The Ports, Harbours, Watering-places and Picturesque Scenery of Great Britain Volume I Part 7

CASTLE OF HOLY ISLAND.

FROM THE WESTWARD.

The Castle of Holy Island stands on a steep rock, about half a mile to the eastward of the Abbey. It is wholly inaccessible, except by a winding pa.s.s cut through the rock on the south side. The date of its foundation is unknown; but it is supposed to have been first built by the monks, as a place of refuge against the piratical attacks of the Danes, who frequently annoyed them, and twice burnt their abbey. The most memorable event in the meagre history of this castle is its capture for the Pretender, by two men, Launcelot Errington, and his nephew Mark, in 1715. The garrison at that time consisted of a sergeant, a corporal, and ten or twelve men. Errington, who was master of a little vessel then lying in the harbour, invited the sergeant, and such of his men as were not on duty, to drink with him on board of his ship. The invitation being accepted, he plied them so well with brandy as to render them incapable of opposition. Framing an excuse for going ash.o.r.e, he proceeded to the castle with his nephew, and succeeded in turning out the old gunner, the corporal, and two soldiers, being all that were on duty. He then shut the gates, and hoisted the Pretender's colours, but being disappointed in the succour which he expected, and a party of the king's troops arriving from Berwick, he and his nephew made their escape over the castle walls, and endeavoured to conceal themselves among the rocks and sea-weed, to the south-eastward of the castle till it was dark, when they intended to swim to the mainland. In consequence of the rising of the tide, they were obliged to swim while it was yet light, and, being perceived by the soldiers, they were taken, and conveyed to Berwick gaol, from which, however, they broke out before they were brought to trial, and escaped to France. On the suppression of the rebellion they took the benefit of the general pardon, and returned to England.

Holy Island is of an irregular form. Its greatest length, including a low sandy point, which stretches out towards the west-north-west, is about two and a half miles. Its mean breadth does not exceed a mile and a half.

Holy Island harbour is a small bay or haven on the south side of the island, between the castle and the ruins of the monastery. On the bar, which is about a mile distant from the town, there is about nine feet at low water at spring-tides. The flood then sets with a strong current in the channel between the island and the mainland; and at high-water there is twenty-four feet on the bar. There is no lighthouse on Holy Island, but there is a beacon on the "Heugh"--a hill between the town and the harbour--on which, in bad weather, when pilots cannot get off, a flag is hoisted during the time of tide that ships may safely enter. In gales of wind from the eastward, coasting vessels sometimes seek shelter in Holy Island harbour, and find good anchorage before the town in three fathoms at low-water.

The Staples and Farn islands, with the rocks and shoals between them and Holy Island, render the in-sh.o.r.e navigation of the coast of Northumberland, from North Sunderland point to the mouth of the Tweed, extremely intricate and hazardous; and the corporation of the Trinity House, London, caution all masters of ships, and especially strangers to the coast, not to attempt sailing within those islands and shoals; more particularly on account of the various settings of the rapid tide which runs in the different sounds between the islands.

A visit to the Farn and Staple islands, from Bambrough or Holy Island, forms a pleasant excursion in fine weather, more especially when the eider ducks are sitting, which is from about the middle of May to the latter end of July. These birds, which are seldom seen, and do not breed to the southward of the Farn islands, are also known in the neighbourhood by the name of St. Cuthbert's ducks. Their eggs, and the fine down with which they line their nests, are collected and sold by the person who rents the islands, which are also the haunt of several other species of water-fowl, such as the sheldrake, the cormorant, and the s.h.a.g, with auks, guillemots, terns, and gulls. Solan geese also visit the Farn islands, but do not breed there, commonly making their appearance early in spring, and departing before May.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BERWICK.

_FROM THE SOUTH-EAST_]

BERWICK.

FROM THE SOUTH-EAST.

