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Publication Account
Date 1986
Event ID 1017350
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1017350
Being the only comparatively safe natural anchorage on this exposed western coast, Port Logan or Port Nessock, as it is sometimes known, was a serious rival to Portpatrick as a possible terminal for Irish traffIc. Efforts on the part of the McDouall owners to develop a harbour here were first recorded in 1682, but the existing remains correspond with the chief proposals made by John Rennie in a report of 1813. These were put into effect between 1818 and 1820 at the expense of Colonel Andrew McDouall of Logan. It was even intended to have an offshore breakwater covering the whole bay, but this, and the hopes for the harbour, were never realised. For a few decades Port Logan was used for a trade in Irish cattle and local produce, but it was unable to oust Portpatrick when this in turn was being over taken by Stranraer.
Even today, the Port Logan jetty is an impressive witness to its builder's ambitions. It extends in a broad arc some 185m into the bay, and is constructed of large stone blocks. At the pier-head there is a sturdy built lighthouse-tower with a stone-slabbed conical roof. The light-chamber has had wooden-framed windows and was reached by a ladder from the first floor, but there is no clear evidence of the actual method of lighting. A latrine with a mural chute was contrived under the outside stair. There are a few granite bollards, and the projecting socketed stones on the face of the inner quayside were designed to clasp upright wooden fenders.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Dumfries and Galloway’, (1986).
