the beach at Cramond Island that were anchor points for an anti-submarine net.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project
Detail of one of the concrete blocks

 

The WWII buildings left on Cramond Island pale in comparison to those that can be seen on the island of Inchmickery which sits between Cramond Island and the Fife Coast.  The island there is so covered in the concrete remains of WWI and WWII fortifications that it looks like a large battleship sitting out in the Forth.  At one point in time Inchmickery was famed for its oyster beds and the ‘rich profusion of sea-weed, mosses and lichens, on its beach and surface.’  Now these have pretty much all disappeared.

 

A view from Cramond Island of Inchmickery Island which is so heavily fortified that it looks like a battleship sitting out at sea.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Inchmickery Island

 

Cramond Island has a history stretching back into the mists of time.  It is believed that the Romans would have used the island during their time in Cramond, however no archaeological evidence of this has been found. 

 

View out over the causeway and southern gun emplacement from top of hill on Cramond Island, Edinburgh.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project
View out over the causeway from top of hill on Cramond Island

 

In 1596 the island was the site of a duel which ended a long running feud.  The feud came about after Mary Queen of Scots had fled to England leaving behind various factions in Scotland who were hostile to each other.  Some supported the Queen, while others supported James Stewart, the Earl of Moray, who was acting as the Regent.  One of those who supported the Queen was Stephen Bruntfield, the Laird of Craighouse, while one of those who supported the Regent was Robert Moubray, Laird of Barnbougle and an arch enemy of Bruntfield.  In 1572, Moubray, who was hoping to ingratiate himself with the Regent, lay siege to Bruntfield’s castle at Craighouse.  Bruntfield held out for a while but surrendered to Moubray when he was promised by the Regent that his life would be spared, and he would keep his property and estates.  Moubray however saw Bruntfield’s surrender as a perfect opportunity to get rid of someone he despised, and while escorting him to Edinburgh, to meet with the Regent, he ran him through with his sword and murdered him.  Bruntfield’s widow was so overcome with grief at the death of her husband that she retired to her rooms within Craighouse Castle, draped them in black and never left them again.  According to those who knew her, she then spoke of nothing but having revenge on Moubray for the murder of her husband.   This obsession with revenge she passed on to each of her three sons who each took a turn in duelling with Moubray.  The eldest, Stephen, was the first to try his hand and Moubray slew him at a duel just outside Holyrood Palace.  A couple of years later, her middle son, Roger, fought a duel with Moubray and seemed to be gaining the upper hand, but he slipped and fell and Moubray struck off his head as he lay on the ground.  A few years after this, the youngest son, Henry, also challenged Moubray to a duel.  There was some debate about whether a duel could be fought given that Moubray had already fought twice over the same issue, but as Moubray was keen to fight again it was agreed that the duel could go ahead.  On Cramond Island, a spot was chosen close to the northern beach with a raised area behind it where spectators could gather.  The duel then took place, and it was bloody and long with both duellists seriously wounding each other.  Eventually as both were stumbling with fatigue Henry found a last reserve of strength, lunged with his dagger drawn at Moubray and stabbed him through the heart.  Moubray gave a sigh of surprise at having lost and fell down dead.  Henry’s mother, on hearing the news that Moubray had been killed and she had been revenged, promptly dropped down dead as well.  Henry then later married Moubray’s niece and inherited much of Moubray’s wealth and property.  

 

Cramond Island has also been the scene of many tragedies involving ships coming to grief on the rocks around it, or people being drowned when caught by the tide while making the crossing to and from the island.  In 1954 a Gunner who was stationed on the island, drowned while making his way back after a day’s leave.  The incoming tide caught him as he tried to wade out to the island and his body was found the next day lying in a rock pool.

 

For many years, the island was used for farming and grazing sheep.  Though now uninhabited, up until the 1930s people lived on the island, and an article in the West Lothian Courier of 1923 describes it as being the only inhabited island in the Forth.  It goes on to describe there being ‘several small red-tiled cottages upon the island.  In the most sheltered corner they lie, and were built, it is said, out of the remains of a large house which used to stand there.’ 

 

It was rumoured that there was an underground passage on the island that led, get this for a nice and vague description, ‘somewhere’.  This secret passage was described as having been lost for centuries and it is probably no surprise to hear that no trace of this has ever been found.

 

The island was also one of the favourite haunts of the author Robert Louis Stevenson and in his youth he and one of his friends would regularly canoe from Granton out to Cramond Island.

 

Cramond Island has also been the site of the DIY ‘Island of Punk’ festival.  The festival lasts for a day with the audience helping the bands to carry their equipment across the causeway to the island.  Various punk bands have played there including local Edinburgh favourites such as Oi Polloi and Bloco Vomit.

 

On my trek today around the island I left the Skulferatu that accompanied me in the ruined wall of the Duck House, a building that was once a shelter for shooting parties and later rented out as holiday accommodation.  Now it is little more than a wall facing out to the Forth Bridges.

 

Remains of the Duck House, Cramond Island.  A wall next to some rocks is all that remains of this hunting shelter come holiday accommodation.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Remains of the Duck House

 

Skulferatu #37 on Cramond Island  being held up by the Duck House.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project
Skulferatu #37



Skulferatu #37 in crack in wall at the Duck House, Cramond Island, Edinburgh.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project
Skulferatu #37 in crack in wall at the Duck House

 

Map showing location of Skulferatu #37 on Cramond Island, Edinburgh
Map showing location of Skulferatu #37

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

 

Latitude 55.994815

Longitude -3.291634

 

I used the following sources for information on Cramond Island -

 

Cassels Old and New Edinburgh, Vol 3

By James Grant

1883

 

The Book of Scottish Story

Various Authors

1896

 

The Scotsman 4th June 1925

Favourite Haunts of R.L.S.

 

West Lothian Courier – Friday, August 3, 1923

Cramond Island – An Appreciation

 

Belfast Telegraph – Monday, August 16, 1954

 

Wikipedia

Wikipedia - Cramond Island

 

 

Article and photographs are copyright of © Kevin Nosferatu, unless otherwise specified.

 

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