Skulferatu #60 - West Pier Lighthouse, The Royal Harbour, Ramsgate, Kent

 

The town of Ramsgate is dominated by the rather impressive Royal Harbour and the lines and lines of boats moored up there.

 

The Royal Harbour, Ramsgate

 

After lunch of cod & chips and a cup of tea at a local chippy, I wandered off to have a look around the harbour.  In the afternoon sunshine it was busy with sightseers, fishermen and people pottering about on boats.  There were also flocks of noisy, squawking seagulls zooming around in their self-assured and cocky way.

 

The Royal Harbour, Ramsgate

 

West Pier Lighthouse as seen from the East Pier

 

Ne Pas Nager, Ne Pas Plonger, Ne Pas Courir

 

The Royal Harbour was given its title by King George IV in 1821, after he had visited the town several times. Seemingly he had so much fun in the place that he felt he had to bestow some honour on it, so he decreed that the harbour should be given the title of royal and that it could fly his royal standard three times a year.  It sounds a bit like one of those look at me presents where the giver doesn’t really give that much and it’s really all about them.  Still, saying that it, Ramsgate Harbour is the only Royal Harbour in the UK. 

 

In 1940, during World War II, Ramsgate was one of the places where many small boats gathered to take part in Operation Dynamo.  They sailed over to Dunkirk where they helped to ferry men on to waiting ships so that they could be evacuated back to Britain.  Over forty thousand of the men rescued during this operation were landed at Ramsgate.

 

After walking to the end of the East Pier at the harbour, I made my way round to the more picturesque West Pier and the lighthouse there.

 

West Pier Lighthouse and Seagulls

 

West Pier Lighthouse, The Royal Harbour, Ramsgate

 

Detail of lighthouse roof

 

The lighthouse was designed by the architect John Shaw and built in 1842.  It is not the original lighthouse, as the first one was built close to the end of the pier and was frequently damaged by ship’s yardarms as they entered the harbour.

 

I left the Skulferatu that had accompanied me on my walk in a metal structure at the side of the harbour, near to the lighthouse.

 

Skulferatu #60

 

Metal structure on the pier

 

Skulferatu #60 in the metal structure on the pier

 

Skulferatu #60 on the West Pier

 

Map showing the location of Skulferatu #60

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

 

Latitude 51.327809

Longitude 1.421615

I used the following sources for information on the Lighthouse –

 

Tourist Information at site

 

Port of Ramsgate

Port of Ramsgate

 

Ramsgate, Kent's Coastal Heritage Town

Ramsgate Town - The Royal Harbour

 

 

Skulferatu #42 - Rosyth Castle, Port of Rosyth, Rosyth, Fife

You have to go a bit out of your way to reach Rosyth Castle, unless you work at the Port of Rosyth, as the castle is right at the entrance to the docks there.  It is also a bit unclear if you are actually permitted to walk around the grounds, as there is a great big sign warning you that you are entering private property and trespassing is not allowed.  However, I asked the security guy at the entrance to the docks, and he said that it was fine to walk around the castle grounds but to beware of the seagulls.  A warning I pretty quickly heeded as almost as soon as I walked through the entrance, they started to screech at me, and divebomb me.   I stuck close to the walls and kept away from the several young seagulls who were strolling around the far side of the castle towards the docks.

 

Rosyth Castle hidden amongst construction sites and Rosyth Dockyard

 

A view of the keep of Rosyth Castle

 

Rosyth Castle with dockyard in background

 

Rosyth Castle

 

Rosyth Castle dates from around 1450 and was built for Sir David Stewart.  It originally stood on a small island in the Forth that was connected to the mainland by an artificial causeway.  At high tide it was surrounded by the sea and cut off from the mainland. During the building of Rosyth Dockyard, the land around the castle was reclaimed and the castle now sits some distance from the sea. 

 

Like most castles in Scotland, Mary Queen of Scots is believed to have spent some time here, though rather than being here as a prisoner, it is thought she holidayed at the castle on several occasions.  It was also rumoured that Oliver Cromwell’s grandmother had been born at the castle and had lived there for several years.  If there is any truth to this rumour, then things came full circle in 1651 when the castle was occupied briefly by Cromwell’s troops and maybe even by Cromwell himself.

 

The castle remained in Stewart hands until it was sold in the late Seventeenth Century and eventually ended up being owned by the Earl of Hopetoun prior to being sold to the Admiralty in 1903.  The Admiralty had plans to upgrade the castle, put a roof on it and turn part of the keep into a reading room for naval officers and the rest of it into a naval museum.  However, these plans were never carried out and only some basic work was done to stop the walls from deteriorating any further.

 

Remains of the castle walls

 

Castle walls with fenced off area of dockyard in background

 

Ruins of castle walls and dockyard in background

 

Seagull on castle walls

 

Seagulls circling above the castle

 

At one time there was a stone quarry near to the castle.  This quarry extended out into the sandstone under the Forth and as there was also a sandstone bed on the opposite shore, it was suspected that this stretched out across the whole of the Forth.  So, in 1806 a proposal was put forward that a tunnel be dug from an area near to Rosyth Castle over to Springfield, now part of South Queensferry, thus linking the Lothians and Fife.  As this idea was proposed before commercial train travel, the tunnel would have been created only for the use of pedestrians and horses & carts.  It was eventually decided that the costs of building the tunnel were too prohibitive and the idea was abandoned.  There was then a gap of nearly a hundred years before the Forth Bridge was built and trains could travel directly from one side of the Forth to the other.

 

Photograph by Valentine & Sons of Rosyth Castle with newly constructed Forth Bridge in background

 

Rosyth Castle as it was prior to construction of dockyard 

 

After avoiding the angry seagulls and managing to snatch a few photographs I left the Skulferatu that accompanied me on today’s walk in a gap in the wall of the castle.  I then made a hasty retreat away from my feathery foes.

 

Skulferatu #42

 

Skulferatu #42 in wall at Rosyth Castle

 

Map showing location of Skulferatu #42

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

 

Latitude 56.023686

Longitude -3.431434

 

I used the following sources for information on Rosyth Castle –

 

The Peoples Journal

Saturday October 5, 1889

 

Fife Free Press and Kirkcaldy Guardian

Saturday, 20 January 1906

 

Rosyth

by John Rupert-Jones

1917

 

Photograph of Rosyth Castle & Forth Bridge by Valentine & Sons

from Rosyth

by John Rupert-Jones

 

Photograph of Rosyth Castle as it was before construction of the dockyard

from Dundee Evening Telegraph

Thursday 28 February 1929

 

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