General view.

Description General view.

Date c. 1898

Collection Papers of Erskine Beveridge, antiquarian, Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland

Catalogue Number SC 743236

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of AG 1743

Scope and Content Harbour, Scarinish, Tiree, Argyll & Bute Scarinish, a small settlement on the east coast of Tiree, was developed in the mid-18th century by the 5th Duke of Argyll as a fishing village and the island's first harbour. This photograph of the harbour, taken c.1898, is by the Victorian photographer, Erskine Beveridge. The harbour provided sheltered anchorage for the open, single-masted sailing boats (smacks) that were used for coasting or fishing, and the large rowing boats that transferred goods and passengers from steamships anchored offshore. Smaller craft could often beach on the hard sand of the inner harbour. The village, a scatter of cottages around the bay, contained the island's only hotel (left), a plain, two-storeyed, harled and whitewashed building dating from the mid-19th century. In the late 19th century, Scarinish had the only practicable harbour on the island. Most other sites for jetties proved to be either too exposed, too dangerous to approach or too small, and few of Tiree's magnificent sandy bays provided sufficient shelter and holding-ground to make them safe anchorages. Scarinish remained the island's principal harbour until a purpose-built steamboat pier was constructed at Gott Bay in 1908-14. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap