The Ports, Harbours, Watering-places and Picturesque Scenery of Great Britain Volume I Part 9

[Ill.u.s.tration: DUNOTTAR CASTLE, NEAR STONEHAVEN.]

DUNNOTTAR CASTLE.

"High on a rock, half sea-girt, half on land, The castle stood, and still its ruins stand.

Wide o'er the German main the prospect bent, Steep is the path and rugged the ascent: There hung the huge portcullis--there the bar Drawn on the iron gate defied the war."

_"Dunnottar Castle," by Mrs. Carnegie, 1796._

The view of Dunnottar Castle, which so happily ill.u.s.trates this portion of the work, represents one of the most remarkable features that are anywhere to be met with on the coasts of the British empire. The drawing was taken on the spot, and shows with admirable effect and precision those striking combinations of nature and art which, during a long series of ages, rendered the fortress of Dunnottar impregnable. But those rocky foundations from which it once rose in all the strength and grandeur of feudal architecture are fast yielding to the encroachments of the sea; its crested summits, once brilliant with arms and bristling with cannon, seem ready to drop from their precipice. Unroofed, unlatticed, untenanted, with not an ember left on its once capacious hearth, desolation and ruin are vividly pictured in its dreary solitude.

The floors are covered with crumbling fragments of varied and costly decorations in sculpture, painting, and fretwork. Once a palace--commanding all that could minister to the security and luxury of its almost royal possessors, its battlements gay with standards, crowded with retainers, mailed guests in the hall, and minstrels in the court--it is now dark as a sepulchre;--banners, retainers, guests, minstrels, and the master of the feast himself--all are gone! The hoa.r.s.e dash of the waves, the shrill scream of the stormy petrel, the crash of some disjointed and falling rock, or the whistling of the coming tempest, are almost the only sounds that now alternate among these embattled heights, where the curious stranger retraces with melancholy interest the days and deeds of antiquity. To him who is familiar with its history, Dunnottar speaks with an audible voice; every cave has a record--every turret a tongue; his ear is struck with "wandering voices," and words that never die seem at every step to arrest his attention.

The Castle of Dunnottar--now the stately and magnificent ruin thus feebly sketched--stands on an isolated rock two hundred feet perpendicular, washed on three sides by the sea, and on the other separated from the adjacent land by a wide and deep chasm, from which by a gate in the wall, nearly forty feet high, there is an entrance to the fortress. Leading upwards from this gate there is a long steep pa.s.sage, partly arched over, and formerly secured by two drawbridges, the grooves for which are still visible. At the inner end of this pa.s.sage is another gate, opening into the castle area, which is enclosed by a wall, and occupied by buildings of various epochs. But of all the buildings on this rock the chapel is the most ancient, and there is reason to believe that it originally served as the parish church of Dunnottar. The Castle, or the peninsular rock on which it stands, makes its first appearance in Scottish history during the wars of Bruce and Baliol, when, it is alleged by some modern authorities, the castle was erected by Sir William Keith as a place of safety for himself and friends. According to Blind Harry and Hector Boece, Dunnottar was surprised and taken by Sir William Wallace in 1297, and the Blind Historian relates that Dunnottar was occupied by four thousand English troops, who had fled before the victorious arms of the Liberator; and that when Wallace made the onslaught, as many of them as the church would contain took shelter there, in the hope that consecrated ground would not be violated by their slaughter; but, says the bard,--

"Wallace on fyre gart set all haistely, Brynt up the kyrk and all that was thairin."

In the year 1336 Dunnottar was fortified and garrisoned by Edward III.; but immediately after his departure for England it was attacked and carried by the gallant Sir Andrew Moray, who destroyed the fortifications of the Castle, so that it might not again afford ready protection to an enemy.

[Ill.u.s.tration: STONEHAVEN.]

STONEHAVEN.

"The flocks are white upon the moor, The forest's filled with deer; There's industry at every door, And shipping at the pier."

Stonehaven, like Aberdeen, has its old town and its new; but "with this distinction, that of the latter, the new town is the older of the two."

The old town of Stonehaven, or Steenhive as it was formerly written, was built on _feus_ granted by the "Earls Marischal," by one of whom it was erected into a burg of barony. The new town, or "Links of Arduthie," is separated from the old town by a brook, called the water of Carron, and is built upon the estate of the patriotic Mr. Barclay Allardyce, of Ury.

It is the county-town; and hither, in 1660, the sheriff-court was removed from Kincardine by Act of Parliament.

