COVE HARBOUR by ANGUS GRAHAM, F.S.A.SCOT
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COVE HARBOUR by ANGUS GRAHAM, F.S.A.SCOT. THE inlet on the Berwickshire coast (784717)l that now contains Cove Harbour (PI. XIII) evidentl longisa s yha h histor locaa s ya l seaport, whethe naturas it n i r l state or improved. Already before 1606, Whitecove and Gutcher's Hole were recog- nised landing-places, where dues were exigible and which called, on occasion, for 'betterin repairing'.d gan n 161 I 'Quyte 2 7th e Cove mentiones i ' connection di n with repaire posth t o t roas Edinburgh,o t d d Whitecovan 3 s describeei s 'aa dn Harbou r Herrinfo r g fishing documena n i ' t probably e datable th tur f th no o t e seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.4 The ratification, dated 1695, °f a Dunglass charter which mentions 'the Burgh of Barony of Colbrandspath with free ports for ship boats'd san 5 probably refer Covo t sGutcher'd ean s Hole; ther numeroue ear s references to the fishing community of Cove in the later eighteenth and earlier nine- teenth centuries, and a tide-waiter is mentioned in 1792.® By 1963, however, the fishing fleeshrun d salmon-coble ha t on o klobster-boatst o tw d ean . Smugglins gwa evidently rifthin eo s eighteente coasth n i t invitee h ar century e believo w dt t bu , e that it had been abandoned by 1834.' The natural features of the site can best be understood by reference to a plan of the harbour in its present form (fig. i). From this it will be seen that the northern inlee th sidprotectes i f t eo descendina y db g bluff, which provides s easterit t a , n end, a base for the North Pier. A road from Cove village to the pier has been terraced alon stees git p outer face innes It . r face, which consist thf so e natural rock, cut accesf piee sof th r inle e o sfrot resth e mtf th o ttideexcep increasew d lo an , t a t s heighn i t south-westward foro st mcliffa . Som yds0 e9 . fro landware mth f o d den the pier this cliff-face strikes inland, in a south-westerly direction, and its place is taken by a beach of shingle and sand which curves south-eastwards and extends to the South Pier. This beach is backed by a high and very steep grassy slope, largely forme claf evidentld o yan y liabl slipo et bass ;it subjecs ei erosioo tt exceptiony nb - ally high tides . Soute Easth f ho t Pier cliffs resume. rocke sandstoneTh e sar shalesd san , with some 'foul' coal Lowef so r Carbonifer- ous age; their east-west strike and steep northerly dip have led to the formation, through differential erosion systea f o , channelf mo jagged san d ridges- whicex e har posed at low water. The general disposition of these, the 'Shore Goats'8 of the O.S. map, is indicated in fig. i; and it will be noticed that a lane of deeper water, not dry- 1 O.S. i-inch map of Great Britain, 7th series, sheet 63 (Dunbar); 6-inch do., Provisional Edition, loo-km. square NT, sheet 77 SE. 2 MS. Register of the Privy Seal, H.M. General Register House, LXXV, 127 f. The name Gutcher's Hol applie s e6-inci e smalth a o n ht do lO.Sp pockema . t of shingly beach jus moutte Dunglase easth th f f to h o s Burn (772724). 3 R.P.C., xi (1616-19), 93. 4 Macfarlane , GeographicalW. , Collections relating Scotland,o t in, 184. 5 A.P.S.,. a 5 ix50 , 6 e.g. Stat. Acct., xm (1794) f.8 ; N.S.A.,22 , n (Berwickshire), . record309MS ; s preserved Dunglase th n i s ' N.S.A., n (Berwickshire), 306. Estate Office. 8 Gote, goit, goat(e): a trench or ditch. (Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue, s.v.) 212 COVE HARBOUR 213 t ordinara t springsou w g ylo in , penetrates this area almos harboue th o t r entrance. e sandstonTh e formin blufe gth f harboue nortth f ho softs would i r an , ease db o yt work with a pick; that beyond the South Pier is harder, but still relatively easy to work. Caves tend to form at sea-level, as erosion works along lines of lesser resistance; considerable on e cav . 