The view of Berwick from the south-east is taken from the Tweedmouth sh.o.r.e, at low-water, about a quarter of a mile below the bridge. In the foreground is a group of salmon-fishers on the sh.o.r.e examining the produce of their last haul, while two others in a coble are shooting the net. To the left are seen the chapel and some of the houses of Tweedmouth; to the right a few ships are perceived lying on the sh.o.r.e near Berwick quay, where the smacks usually take in, and discharge, their cargoes. The spire which towers above the houses, like the steeple of a church, is that of the town-hall. As Berwick church, which stands towards the north side of the town, is without a steeple, it would seem that the inhabitants had determined to make amends for the deficiency by giving their town-hall a steeple like a church.

The town of Berwick stands on the north side of the Tweed, by which it is separated from the county of Northumberland, and about half a mile from the mouth of that river. It is 336 miles north by west from London, and 54 south by east from Edinburgh. As a great part of the town is built on a declivity, which slopes down towards the river, and as most of the houses are covered with red tiles, the view that is first obtained of it, in approaching from the south, on a clear bright day, is very striking, though not very grand. It is almost the only town on the Scottish side of the Tweed in which the houses are so covered; in all the others the houses being, for the most part, roofed with slate.

Chalmers, in his _Caledonia_, vol. ii, p. 217, speaking of Berwick, says, "this place, lying at the mouth of the Tweed, on a dubious frontier, has an origin obscure, undignified, and recent." That its origin, like the origin of most other towns in Great Britain, is obscure, may be admitted; but the term "recent" can scarcely be applied with propriety to a town which was of such consequence in the reign of David I. as to be appointed one of the "_Four Boroughs_,"[10] which, by their Commissioners, met annually at Haddington, where, under the presidency of the King's Chamberlain, they formed a Court of Appeal from the jurisdiction of other boroughs, and exercised an authority in commercial affairs. As nothing is positively known respecting the origin of Berwick, it is impossible that an uninspired antiquary should be able to decide whether it was "undignified" or not. Its first "kirk and mill"--the primary conditions of a town--were more likely to be founded by a n.o.ble than by a serf.

In 1174, Berwick, with the castles of Jedburgh, Roxburgh, Stirling, and Edinburgh, was delivered up to Henry II. as security for payment of the ransom of William the Lion, King of Scotland, who had been taken prisoner when besieging Alnwick; and it remained in the possession of England until 1189, when Richard I. restored it with the other castles to William for the sum of 10,000 marks. In 1216, Berwick was plundered and burnt by King John, but in a short time was rebuilt by the Scots, in whose uninterrupted possession it continued until 1296, when it was taken by Edward I. at the commencement of the Scottish war of independence, which was first waged by Wallace, and afterwards by Bruce, against Edward and his successor; who, laying claim to the sovereignty of Scotland, endeavoured to reduce that country to a state of va.s.salage, and to compel her kings to do homage to England for their crown. From this war may be dated that jealous and hostile feeling with which the two countries continued to regard each other for nearly three centuries afterwards, and was only modified in the reign of Elizabeth--when there was a prospect of a Scottish king succeeding to the English throne, and when open warfare was succeeded by political intrigue--but which was not wholly extinct at the Union of the two kingdoms in 1707.

In 1484, it was agreed on, by commissioners appointed by the two kingdoms, that the debatable ground in the neighbourhood of Berwick should remain without culture, buildings, or inhabitants; and by a treaty, concluded at Norham, 10th June, 1551, between Edward VI. and Mary Queen of Scots, Berwick was declared to be a free town, independent of both kingdoms. Notwithstanding this declaration, Berwick continued subject to English authority, and, during the reigns of Mary and Elizabeth, was garrisoned with English soldiers. At the Union of the two kingdoms in 1707, Berwick, as a salvo to national pride, was considered as a separate and independent territory; and it is to this cause that, in Public Acts and Forms of Prayer, the "Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed" is especially mentioned.

[10] The other three were Roxburgh, Stirling, and Edinburgh.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LEITH PIER AND HARBOUR.]

LEITH.