On the south-west of a bare rocky promontory, called Garron-point, at the entrance of Stonehaven Bay, are seen the ruins of Cowie Chapel, which is said to have been dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. From this point on the north, called Garron, to that of Downie on the south, is what is termed the Bay of Stonehaven. The town stretches from the bridge over the Cowie river, on the north, to the above-mentioned headland, Downie Point, on the south; but it is divided, as already stated, into two parts by the "Carron;" the north part being the new, and the south the _old_, or sea-town; close to which last, and to Downie Point, which is a protection to it from south-east gales, stands the Harbour, erected, like most others on the east coast, _sea_-ward. It is a capacious basin, and would contain a great number of vessels, but until lately, when two cross-jetties were built, it was very insecure, or afforded little protection to vessels during north-east and east gales, to which it is much exposed, the entrance being to the east. It is now, however, comparatively secure; and gas-lights being erected, the one bearing on the other, vessels bound southward in winter find it a very agreeable retreat, and about thirty so situated have been seen in it at one time.

The exports consist of grain, timber, herrings, and other fish; the imports are princ.i.p.ally coals and lime, of which a great quant.i.ty is required for agricultural purposes.

The Harbour, in spring-tides, will admit vessels drawing fourteen feet water, sometimes upwards; but in ordinary tides the depth can hardly be reckoned at more than from ten to eleven feet.

The trade of curing fish by smoke-drying, in imitation of the _Finnan haddies_, is carried on with much spirit: several large houses have been fitted up for this purpose and for red-herrings; and a stranger would scarcely believe the extent done in this business, the haddocks thus cured being sent to London, Edinburgh, and other markets in the south, by all conveyances.

The other trade of the place is princ.i.p.ally in manufacturing woollen, linen, and cotton cloths, a branch of native industry in which great numbers of people are employed. The Glenury distillery is a large concern, and close to the town, from which a great quant.i.ty of whiskey is constantly shipped off.

Among the disasters which, in its day, Stonehaven has had to deplore, we may cite the following, as characteristic of those unhappy times when the country was torn by the violence of faction, and fire and sword laid waste this ill-fated district. On the 20th of March, 1645, the Marquis of Montrose, then quartered at Stonehaven, addressed a letter to Earl Marischal, at his castle of Dunnottar, about two miles from this, exhorting him to espouse the royal cause; but receiving no answer, he proceeded to wreak his vengeance on the earl's lands and dependants.

"Thereafter," says the historian Spalding, "he fires the Tolbooth, a prison of Stonehaven, wherein there was store of grain, and the whole town, with all the barnyards, houses, and other buildings, except those of James Clark, wherein Montrose himself was quartered. They plundered a ship lying in the harbour, then set fire to her, as well as to all the fishing-boats then in the harbour. They burnt up the whole town of Cowie, houses, buildings, corn, and corn-yards; and in like manner plundered the whole goods, gear, horses, oxen, sheep, which they could get; plundered the parson of Dunnottar's house and set it on fire. The people of Stonehaven and Cowie, it is said, came out, men, women, and children at their feet and children in their arms, crying, howling, and weeping, praying the earl, for G.o.d's sake, to save them from this fire as soon as it was kindled; but these poor people got no answer, nor knew they where to go with their children. How lamentable to behold!"

[Ill.u.s.tration: ABERDEEN.]

ABERDEEN.

GENERAL VIEW.

The city of Aberdeen, the seat of two celebrated universities, is divided into the old and the new towns, at an interval of about a mile.

Of these, the former--now reduced almost to a village--appears to have been a town of some note as early as the ninth century, but gradually fell into decay after the great epoch of the Reformation. The Cathedral of St. Machar was founded at the remote era of 1164, and repaired in the beginning of the fourteenth century. But a new building of more elegant design was founded by Bishop Kinnimond, the second prelate of that family, and finished by Bishop Leighton. The Reformation, however, suspended all further operations, and left the pile a monument of premature decay. Of King's College, founded at the close of the fifteenth century, the learned Hector Boethius was the first princ.i.p.al.

New Aberdeen, though irregularly built, is a handsome city, and beautifully situated on three gentle eminences at the mouth of the Dee.

The streets are s.p.a.cious, and many of the public buildings of elegant design. In ancient times, several religious establishments flourished here, belonging to the different orders of Dominicans, Carmelites, and Grey Friars, with an hospital, or _maison-Dieu_. Marischal College, so named from its liberal founder, George, Earl Marischal of Scotland, has, like its predecessor, been long celebrated as a seat of the muses. Its professors and lecturers--twenty-seven in number--have shone conspicuous in every department of human learning, and are continually sending forth in their pupils the living proofs of that zeal and a.s.siduity with which their important functions are discharged. With the fame of this university, the names of Campbell and Beattie are more especially a.s.sociated, as the champions of religion and the ornaments of our native literature.

The environs of this ancient city exhibit many pleasing indications of commercial improvements, which are daily acquiring fresh impulse, adding new embellishments to the landscape, and evincing an increase of comfort and independence among the inhabitants, who amount to about fifty thousand.

