Showing posts with label Plantation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Plantation. Show all posts

Tuesday 20 September 2022

Skulferatu #82 - Braefoot Battery, Braefoot Point, Aberdour, Fife


On a sunny, but very windy day, I took the train out to Aberdour and then walked along the Fife Coastal Path towards Dalgety Bay.  The path wound its way through woods where birds chirped, insects buzzed, and everything swayed slightly in the stiff breeze.  The path then led me through a field, where I ended up by Braefoot Terminal.  A rather charming looking area of high fences and security where liquefied petroleum gas is stored and pumped out into the large tankers that dock there.  Following a path by one of the security fences I made my way into Braefoot Plantation, where the remains of Braefoot Battery lie.

 

A photo of a one storey concrete building, squat with a flat roof and iron chimney sticking out.  One of the windows and the door have been blocked in with breeze blocks.  Photograph taken by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
The North Blockhouse

 

A view inside the North Blockhouse showing a roof that is caving in, rubble on a concrete floor and windows that have been blocked in with breeze blocks.  Photograph taken by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
View inside the North Blockhouse

 

A view through the woods at Braefoot Plantation to the North East Blockhouse.  Photograph taken by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
View through the woods to the North East Blockhouse

 

A photo of a one storey, red brick building with a flat concrete roof.  There are four small windows in the wall - empty of glass and frames.  Photograph taken by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
The North East Blockhouse

 

Braefoot Battery was a First World War coastal defence site that overlooked the Firth of Forth.  In early 1914, just shortly before the start of the war, the government bought the land the battery now sits on from the Earl of Moray.  It would seem however, that there had been plans for quite some time to build a battery there in preparation for any attack by enemy forces on the UK.  Construction then began with the battery being completed in 1915.  When finished it had two 9.2 inch guns, which could fire a shell weighing 55kg a distance of up to 26KM.  These large calibre guns were intended for use on enemy ships that may come into the Forth to attack either ships anchored there or the naval base at Rosyth.

 

A photo showing the remains of one of the gun emplacements - a semi circle of concrete now overgrown with a tree in the middle.  Photograph taken by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Remains of one of the gun emplacements

 

A view of the remains of one of the gun emplacements from inside - showing a semi circular concrete wall with two sqare recesses in it with large metal rings in them.  Photograph taken by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Remains of one of the gun emplacements

 

A view of some big bolts at the gun emplacement.  They are sticking out of the ground and have moss growing on them.  Photograph taken by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Big bolts at the gun emplacement


A view inside the gun emplacement showing a large recess in the concrete wall.  Photograph taken by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Detail of the gun emplacement

 

A view of one of the big metal rings at the gun emplacement at Braefoot Battery.  Photograph taken by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Big metal ring at the gun emplacement

 

In 1917 the defence of the Forth was restructured and the guns at the Braefoot Battery were no longer needed there.  They were dismounted and put into storage, with one gun later being sent to Portsmouth.  The site was again used in WWII and several new buildings were added.

 

View down through the woods to one of the battery buildings - showing lots of trees on a downhill slope with a concrete bunker at the bottom.  Photograph taken by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
View down through the woods to one of the battery buildings

 

A view down through the woods to some of the battery buildings.  Photograph taken by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
View down through the woods to battery buildings

 

A view uphill through the woods to the Royal Engineer store and workshop - two brick and concrete buildings.  Photograph taken by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
View through the woods to the Royal Engineer store and workshop

 

A view along a path through the woods by the barrack blocks.  Photograph taken by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
View along by the barrack blocks

 

A photo of a moulded stone and concrete building with an open door.  The woods rise up above it looking as if the trees are growing from the roof.  Photograph taken by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
One of the battery buildings next to the barrack block

 

A view of the toilet block - showing brick walls, flat roofs and some ferns growing up by the walls.  Photograph taken by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
The toilet block

 

A picture of an old fashioned white urinal against a brick wall.  There is graffiti on the wall and ferns growing up beside the urinal.  Photograph taken by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Urinal

 

A post war woodland plantation now grows all around the battery buildings and though this gave my walk a lovely woodland feel, the trees did obscure what once must have been quite spectacular views from the hill the battery is on.

