Skulferatu #29 - Hound Point Battery, Dalmeny Estate, South Queensferry

 

On a sunny, but bitterly cold April morning I took a walk from Cramond, through Dalmeny Estate, to South Queensferry.  Following Cycle Route 76, I walked through the top of the estate and round and down to Hound Point.  By Fishery Cottage, I cut up the hill and through the woods to the concrete remains of the Hound Point Battery, an old First World War coastal defences site.  There I had a good look about as the trees all around swayed and creaked in the wind.

 

Hill view of gun emplacement at Hound Point Battery

 

Remains of the magazine building

Gun emplacement – Hound Point Battery

 

Gun emplacement – Hound Point Battery

 

Gun emplacement – Hound Point Battery

 

Hound point Battery was part of a defensive system built along the coast of the UK that stretched from Shetland to Cornwall.  Building work began on the Battery before the start of World War One and it was operational by 1914.  The Battery consisted of two gun emplacements at the top of the hill overlooking the Firth of Forth, and a magazine building to the rear and slightly further down the hill.  While it was operational the perimeter of the Battery would have been surrounded by blockhouses and a barbed wire fence.  When it was armed in 1914 the Battery had two BL 6-inch Mk VII guns, however these were removed in 1915 and transferred to another battery at Leith Docks.  The guns were then replaced in 1916 with two 12 pounder Quick Firing Naval 18cwt guns.  These were dismounted and removed in 1922.

 

In September 1914, the Battery at Hound Point opened fire on a suspected enemy submarine out in the Firth of Forth.  However, one of the shells fired ricocheted off the water and landed near to the Earl of Moray’s residence at Donibristle House in Dalgety Bay.  Luckily, it didn’t cause much damage other than ploughing up the lawn in front of the house.  The enemy submarine was eventually sunk by a gunner based out on Inchgarvie Island.

 

The Battery is now in a state of disrepair and is badly vandalised and crumbling away, much like most of the old coastal defences.  However, around the old gun emplacements there are some good views, through the trees, over the Forth.  The sort of views that make you realise why they built the Battery where they did.

 

I left the Skulferatu that accompanied me on today’s walk in the hollow of a tree growing out from one of the gun emplacements.

 

Skulferatu #29

Skulferatu #29 in tree hollow at Hound Point Battery

 

Map showing location of Skulferatu #29

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

 

Latitude 55.999295

Longitude -3.351049

I used the following sources for information on Hound Point Battery -

 

Linlithgowshire Gazette – Friday, September 18, 1914

 

Overland China Mail – No 2386, October 31, 1914

 

Canmore – Forth Defences, Inner, Hound Point Battery

Canmore - Forth Defences, Inner, Hound Point Battery

 

Ancient Monuments UK

ancientmonuments.uk - Hound Point Battery, City of Edinburgh

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

Skulferatu #24 - SEPA Monitoring Site, River Almond, Craighall, Edinburgh

 

On an unseasonably sunny day I went for a stroll along the River Almond. The Almond runs from Hirst Hill in Lanarkshire to its exit into the Firth of Forth at Cramond.  The river is twenty-eight miles long and winds its way through West Lothian and round the outskirts of Edinburgh.  The name of the river comes from the old Celtic word Amon, which means river.  So, the name of the river is basically River River.

 

I joined the Almond at its exit into the sea at Cramond and walked along the riverbank up the path to the Old Cramond Brig (bridge).  On crossing that, I cut off down the path under the new bridge that carries the traffic speeding along the A90.  The noise from the traffic is a continuous thunderous rumble and as I walked through the nearby woods, I could just make out some birdsong, which made me wonder how the birds can possibly communicate above all that noise.  Maybe they just sing a bit louder.

 

Old Cramond Brig

 

Snowdrops on the riverbank

An old drainage tunnel, draining water from nearby fields into the River Almond

 

Once under and past the new bridge the river path winds on for miles and miles.  One day I will walk, or cycle, as far as the path carries me, but not today.

 

A view of the River Almond

 

Today I walked to the SEPA Monitoring Site on the Almond at Craighall.  SEPA, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, has 392 sites around Scotland that monitor water levels.  The information from these sites helps in flood management, amongst other things. 

