St Monans
June 20, 2021
20 Jun '21 There is so much to write about St Monans and its HM - here goes:
- No one is quite sure who Monan was, but the village church (photo 3) first built in 1267, houses his relics.
- The port is just as old, with fishing recorded from 1200, the central pier built in 1596 and by 1900 over 100 herring boats resided here.
- The most unusual "zig zag" breakwater (photo 4) is one of the most photographed in Scotland and was built to protect the Robert Stevenson harbour walls.
- A windmill stands above the village, used to pump seawater over iron salt evaporation pans. 8 tons of coal were burned to produce 1 ton of salt which held such high value it was stored in bonded warehouses. (Fun fact - the word "salary" come from the Latin for salt "sal" - which is how the Roman army paid their troops!).
- J.N. Miller and Son built boats here for 200 years up to 1992, the last ones being two Calmac ferries. Now all that is left is a large slipway (photo 6).
- The part time Harbour Master, delightful Jim Griffin, is nearly as ancient as the harbour (he won't mind me saying that!). He was full of stories having started work at Millers as a boat builder in 1966! He was then recruited by a fishing skipper to be the engineer on a white fish boat working out of Newcastle, Peterhead and the West Coast. Jim has seen a lot!
- Jim explained how in the 1980s a typical catch of £10,000 would be shared out - after £2,000 paid for boat expenses, £8,000 would be shared 50% to the skipper and 50% to the crew. It does explain the reason why fishermen are sometimes called 24 hour millionaires. In my view they deserve every penny.
- When interviewed for his job as HM, Jim took along a piece of paper with four words written on it to describe himself:
Trust
Reliability
Experience
Knowledge
That is the best CV I have ever seen!
- Jim has met many celebrities in his time as HM (Timothy Spall, Paul Hollywood, Huw Pym... and many more!) but his best story involved him acting in a pop music video - "Oceans" by Twin Atlantic - it is brilliant - photo 9 - check it out on YouTube.
If you are ever near St Monans please visit Jim!
- No one is quite sure who Monan was, but the village church (photo 3) first built in 1267, houses his relics.
- The port is just as old, with fishing recorded from 1200, the central pier built in 1596 and by 1900 over 100 herring boats resided here.
- The most unusual "zig zag" breakwater (photo 4) is one of the most photographed in Scotland and was built to protect the Robert Stevenson harbour walls.
- A windmill stands above the village, used to pump seawater over iron salt evaporation pans. 8 tons of coal were burned to produce 1 ton of salt which held such high value it was stored in bonded warehouses. (Fun fact - the word "salary" come from the Latin for salt "sal" - which is how the Roman army paid their troops!).
- J.N. Miller and Son built boats here for 200 years up to 1992, the last ones being two Calmac ferries. Now all that is left is a large slipway (photo 6).
- The part time Harbour Master, delightful Jim Griffin, is nearly as ancient as the harbour (he won't mind me saying that!). He was full of stories having started work at Millers as a boat builder in 1966! He was then recruited by a fishing skipper to be the engineer on a white fish boat working out of Newcastle, Peterhead and the West Coast. Jim has seen a lot!
- Jim explained how in the 1980s a typical catch of £10,000 would be shared out - after £2,000 paid for boat expenses, £8,000 would be shared 50% to the skipper and 50% to the crew. It does explain the reason why fishermen are sometimes called 24 hour millionaires. In my view they deserve every penny.
- When interviewed for his job as HM, Jim took along a piece of paper with four words written on it to describe himself:
Trust
Reliability
Experience
Knowledge
That is the best CV I have ever seen!
- Jim has met many celebrities in his time as HM (Timothy Spall, Paul Hollywood, Huw Pym... and many more!) but his best story involved him acting in a pop music video - "Oceans" by Twin Atlantic - it is brilliant - photo 9 - check it out on YouTube.
If you are ever near St Monans please visit Jim!