 

A photo of two of the battery buildings standing in the woodland of Braefoot Plantation.  Photograph taken by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Battery buildings

 

A photo of a moulded stone and concrete hut in the woods.  The door has been blocked off with red brick which adds a splash of colour against the grey of the building.  Photograph taken by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Hut in the woods

 

A photo of a moulded iron drainpipe.  It is runs from the top of the building and is broken with most of the pipe missing.  Photograph taken by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Drainpipe

 

After walking around the woods, I made my way down to the nearby shore.  Like almost everywhere along the coast of the Forth, probably the whole coast of Britain, there is a rather tragic story connected to this place.  A tale so horribly tragic that I just have to tell it...

 

...in 1887, on a sunny afternoon in mid-May, James Turnbull, a solicitor who lived in Aberdour, decided it would the perfect sort of day to sail out in his boat.  The perfect sort of day to get a good view of the construction work going on in the building of the Forth Bridge.  So, he invited his chief clerk, a Mr Ramsay, to comer along with him on this little jaunt.  The two men set sail and the weather was quite lovely, just until they got to Braefoot Point where a sudden squall caught them.  The small boat they were in was not built for these sorts of choppy waters and high waves, and it soon filled with water and began to sink.  The two men, both of whom were unable to swim, stood on the deck of the boat as the water first reached up around their ankles, and then up around their waists.  But behold, a passing steamer.  The two men on seeing the ship waved and shouted at it, hoping to be rescued.  On the deck of the steamer, the passengers thought they were seeing two bathers in the water waving as they went past.  So, they waved back, and the ship steamed on.  As the water reached up to their necks, both Turnbull and Ramsay realised they were doomed.  They said a little prayer, then their goodbyes to each other before the sea swallowed them up.  Now, on the steamer it so happened that three of the passengers who had been waving to the doomed men were none other than Turnbull’s daughters.  On their arrival home they excitedly chattered to their mother about their trip on the ship and having seen some bathers at Braefoot Point.  A friend of Turnbull’s was waiting in the house to see him and realising that he was not the most accomplished of sailors, had become concerned about how long it was taking for him to return.  On hearing the girls talk he had a sudden horrible realisation of what they might have in fact seen.  He quickly summoned some men, and they made their way to Braefoot Point.  There they found Turnbull’s boat washed up on the shore.  Shortly afterwards, as the tide went out, they found the bodies of both Turnbull and Ramsay.   Two men who quite literally had been not waving but drowning.

 

On the shore at Braefoot Point there stands an old pier.  I made my way out onto it and the wind, which had been getting up all day, battered me this way and that, making it difficult to even keep my balance.  The sea was rough, being whipped up by the wind and I understood how it could easily overwhelm a small boat like that which Turnbull and Ramsay had been sailing.  Feeling decidedly unsafe, despite being on dry land, I quickly made my way back and walked over to one of the battery pill boxes, which stood out on the rocks overlooking the Forth.

 

A photo of the pier at Braefoot Point - it is a squat stone pier built into rocks leading down to the sea.   Photograph taken by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
The pier at Braefoot Point

 

A photo showing the view to the pill box at Braefoot Point from the pier.  Photograph taken by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
View to the pill box at Braefoot Point

 

A photo of the pill box at Braefoot Point - it is a concrete, one storey building with narrow windows looking out over the sea.  Photograph taken by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Pill box at Braefoot Point

 

A photo of the pill box at Braefoot Point looking out towards the sea.  Photograph taken by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Pill box at Braefoot Point

 

There, in a howling gale, I left the Skulferatu that had accompanied me on my walk in a hole in the wall.

 

A photo of a small ceramic skull (Skulferatu 82) being held up in front of the pill box at Braefoot Point.  Photograph taken by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #82

 

A photo of a small ceramic skull (Skulferatu 82) hidden in the wall of the pill box.  Photograph taken by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Spot the Skulferatu

 

A photo of a small ceramic skull (Skulferatu 82) in a hole in the wall of the pill box. Photograph taken by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #82 in a hole in the wall at the pill box

 

A close up photo of a small ceramic skull (Skulferatu 82) in a hole in the wall of the pill box.Photograph taken by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #82 in a hole in the wall at the pill box

 

Google Map showing the location of Skulferatu #82
Map showing the location of Skulferatu #82

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

 

Latitude 56.034242

Longitude -3.321253

 

what3words: throat.points.loved

 

I used the following sources for information on Braefoot Battery and Braefoot Point –

 

Dundee Courier - Saturday 14 May 1887

 

Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser - Monday 20 April 1914

 

Canmore

Canmore - Forth Defences, Middle, Braefoot Point Battery