 

SEPA Monitoring Site, as seen from the riverbank

 

SEPA Monitoring Site, as seen from riverside

 

The monitoring site at Craighall is a rather unimpressive, purely functional, brick building.  Its walls are cracked and pitted with holes and it is heavily graffitied on the wall facing the path.  At its side there is a set of rather worn steps and what looks like a lovely, shiny ruler.  This ruler is the basic, but effective tool for measuring the level of the river.  At the time of my trip out there the level was just under 50 centimetres.  According to the River Levels UK website the usual range of the level of the Almond is between 0.21 and 1.92 metres, though it reached 3.76 metres in April 2000…a particularly wet year I have no recollection of.  I must have spent most of it in the pub, to keep out of the rain.

 

Measure at side of building showing water levels

 

I left the Skulferatu that accompanied me on today’s walk in one of the many little holes in the wall of the monitoring station, facing out onto the River Almond.

 

Skulferatu #24

Skulferatu #24 in a hollow in the wall of the Monitoring Station

 

Map showing location of Skulferatu #24

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

 

Latitude 55.962894

Longitude -3.338132

 

Skulferatu #5 - Barns Ness Lighthouse, Dunbar

There are many lovely walks around the coast of East Lothian.  One of these takes you from Dunbar and round to Torness Nuclear Power Station and beyond.  This walk takes you past Barns Ness Lighthouse, which sits just up from the sea on a large expanse of Marram Grass.

Barns Ness Lighthouse

Barns Ness Lighthouse and Cottage

The lighthouse was designed by two of the Lighthouse Stevensons, the brothers David and Charles Stevenson (both cousins of the author Robert Louis Stevenson).  It was constructed between 1899 and 1901 and was manned by two lighthouse keepers until 1966, when it was electrified.   Only a single keeper was then required.  The lighthouse was fully automated in 1986 and after a review of lighthouses, was deactivated in 2005.  It was sold in 2006 and the lighthouse cottage is now a holiday rental.

 

During the Second World War the lighthouse was machine gunned by a passing German plane, however it was not damaged by this.

A view of the lighthouse

I walked out to the lighthouse from Dunbar on a cold and sunny afternoon.  The sky was a pale blue with white and grey clouds skiffing through it, while the sea was a still and calm blue black.  All the colours of winter coming into their own.

Skulferatu #5

Skulferatu left at base of lighthouse tower

I left a Skulferatu at the base of the lighthouse where if faces out to the sea.

Google Map showing location of Skulferatu

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are – 

Latitude 55.987216

Longitude -2.445305.

 

Skulferatu #3 - Eagle Rock, South Queensferry

 

My Covid reading for the last few weeks has been ‘I, Claudius’ and ‘Claudius the God’ by Robert Graves.  So, immersed in stories of ancient Rome and the Emperor who conquered a large part of Britain, I thought I’d take a walk out to Eagle Rock.  As a child, one of my friend’s and I had often played on the beach, in the area of the rock.  The Historic Scotland plaque pointing out the eagle was not in place at the time and we hadn’t really noticed or paid any attention to the carving on the rock.  Then one day my friend’s dad pointed out the eagle and told us it dated from the time of the Romans.  The rock then sort of took on a magical significance, imbued with all that ancient history, and we would often imagine ourselves as Roman legionnaires in a foreign and hostile land.

Eagle Rock

 

The eagle on Eagle Rock is a very worn carving, which is thought to date from around AD 140 to the early AD 200s.  At this time, the Romans occupied nearby Cramond and had a fort there.  It is unclear whether the eagle was a piece of Roman graffiti art or if it had any religious significance.

The worn carving of the eagle and Historic Scotland Plaque

 

To get to the rock I walked through Cramond and then over the old bridge which took me on to the road to Lord Rosebery’s estate.  On the estate there is a well-worn path that follows the coast around to South Queensferry.  Despite it being a warm day with the sun out, the path was a muddy sludge from the recent rain.  So, slipping and sliding I made my way down to the short stretch of beach by Eagle Rock.  Overhead a single plane flew, its wheels down and engine roaring as it came into land at nearby Edinburgh Airport.  A reminder of the time before Covid when planes would be roaring overhead every few minutes as they came into land or were taking off.  

View of Eagle Rock looking over the Forth to Fife

 

On the beach the tide was out and some kids played while their parents laid out a picnic on a battered looking old rug.  They waved hello as I walked past them and along to Eagle Rock.  There, I walked around and took a few photos before looking for a suitable place to leave the Skulferatu.  There was a nice, pocked ledge below the eagle, so I left it there and walked off to rejoin the path and make my way home.

Skulferatu #3

 

Skulferatu #3 in situ

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are – 

Latitude 55.982954 

Longitude -3.308492  

Google Map showing location of Skulferatu

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