Banff
May 19, 2021
19 May 21. HM 113. When is a harbour not a harbour..... when it has a dam across its entrance! Banff's problems started a long time ago.
Banff has more history than you can shake a stick at, but its harbour has a very particular silting problem. Here is a very brief story line:
1100s - it was a member of the League of Scottish Ports - trading from the mouth of the River Deveron.
1300s - Banff was an early member of the Hanseatic League* (*see below) trading with 200 other cities in northern Europe.
1625 - due to silting of the river mouth, a new harbour was built in the current position.
1701 - it was noted that silting was "likely to render the existing harbour useless".
1818 - Telford (my hero!) was brought in to design the new outer harbour wall. By 1837 this was still unfinished!
1942 - George Wimpey used 20,000 cu yds of shingle from the beach to build one of its 93 aerodromes in the war. (This further exacerbated the silting problem)
2007 - The harbour finally gave up trying to be "deep" and a marina was built.
2021 - Harbour and marina temporarily closed.
During the Medieval period, Scottish traders did business with the Hanseatic League, who operated from 183 cities in 16 countries around the Baltic Sea. They had a "virtual monopoly over maritime trade..." It sounds rather familiar doesn't it and maybe explains why Scotland wanted to remain in the EU!
I digress. Today Banff harbour is looked after by part time HM Albert Wiseman, who very sensibly keeps his own boat in Whitehills... which is where I found him in the sunshine. He told me about the current work going on to repair Telford's harbour - In Photo 4, letters "A" show the collapsed harbour walls, "B" show two temporary cofferdams and "C" are the huge pipes trying to keep the sea water out. Good luck Banff... and I look forward to returning to this sheltered harbour once the work is complete.
Banff has more history than you can shake a stick at, but its harbour has a very particular silting problem. Here is a very brief story line:
1100s - it was a member of the League of Scottish Ports - trading from the mouth of the River Deveron.
1300s - Banff was an early member of the Hanseatic League* (*see below) trading with 200 other cities in northern Europe.
1625 - due to silting of the river mouth, a new harbour was built in the current position.
1701 - it was noted that silting was "likely to render the existing harbour useless".
1818 - Telford (my hero!) was brought in to design the new outer harbour wall. By 1837 this was still unfinished!
1942 - George Wimpey used 20,000 cu yds of shingle from the beach to build one of its 93 aerodromes in the war. (This further exacerbated the silting problem)
2007 - The harbour finally gave up trying to be "deep" and a marina was built.
2021 - Harbour and marina temporarily closed.
During the Medieval period, Scottish traders did business with the Hanseatic League, who operated from 183 cities in 16 countries around the Baltic Sea. They had a "virtual monopoly over maritime trade..." It sounds rather familiar doesn't it and maybe explains why Scotland wanted to remain in the EU!
I digress. Today Banff harbour is looked after by part time HM Albert Wiseman, who very sensibly keeps his own boat in Whitehills... which is where I found him in the sunshine. He told me about the current work going on to repair Telford's harbour - In Photo 4, letters "A" show the collapsed harbour walls, "B" show two temporary cofferdams and "C" are the huge pipes trying to keep the sea water out. Good luck Banff... and I look forward to returning to this sheltered harbour once the work is complete.