Skulferatu #66 - Disused Pier and Ship Loading Bay, Preston Hill Quarry, Inverkeithing, Fife

When out for walks along the Fife Costal Path I often stumble across the ruins of the heavy industry that once thrived in this area.  There are pieces of machinery of indeterminate use, the remains of old buildings and piers, structures sitting out and decaying away in the water, and broken metal things that may have once been something useful but are now so rusted away it is difficult to say what they were.

 

Decaying remains of an old pier in the Forth

 

Concrete structure sitting on shore of the Forth

 

Just outside of Inverkeithing there are the rather striking remains of what looks like a disused, iron pier jutting out into the Forth. 

 

Disused pier and ship loading bay for Preston Hill Quarry

 

These are the remnants of a conveyer belt and loading bay for Preston Hill Quarry.  It was once used to load stone from the quarry on to ships.  The quarry was closed down many years ago and the pier and loading bay have been left to just rust away.

 

Disused pier and ship loading bay for Preston Hill Quarry

 

Underneath the disused pier for the conveyer belt

 

The rusting iron struts of the pier

 

Iron and barbed wire underneath the pier

 

I found a path through the thorny bushes that took me underneath the rusting metal structure and while I took some photographs a heron watched me warily from the water below.

 

A heron watched me warily

 

I then took a wander over to the old quarry site.  It is now full of water and is a popular place with the local diving community for training and underwater photography.  I tried my hand at a bit of underwater photography by sticking an old and supposedly waterproof camera into the water to take a photo of the reeds growing below the surface. It sort of worked and the camera only fizzed and hissed a little bit.

 

Entrance to Preston Hill Quarry

 

Preston Hill Quarry

 

Plants growing underwater in the quarry

A view out over the quarry site

 

There are now plans afoot to fill in the quarry site and turn the area around it into a housing development.  I got the impression from some stickers on signposts and lampposts along the path leading up to the quarry that this is not a particularly popular idea.

 

I wandered back round from the quarry to the old pier and loading bay.  The sun was bright in the sky and all around was a haze of light reflected on a calm sea.

 

Disused pier and ship loading bay for Preston Hill Quarry

 

Disused pier and ship loading bay for Preston Hill Quarry

 

I left the Skulferatu that had accompanied me on my walk in the iron struts of the pier supports.

 

Skulferatu #66

 

Skulferatu #66 in the iron struts of the pier

 

Map showing location of Skulferatu #66

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

 

Latitude 56.02553

Longitude -3.38618

Skulferatu #47 - Seafield Tower, Kirkcaldy, Fife

 

The walk along the Fife Coastal Path, from Kinghorn to Seafield Tower, takes you up and down a narrow trail and past some spectacular scenery of jagged rocks and crashing waves.  There are lots of tiny coves and rocky pits and hollows to explore, and on a calm day you can see colonies of seals sunning themselves on the rocks exposed at low tide.

 

Seafield Tower as seen from rocks by the Forth

 

View of ruins of Seafield Tower from Fife Coastal Path

 

The ruins of Seafield Tower sit on the Fife coast between Kinghorn and Kirkcaldy.  It was built in the early to mid-sixteenth century on land that had been granted by King James II to Richard Multrare (Moultrie) in 1443.  It remained in the Moultrie family for several generations.  In 1631 the tower was sold by Robert Moultrie to James Law, the Archbishop of Glasgow for 19,700 marks (£1,095).  After the Archbishop’s death the tower went through several other owners before finally being abandoned and left to fall into ruin.  

A sketch of Seafield Tower as it was circa 1887

It is thought that the ruin was used as a smugglers den for a number of years.  It was noted by David MacGibbon and Thomas Ross when they visited the tower in the late 1880s that smugglers seemed to have made alterations to the building. 

 

Seafield Tower as seen from the beach below

 

The ruins of Seafield Tower standing on a rocky outcrop

 

The ruins of Seafield Tower

 

The ruins of Seafield Tower

 

The Rev. James Taylor mentions the tower in his book ‘Historical Antiquities of Fife’.  He, however, felt it lacked any historical gravitas and wrote - ‘Passing onwards and eastwards, we come to the…tower of Seafield.  It is built upon a rocky ledge, which the waves wash, and has the broad Firth as its lawn.  Prominent for situation, the eye often turns to it, and the expectation is awakened, as if it ought to be the scene of something memorable.  But no legend of romance, no fact of history, no popular tradition, attaches to it.  It is a ruined tower by the sea and nothing more.’

 

View of the ruins of Seafield Tower looking on to the Forth

 

Interior walls of Seafield Tower

 

View out over the Forth through doorway created in tower wall

 

It would appear that the tower originally consisted of five storeys and was part of an L shape castle constructed from local red sandstone and surrounded by a wall on the landward side.  It is likely that it followed the pattern of other castles in this area with storage on the ground floor, the Great Hall on the level above that and then the upper levels all being given over to accommodation.  Much of the building has now gone, with part of the tower collapsing in a storm in 2013.

 

I left the Skulferatu that accompanied me on today’s walk in a gap in a wall inside the ruins of the tower.

