Archaeology Notes

Event ID 854854

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/854854

ND17SW 17 10327 70475 and 10350 70465

Lifeboat Station [NAT] (at ND 10327 70475)

Slipway [NAT] (at ND 10350 70465)

OS (GIS) AIB, July 2006.

For Scrabster harbour (ND 102 703), see ND17SW 5.00.

For (predecessor) Scrabster, Old Lifeboat House (ND 0998 7035), see ND07SE 29.

The Thurso lifeboat station has always been situated at Scrabster, on the W side of Thurso Bay and N of the town of Thurso (ND16NW 65). The (predecessor) Scrabster, Old Lifeboat House (ND07SE 29) was built in 1860 within the area of Scrabster Harbour (ND17SW 5.00). Its launchway was altered and extended into the harbour in 1876, and the house was used until 1906, when it was sold.

A new lifeboat house and roller slipway were built in 1906 at the end of the Harbour Quay and just outside the harbour (ND17SW 5.00); it was completed in 1909 and a new winch installed in 1910. This house was used until 10 December 1956, when it was destroyed by fire, together with the lifeboat Dunnet Head (Civil Service No. 31).

A new lifeboat house and slipway were built on the same site in 1957; the house was used until 1988, and now offers crew facilities. In 1970, the house was adapted to support a Solent class lifeboat. Extensive repairs were carried out to the slipway in 1981 and 1984, to remedy deterioration due to wave action.

In 1988, the lifeboat was placed on permanent moorings within Scrabster Harbour (ND17SW 5.00) following the construction of a new berthing pier for the Orkney ferry, which provided a sheltered mooring outside the Terminal Building. In 1989 the lifeboat house was adapted to house an emeregency relief Tyne classlifeboat; a crewroom and wet clothing store were built onto it.

N Leach 1999.