There are few springs of any consequence in Aberdeen or the neighbourhood, and although a supply of water can be had in most places, by digging to a depth of from ten to thirty feet, it is generally so hard as to be of comparatively little value. Close by the boundary of the parish, on the west side, are two springs, quite contiguous, which have been long known as the "Well of Spa." Both these springs, but especially the least copious one, are impregnated with carbonate of iron, and on that account have been long noticed as medicinal. Early in the seventeenth century an account of the properties and powers of these springs was published by Dr. Barclay, under the t.i.tle of _Callirhoe, commonly called the Well of Spa, or the Nymph of Aberdene_. A building, which at that time protected the spring, having fallen into decay, was repaired by the celebrated painter George Jamieson, but was not long afterwards demolished by a flood of the Den-burn, which runs close beside it. In 1670, another building was erected over the spring, which still remains, consisting of a stone enclosure, with steps or benches, and an entablature bearing these inscriptions:--

"As Heaven gives me, So give I thee."

"Hoc fonte derivata salus in Patriam populumque fluat, Spada Rediviva 1670."

Within the last two centuries both these springs have repeatedly disappeared and been recovered, and always retaining their chalybeate qualities till of late. Within the last few years, however, while digging upon the adjacent eminence for the foundations of the west wing of the new infirmary, it would seem as if the course of the water had been disturbed, or some other change produced, the consequence of which is, that now the larger spring appears to possess hardly any chalybeate impregnation, whilst the smaller one is much weaker than formerly.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ABERDEEN, FROM ABOVE THE CHAIN BRIDGE.]

ABERDEEN,

FROM ABOVE THE CHAIN BRIDGE.

"Blyth Aberdein! thou beriall of all tounis, The lamp of bewtie, bountie, and blythnes; Unto the heaven ascendit thy renown is Off vertew, wisdom, and of worthines; Benott.i.t is thy name of n.o.bilnes;-- Be blyth and blissful, burgh of Aberdein!"--DUNBAR.

The Port of Aberdeen is now universally known among seafaring men as one of the safest and most commodious in Scotland. The skill and practical efforts of both Smeaton and Telford were successively employed upon it; and after an arduous and extensive enterprise, the grand object has been fully obtained. To those who are only acquainted with the harbour under its present aspect it will be difficult to convey a correct notion of its appearance in ancient times. There is reason to suppose that at a period beyond the reach of history, the river Dee must have discharged its waters into the sea at the Craiglug--where the Chain Bridge is seen in the engraving--and that by their alluvial deposits, and the effects of the north-east winds, in acc.u.mulating the sands in the neighbourhood, the ground now occupied by the village of Footdee, the sh.o.r.elands and Sandilands, the Links and the islands in the estuary were gradually raised above the level of the sea. At a less remote period it is believed that the river Don poured its floods into the frith of the Dee: and the conjecture derives strength from the notices of Roman geographers. The occurrence of great changes is attested by various remains which have been disinterred at different periods. Thirteen feet under low-water mark in spring-tides, and twenty-eight feet below the general surface of the Inches, were discovered two human skulls, a large piece of flint, and great quant.i.ties of sh.e.l.ls and other marine deposits; and in excavating the ca.n.a.l, at a considerable distance from the sh.o.r.e, anchors and other articles of shipwreck were found deeply imbedded in the earth.

The entrance to the harbour of Aberdeen is naturally bad, owing to a bar at the mouth of the river, where, at ebb-tide, the depth of water was often not more than two feet. To remedy this evil was, from a very early period, the ardent desire of the citizens, and to some of their first efforts in this direction we have alluded in our notice of Aberdeen Light-house. But it is since the commencement of the seventeenth century that the most effective improvements have been made, amongst which we may name the erection of a bulwark on the south side of the entrance, and the removal of a great stone, called "Knock-Maitland," which lay nearly in the middle of the river, both of which were accomplished in succession; the first in 1608, and the latter in 1618. Between 1623 and 1658, the quay was extended eastward, towards Futtie; by which means a considerable portion of ground was redeemed below the Castle-hill, and is now covered with buildings. In 1755 an additional quay was built a good way further down, opposite the village of Torrie. In 1770, further improvements were projected; and, on a report from Mr. Smeaton, recommending the erection of a pier on the north side of the entrance, so that the influx of sand from the north might be prevented, and the removal of the _bar_ effected, by confining the waters of the river Dee within narrower bounds, the work was commenced in 1775, and finished in less than six years. The length of this pier was twelve hundred feet, and it terminated in a round head of sixty feet in diameter. Owing, however, to a departure from Mr. Smeaton's plan, by which the pier was founded too far to the north, it was found that a heavy swell entered the harbour; and to obviate this formidable inconvenience, a bulwark was projected from the pier, to about one-third across the channel.