 

Skulferatu #47

 

Skulferatu #47 in a gap in the wall of the tower

 

Map showing the location of Skulferatu #47

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

 

Latitude 56.084120

Longitude -3.159048

 

I used the following sources for information on Seafield Tower –

 

The Moultries

South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, Vol 5

1904

 

John Gray Centre – Research Guide – Old Scottish Money

Research Guides - Money

 

The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland from the Twelfth to the Eighteenth Century

Volume Three

By David MacGibbon and Thomas Ross

1887

 

Historical Antiquities of Fife, Chiefly Ecclesiastical, Connected with Some of its Districts

Volume Two

Rev. James W. Taylor

1875

 

The Scotsman – 8 Lesser-known castles of Scotland

11 September 2018

8 lesser-known castles of Scotland | The Scotsman

 

 

Skulferatu #43 - Rosyth Doocot, Rosyth, Fife

 

Walking away from Rosyth Castle, across an abandoned rail track and up a wooded hill, I came across Rosyth Doocot almost hidden amongst the trees.

 

Rosyth Doocot, hidden amongst the trees

 

Rosyth Doocot

 

The Doocot is from the Sixteenth Century and has over one thousand five hundred stone nesting boxes inside for pigeons.  It must have been a pretty smelly place in its day, but the pigeons were a year round source of meat and eggs for the local community.

 

The Doocot is now empty except for some discarded beer cans and a couple of chairs sitting inside.  The chairs give it a slightly surrealist feeling and I half expected a couple of actors to appear from the side shadows and perform ‘Waiting for Godot’ or something of that ilk.

 

Interior of the Doocot

 

On the lintel above the door are the remains of a carving of a serpent.  This represents the old biblical saying of – ‘Be ye wise as serpents and harmless as doves.’

 

Entrance to Doocot, with remains of carved serpent on lintel above the door

 

View of Dovecot and Details from The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland

 

I left a Skulferatu in the wall of the Doocot.

 

Skulferatu #43

 

Skulferatu #43 in hole in wall at Rosyth Doocot

 

Map showing location of Skulferatu #43

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

 

Latitude 56.024808

Longitude -3.429101

 

I used the following sources for information on Rosyth Doocot –

 

The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland from the Twelfth to the Eighteenth Century, Volume One

By David MacGibbon and Thomas Ross

1887

 

Tourist Information at site

Skulferatu #35 - Ha Lighthouse (Hawkcraig Point Range Front Light), Aberdour

 

On a lovely, sunny bank holiday Monday I went for a walk along the Fife Coastal Path from Burntisland to Aberdour.  My walk took me past Silver Sands Beach, which was packed with people making the best of the sun and the easing of the Covid restrictions.  I carried on round to the rocky outcrop of Hawkcraig Point and made my way round to Ha Lighthouse.  This lighthouse stands on the rocks overlooking the sea and, on a clear day, has some great views out over the Forth to Inchcolm Island and Edinburgh.   Most of Edinburgh was however obscured by the remnants of the morning haar.

 

View over Silver Sands Beach to Hawkcraig Point and Ha Lighthouse

 

Rocks up to Ha Lighthouse

 

Ha Lighthouse (Hawkcraig Point Range Front Light)

 

I can find very little information about this lighthouse other than it is one of two lights on Hawkcraig Point, this being the Front Light and…wait for it…the other being the Rear Light.  Original names or what!  These two automated lights mark the deep water channel from the east end of Mortimer’s Deep to the Forth Deepwater Channel.  This deep water channel being used by the oil tankers making their way up the Forth from Braefoot Terminal where they have been pumped full of a cargo of liquefied petroleum gas.  Not really the type of ship you want hitting anything and leaking its cargo into the sea.

 

Other than that, the only exciting details I can find are that Ha Lighthouse is 13 feet high and when the light is on it flashes on for 2.5 seconds and off for 2.5 seconds.  And for those of you who haven’t fallen asleep yet, I can let you know that the rear lighthouse is 26 feet high, and its light also flashes on and off for 2.5 seconds.

 

Ha Lighthouse (Hawkcraig Point Range Front Light)

 

Ha Lighthouse with Hawkcraig Point Range Rear Light in background

 

Hawkcraig Point Range Rear Light

 

Near to where the lighthouses stand is where, from 1915 to 1919, HMS Tarlair was based.  This was not a ship, but rather an experimental research base.  Here the Royal Navy had their main hydrophone research and training facility.  The hydrophones were underwater microphones used to listen out for U-boats and were the forerunner to today’s sonar systems.  The work carried out here led to major technological advances in the detection of submarines and was one of the first collaborations between military and civilian scientists and researchers.

 

There is not much left of this facility now other than a few concrete bases for the huts and part of a pier.

 

I left the Skulferatu that accompanied me on today’s walk in the cliff face down from the lighthouse.

 

Skulferatu #35

 

Skulferatu #35 in cliff face below Ha Lighthouse

 

View from cliff face where Skulferatu #35 was left

 

Map showing location of Skulferatu #35

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

 

Latitude 56.050336

Longitude -3.284126

 

I used the following sources for information on the lighthouse –

 

Lighthouses of Southeastern Scotland

Lighthouses of Southeastern Scotland

 

Lighthouse Digest Magazine

Lighthouse Explorer Database - Hawkcraig Point Range Front Light

 

Information board at Hawkcraig Point