How Stonehaven was made worthy of its name

March 2010

Stonehaven harbour, as it is today.

by Ruaraidh Wishart

The origins of the name of Stonehaven, the historic capital of Kincardineshire lying 15 miles south of Aberdeen, are obscure. The old name of Steenhive, as it used to be called, is clearly something to do with stone and with the burgh’s harbour, or haven. It may also refer to the large mass of rock known locally as Craig-ma-cair that until 1833 sat in the middle of the sheltered main bay.

Whatever the origins of the name, by 1812 the harbour’s future was uncertain, and one of the elements that made it unsafe was that same mass of rock. Far from being a shelter in time of storm, it could be the cause of the unexpected end of boats.

It would, however, take a further 13 years before the work to improve the harbour would begin – facilitated by the hand of the engineer responsible for the Bell Rock Lighthouse: Robert Stevenson.

Back in 1812 the Feuars of Stonehaven – predecessors to the burgh council – were acutely aware of the need to improve the harbour. For years they had been forced to repeatedly repair the harbour walls after heavy storms. In 1811, they were also given a reminder of Craig-ma-cair’s threatening presence outside the harbour when a coasting sloop was wrecked upon it. So when news of the presence of Robert Stevenson in nearby Marykirk reached the Feuars, they quickly appointed him to survey the harbour with a view to improve it.

Stevenson’s report was submitted to the council on 12 March, 1812. It started by stating the importance of the harbour to the locality and the east coast traffic, as well as its problems and its potential, before explaining how that potential could be realised through improvements.

Stevenson proposed removing the Craig-ma Cair; heightening the harbour wall and extending it eastward to defend the berth from the sea; extending the head of the pier from west to east by 200 feet and warping it south-east to channel boats into the harbour; the construction of a new western pier from Downie Point; and excavation of the bed of the harbour to provide a greater number of berths for shipping. He estimated it would cost £48,000.

The Feuars then set about raising £5,000 towards the improvement work. But they were suddenly stopped. The town superior, Lord Keith, seemingly disputed the Feuars’ rights to the land and thereby their right to sit as a council.

When they did finally reconvene, it was 10 years later – on 15 October 1823 – and the issue of harbour improvements was raised again. Robert Stevenson was approached again to re-assess the harbour, and a new report was placed before the Feuars in August 1824. A more modest plan was then agreed to build a new southern pier costing £7,500 with an option for further work later.

Once they obtained an Act of Parliament on 18 May 1825 to proceed with the work, the Feuars passed the business of improving the harbour to the Stonehaven Harbour Trustees, a new body set up under the Act. However Lord Keith placed a new obstacle in their way by objection to their right of access to the nearby Redcraig quarry at the Bervie Braes for building materials.

An unusual foundation ceremony

That dispute eventually went to the House of Lords which, in 1831, found in Keith’s favour on the basis that the right to the Redcraig area in the original 1624 Fundamental Charter was only for pasturage, and that the right to quarry stone at Redcraig had not been passed to the trustees by the Act of Parliament.

In the meantime, the trustees found two other quarry sites nearby and on 14 March 1826 a foundation stone was laid in a ceremony at the harbour attended by magistrates, trustees and Feuars. The notes still survive to show that, by today’s standards, it was no normal ceremony.

“The Chief Magistrate will then with the assistance of the Grand Master deposite the bottle containing the corn etc. etc. and lay on the inscription plate and carving plate. The inspector will then hand the Grand Master a new [should be a silver] Trowel… with which he will spread the lime on the bed of the lower stone [on top of the lower stone]. _After which the Grand Master will get from one of the operatives a square which he will apply – 2d a plumb rule 3d a level and lastly the mallet with which he will give three good blows saying may the great architect of the universe enable all concerned to go on prosperously…”

Immediately following the ceremony the contractor, John Gibb, opened up the two new quarries and built a small manual railway to transport the stone from these to the construction site. The introduction of railways in construction work was a trademark of Stevenson’s, and it is tempting to think that this was built on his recommendation.

For the next year, work on the southern pier progressed largely without problems, although the new quarries did not consistently provide the required size of stone, prompting Stevenson to suggest transporting stone from Cairn-ma-Nairn in Arbroath. Regardless, the southern pier was completed to his satisfaction on 1 October 1827, at which point he agreed to draw up plans for a northern pier.

These do not seem to have materialised, perhaps because the trustees ran into financial problems. The interest payments on their loan had been permitted to slide and this, coupled with the later claims of Lord Keith for damages and legal expenses in the Redcraig Quarry case, made it more difficult for them to raise money for more construction.

Yet money, such as shore dues, still came to the harbour, and that could be directed to more modest improvement projects as well as reducing the trustees’ debts.

An other revenue source also helped remove of the chief threat to the harbour. The Feuars had auctioned the right to quarry Craig-ma-Cair to one of its inhabitants in 1827. So, by the time that later works had finally begun in 1830 the removal of this large obstacle was already underway, probably using small explosive charges to loosen sections of the stone. From the Feuar’s minutes and maps at the time, the rock seems to have disappeared between 1831 and 1833.

After the completion of the southern pier, further improvements were beset by the weather. For the next 10 years, work on a new jetty and southern extension designed by Stevenson was interspersed with repairing storm damage to the existing construction.

The final test

So it comes as no surprise that the final test when the works were finally completed in 1838 was to see how they fared in the midst of the wild weather that was so common in the area.

On 18 December of that year John Gibb, the overseer, wrote to the trustees that “during the late tempestuous gales… particularly when the sea ran very high, the vessels in this harbour lay quite snug, and that more wind bound vessels are already resorting to it.”

But there was still more to do. Amongst some final small improvements was a recommendation from Gibb that two leading lights be placed in line with the harbour entrance to guide boats in during the herring fishing season. These were so successful that local shipowners asked for them to be kept all year round – and they are still used in the harbour to this day.

In 1877 and 1908 two other improvements extended the old pier to create an inner harbour and constructed an outer breakwater. But it was Robert Stevenson’s improvement that made the town deserving of its title as a place of safety for ships.

Ruaraidh Wishart is the Senior Archivist at Aberdeen City Archives, and hopes that more people will turn to burgh records to find the interesting stories contained within them.

This is an article from the March 2010 edition of Leopard Magazine. To read much more like this every month, subscribe to Leopard Magazine.

Was not Kilwhang, or some such spelling, an old name for Stonehaven?

— Gordon Smith 29 March 2010 #