Archaeology Notes

Event ID 766742

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/766742

NO87SW 46.00 82570 70620

Harbour [NAT] (centred NO 8254 7070)

Pier [NAT] (centred NO 8254 7063)

Pier [NAT] (centred NO 8257 7067)

Breakwater [NAT] (centred NO 8265 7065)

OS 10,000 map, 1973.

NO87SW 46.01 NO 82601 70580 to NO c. 82482 70737 West Pier

NO87SW 46.02 NO 82570 70642 to NO c. 82575 70745 Central Pier

NO87SW 46.03 NO 82637 70556 to NO c. 82675 70705 Eastern Breakwater

NO87SW 46.04 NO c. 8264 7074 Lower leading light ('Gourdon1')

NO87SW 46.05 NO 82612 70887 Upper leading light ('Gourdon 2')

NO87SW 46.06 NO 82617 70732 West Slipway

NO87SW 46.07 NO 82678 70764 East Slipway

Location formerly entered as NO 8257 7062.

See also NO87SW 44, NO87SW 45, NO87SW 48.

For (adjacent to N) Gourdon, 2 William Street, Grain Store, see NO87SW 48.

For (adjacent to NE) Gourdon, 18 William Street, Lifeboat House, see NO87SW 87.

For monument at NO 82586 70762 (to N of the harbour), see NO87SW 128.

ARCHITECT: Thomas Telford 1803-21.

(Undated) information in NMRS.

(Location cited as NO 827 707). Gourdon harbour, rebuilt c. 1880. A single-basin harbour formed by two rubble piers and improved by the construction of a concrete pier on the S side. An interesting feature is a navigation light in a small tower on the hillside overlooking the harbour.

J R Hume 1977.

(Location cited as NO 825 707). Although classified in the 17th century among 'little shores for fisher-boats', by 1794 Gourdon appears to have absorbed much or all of the maritime business of Bervie (NO87SW 45). Its harbour was then neither commodious nor safe, and the fishing was deteriorating. Two further entries in the Statistical Account give conflicting figures for the ships owned, but they may have numbered about six or eight.

In 1837 there was a small harbour with a quay, accommodating eight or nine vessels and giving 17ft of water at high springs. Ten years later the works included an east pier (half the cost of which had been met by the government) and a detached breakwater; the entrance was narrow and crooked, but it was furnished with beacons. At that time the place supported 27 fishing boats and exported local grain.

A Graham 1979.

Air photographs: AAS/97/07/G15/18-21 and AAS/97/07/CT.

NMRS, MS/712/29.