This view is taken from the pier, with Edinburgh, the Castle, the Calton-hill, Salisbury-crags, and Arthur's-seat in the background.

Leith, which performs nearly the same important services to the "Modern Athens" as the "Piraeus" did to the Ancient, has long served as the port and harbour of Edinburgh, to the prosperity of which, as well as to that of the whole country, it has greatly contributed. As early as the beginning of the fourteenth century the citizens of Edinburgh received from King Robert I. a grant of the harbour of Leith; but, owing to the resistance of a powerful family, to whose interests it was prejudicial, the royal grant was of little or no value to the city. As soon, however, as the difference was adjusted, and the corporation of Edinburgh had obtained undisturbed possession of the harbour, symptoms of mercantile prosperity became visible. But as this prosperity was confined to the corporation, the inhabitants of Leith were naturally incensed at the monopoly; they felt themselves debarred from the natural advantages, profits, and employments of their maritime position, and daily beheld the wealth which flowed into their port transferred to the hands of those who were neither resident nor proprietors in the place. In 1555 a strong effort was made by the inhabitants of Leith to throw off their humiliating dependence. With this object in view they pet.i.tioned the Queen Regent of Scotland, Mary of Lorraine, for the royal sanction and a.s.sistance; and succeeded as far as to get Leith erected into a burgh of barony, a preparatory step to its being raised to the independence of a burgh royal. From this epoch, however, having obtained letters patent, empowering the inhabitants to elect magistrates, and charters for erecting divers of their trades and arts into corporations, Leith acquired the name and distinction of a town. By these charters the people were divided into four cla.s.ses, each of which became an incorporated body, known as the shipmasters, the traffickers or merchants, the maltmen, and the trades' companions; the last of which possesses exclusive privileges.

The port and harbour of Leith have always been an object of paramount interest to the country at large, and, from time to time, various plans for their improvement and extension have been carried into effect. There are now two dry-docks for building and repairing vessels--a branch of the craft which is here brought into extensive operation--and two wet-docks, each three hundred feet wide by upwards of seven hundred feet long, and occupying, with their appurtenances, a s.p.a.ce of about three hundred acres. On these important works upwards of two hundred and fifty thousand pounds have been expended. The basins are enclosed by well-constructed quays and capacious warehouses for the reception of merchandise. The Custom-house, the Exchange, the Trinity-house, the Bank, the Court-house, the Baths, the Grammar-school, &c., are all elegant buildings, designed with cla.s.sic taste, and of modern erection.

Leith enjoys an extensive commerce with the Baltic, the northern parts of Europe, Holland, France, Spain, Portugal, the Mediterranean, North America, and the West Indies; besides a widely ramified coasting-trade, and a share in the whale and herring-fisheries. The Leith smacks have been famous for their safety and swift-sailing properties; and the powerful steam-ships, which now maintain an almost daily intercourse with London, are proverbial for their speed and accommodation.

The growing prosperity of Leith is fully evinced by the number of trading vessels in its port, the mercantile business carried on in every street, the crowded warehouses and ships, its rope-works, canvas manufactories, sugar-refining-houses, breweries, distilleries, soap-works, iron-foundries, gla.s.s-works, and other establishments of local industry. But the tide of prosperity, it is said, is prevented from reaching its height by the corporation of Edinburgh, who, by increasing the rate and number of the port-dues of Leith, have caused various branches of commerce to seek encouragement in Kirkcaldy, Dundee, Aberdeen, and other places.

The depth of water in the harbour of Leith is stated at only sixteen feet at spring-tides, and ten feet at neap-tides; so that very large vessels cannot enter the port; but at a mile from the mouth of the harbour there is excellent anchorage in what is called Leith Roads. The fort, garrisoned by the royal artillery, is a place of great strength.

The munic.i.p.al government of Leith is vested in a provost, four baillies, a treasurer, and ten common-councillors, and, in connexion with Portobello and Musselburgh, returns one member to Parliament.

