Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders
Date 2007
Event ID 602838
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/602838
Major improvements took place at the Queensferry landingstages in 1808–17 under Rennie’s direction, before the era of steam navigation and when sailings were much at the mercy of wind and sea. These included the ramped pier at Newhalls (Hawes) which by 1812 had been enlarged to about 240 yards in length with a central breakwater flanked by paving at a cost of £8696. Nearby Longcraig Pier (1817) is also a good example of Rennie’s pier work. Robert Stevenson advised on lighting arrangements at the piers. At Hawes Pier, erected ca.1817, he recommended repositioning the signal house reflector at the pier head at 12–15 ft above high water level, presumably the small hexagonal in plan lighthouse seen in the view which still exists. The light source would have been an Argand oil lamp.
R Paxton and J Shipway 2007
Reproduced from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders' with kind permission of Thomas Telford Publishers.