224e(p ) occurs jus beache t northere nortth th f o f ,ho d nen while Tod's Hole, beyon Soute dth Holloe h th Pier d wan , Rock just outside ar , eit further examples of the process.1 The existing harbour was completed in i83i, after storms had wrecked the un- finished works of two earlier projects. It extends to2 just over three acres, and in its 3 FIG. i. Cove Harbour, showing positions of figs, a and 3, zig-zaf o d gan trac) k(A accommodatey da '6o t 0d p toncrafu f so t burden' entrancee th . t wideft bu ;2 7 , was regarde admittins largea o to d s an d,a muco gto h sea. Today 'a heavs i a yse thrown into the harbou4 r in onshore gales. Rocky ledges extend a quarter of a mile offshore . close beyond which are sunken rocks.' Nevertheless, despite these rather sinister features, Cove Harbour was larger and5 deeper than the harbours at Skateraw, now filled up, and St Abbs, the only other landing-places, apart from open beaches, that are listed in The North Sea Pilot. It is not with the existing harbour, however, that the present paper is concerned, but with earlier works of which traces can be seen on the site; and more especially unsuccessfuo tw e wit th firse f hth o t l projects just mentioned this a , s must rans ka a significant essay in eighteenth-century improvement. The published records of this project are not particularly informative. The Statistical Account of Scotland simply This paragrap bases hi information do n . Daviesprovide GeologicaA e r th f M o , y db l Surve Greaf yo t Britain1 . 2 N.S.A., (Berwickshire)n , 31. 2f 3 Stat. Acct., xni (1794), 229; N.S.A., n (Berwickshire), 313. 4 N.S.A., loc. cit. North5 Pilot,a Se nth edn. (1959) , 258n , . 214 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, 1963-64 states1: 'Abou year0 4 t s ago attempn a , Johr mads Si nwa ty eb Hal Dunglassf o l , to clear a bason, and make a harbour at Cove. The wall was considerably advanced, whe nstrona g wind fro north-ease mth t raised suc hheava y sea almoss a , t destroyed t againo s n renewedwa t worki e th d roa an A bee,d . t througdha ncu hrocka r fo , easy access to the shore, by which carts still pass underground, about 60 yards. Cellars were also cut out of solid rock, and would have been very useful and com- modious.' The New Statistical Account has a slightly different story,2 implying that cellare th s were partl naturaf yo l origin: 'These [natural excavations] have partly been taken advantage of to form a range of cellars in the rocks, and also a road or tunnel abouf o , yard0 t6 lengthn si rocke , througth f y o bay e sidee th hf on , so afford - ing at high water the only access to the shore.' An account which appeared in 1847* adds nothing of value. An O.S. Name Book* notes that the name 'The Boyne', which appears on the 6-inch map in the southern corner of the harbour (fig. i), 'applie originae th o st l harbou fishermer fo r neighbourhooe th n ni Cockburnsf do - path', and this suggests that whatever small tidal basin may have existed before the improvements may have been obliterated by the landward end of the South Pier and by the sand and gravel accumulated on either side of it. It is probable that before the pier was built the scour of easterly seas would have kept this area clear; while the fact that a ridge of rock, which projects across the bay from the pier, has bee t ofnfcu square poina t ,a t opposit boathousee eth , suggest artificiae sth l widening notee accese b o positioe basith a f o Boyneth e t do st s th n furthen i i f t no I . r that Scotlandf o Roy' p sma , whic beins hwa g prepare Johr timde Si justh nf eo t Hall'a t s operations, carrie legene sth dharbour w 'Ane marksd baye an th ' , n i wha, y ma t represent wharfage, though the smallness of the scale makes positive interpretation impossible. This rather scanty evidence, however, is eked out by some contemporary records fortunately preserve t Dunglassda thesed ;an , take conjunction i n wit physicae hth l remains, help us to form at least a partial picture of the work of improvement carried middle th n i e t eighteentou earlied han r nineteenth centuries. DunglasThe s material include followinsthe g items referrin JohSir ng to Hall' s project. (1) An account-book relating to the years 1751, 1752 and 1754, many of the entries in which throw light on the character of the work then in progress. For example, payments were made to a certain Stephen Redpath, who evidently con- tracted for road-work, quarrying, and excavation in rock; masons figure largely, there are several allusions to smiths, and 'Crawford's quarriers' are also mentioned once.