Ballantrae, Harbour Pier

NX08SE 54 08094 83036

For fishermens' cottages (adjacent to S), see NX08SE 61.

Location formerly entered as NX 08088 83033.

(Location cited as NX 082 831). Ballantrae Harbour, improved c. 1860. A sandstone pier on an L plan with a protective wall on the outer limb of the L. The outer face of the pier has a pronounced batter.

There are single-storey wood and rubble gear stores, and nearby a range of twelve single-storey and attic fishermen's cottages, and a similar block of two houses.

J R Hume 1976.

(Location cited as NX 08 82 and NX 08 83). Abercromby, writing in 1683, alluded to the mouth of the Stinchar [NX c. 080 819], close to where Ballantrae [NX08SE 21] stands, as a 'receptacle' for boats arriving from Ireland or the Highlands, but this allusion has little bearing on the history of the existing harbour at 'The Foreland', 650yds [595m] N of the river mouth. The river mouth itself seems to have been accessible only to small boats, while the name Ballantrae suggests, in virtue of a Gaelic derivation, the association of a settlement with a tidal foreshore.

The harbour-works of today seem to have resulted from improvements begun in the 1840's. At that time a fishery existed, a steamer running from Stranraer to Gloasgow made periodic calls, and cargoes of coal were sometimes brought from Girvan. In 1846, there was constructed a fishing-harbour of about 1 acre [0.4ha], half the cost being met by the Fishery Board. The breakwater pier was to be 70yds [64m] long by 6yds [5.5m] wide, of ashlar-faced rubble, with a parapet-wall standing 7ft [2.1m] high and rising 13ft [4m]. The outer courses of this facing were to be set aslant and dowelled, and the rock was to be excavated to give 3ft [0.9m] of water at low springs.

The harbour as it stands today agrees in general with the picture thus presented. It consists of a tidal basin of sand and shingle flanked on the W and SW by an angled pier of two sections, the outer one measuring some 70yds [64m] by 20yds [18.2m] and the inner one 53yds [48.5m] by 13yds [11.9m]. The whole work, which is mainly of red sandstone, carries an extremely solid protective sea-wall with widely splayed foundations and a parapet 4ft 6ins [1.4m] thick at its top. The masonry is of excellent quality, the blocks lining the inner angle at the junction of the two parts of the wall being worked to a gentle curve. The top of the parapet can be reached by a flight of steps at the landward end of the wall, and at its outer end a wide and much-weathered chase has evidently held a ladder. That the work as a whole was intended to withstand extremely violent seas is suggested by the iron straps that strengthen the wall and even bind together the surface of the quay at a number of points; while the danger of storms striking in from the NW, through the harbour's entrance, is attested by the flared and battered profile of the inner corner of the basin, where the pier joins the land. No blocks were found set aslant in the pier's facing, as mentioned in the Parliamentary Report, but if masonry of this type existed in the original work it might well have been masked by later additions. The quay has steps leading down to the basin near the outer end, and iron handholds at the tops of wooden ladders in places along its length. It carries three massive cylindrical stone bollards.

A Graham 1984.

This pier is depicted, but not noted, on the current edition of the OS (GIS) AIB.

The location assigned to this record is essentially arbitrary. The available map evidence indicates that the pier extends from NX 08117 83097 to NX 08094 83036 to NX c. 08148 82989.

The area of sheltered water ('Ballantrae Harbour') lies to the NE of the pier.

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 26 June 2006.