[Ill.u.s.tration: NEWHAVEN PIER.

(Frith of Forth.)]

NEWHAVEN.

Newhaven derives its name and origin from James the Fourth, the most accomplished monarch of his day: here he created a yard for shipbuilding, a harbour for the reception of vessels, and a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary and Saint James. The superior advantages which the new harbour possessed in depth of water was sufficient to give it a decided superiority over Leith, from which it is only a mile distant; but, as this result was easily foreseen, measures were promptly adopted for its prevention, and the people of Edinburgh--to whom the prosperity of Leith was of vital importance--succeeded in purchasing the town and harbour, with all rights and privileges thereto belonging. Thus the rising importance of Newhaven was completely checked, and its rival trade restored to Leith.

The great natural advantages of Newhaven as a harbour, however, were not lost sight of; and in recent times the subject was once more revived by the city of Edinburgh, and arrangements for its improvement unanimously agreed to. A pier and harbour have been erected, beautiful in design and substantial in execution, affording abundant accommodation and shelter for the large steam-vessels and other craft frequenting this part of the coast, and to which the depth of water affords for the most part, an easy entrance or exit, at all states of the tide.

To the westward of Newhaven is the elegant chain-pier, erected for the special accommodation of steam-vessels; and along the coast, and the intervening s.p.a.ce between that and the city, numerous villas, cottages, and gardens, contribute great beauty and animation to the scenery, which is here peculiarly rich and variegated. On the opposite sh.o.r.e of Fife is seen the picturesque village of Aberdour, with its feudal keep and richly-wooded declivities. Half-way across the frith stands the venerable ruins of Inchcomb, the ancient aemonia, one of the earliest monastic establishments in the kingdom, and the subject of many a pious and monastic legend. On the south the bulwarks of Edinburgh Castle, the blending structures of the "new city and the old," the Calton-hill, with its Acropolis-like finish of monumental splendour, Salisbury Crags and Arthur's Seat, refresh the eye and fill the mind with such striking combinations of nature and art, as are nowhere to be met with but in the precincts of the Scottish "Athens."

Although the establishment of a harbour has operated greatly to the advantage of Newhaven, by giving additional value to every rood of ground in its vicinity, it has not materially interfered with the internal economy of the village, which retains most of those ancient characteristics which for ages has given its inhabitants an isolated position in the community. A stranger cannot enter it without being struck by the singularity of everything around him--men, women, children, the fish-"creel" and the fishy cabin make their appeal to his senses in a manner not to be misunderstood. The remotest village in the Alps has not been left by the "march of improvement" more decidedly in the back-ground than that of the fish-dealing denizens of Newhaven.

These fish-wives of Newhaven dress themselves in a manner which, however coa.r.s.e or homely in appearance, is not uncostly. They are unable to wear any head-dress except a napkin, on account of the necessity of supporting their burden by a broad belt which crosses the forehead, and must be slipt over the head every time they take off their merchandise.

They usually wear, however, a voluminous and truly Flemish quant.i.ty of petticoats, and several fine napkins enclosing the neck and bosom. Their numerous petticoats are of different qualities and colours, as in the Netherlands; and it is customary, while two or three of these are allowed to hang down to the ancles, to have as many more bundled up over the haunches, so as to give a singularly bulky and st.u.r.dy appearance to the wearer. Thirty years ago, the _poissardes_ of Newhaven wore neither shoes nor stockings; but in this particular they have at last yielded to the force of example, and clothed their nethermost extremities in comfortable worsted stockings and neat's-hide. Along with the fishermen occupying the village of Fisherrow, those of Newhaven supply the fresh fish consumed in Edinburgh and Leith; while their wives, sisters, and daughters carry them to market, or hawk them about the streets in baskets. They generally ask, like their sisters in the Courgain of Calais, three times the value, but their customers, aware of this propensity, have little difficulty in reducing the "upset price" to the estimate of the buyer.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ENTRANCE TO THE PORT OF DUNDEE.]