Johnshaven Harbour
Harbour (19th Century) (1871)
Site Name Johnshaven Harbour
Classification Harbour (19th Century) (1871)
Alternative Name(s) Shorehead; Johnshaven, Dock Street, Harbour; North Sea
Canmore ID 36320
Site Number NO76NE 24
NGR NO 79538 66950
NGR Description Centred NO 79538 66950
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/36320
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Benholm
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Kincardine And Deeside
- Former County Kincardineshire
NO76NE 24.00 centred 79538 66950
Harbour [NAT] (centred NO 7958 6697)
Pier [NAT] (centred NO 7955 6688)
Pier [NAT] (centred NO 7963 6695)
OS 1:10,000 map, 1974.
NO76NE 24.01 NO 79566 66927 to NO c. 79497 66875 South-West pier
NO76NE 24.02 NO 79545 66944 to NO c. 79527 66960 Central Pier
NO76NE 24.03 NO 79587 66932 to NO c. 79613 67014 North-East Pier
NO76NE 24.04 NO 79594 67016 Slipway
NO76NE 24.05 NO 79524 66983 Beacon ('Inner Leading Light')
For adjacent storehouse and lifeboat station, see NO76NE 25 and NO76NE 49 respectively.
(Location cited as NO 796 669). Harbour, Johnshaven, rebuilt 1884. In two parts; the older, rubble-built piers now form a stilling basin for a concrete inner harbour. There is an interesting wood-piled leading light.
J R Hume 1977.
In the 1720's Johnshaven was a very prosperous fishing-town, though a record of perhaps a century earlier dismisses it as 'a little shore for fisher-boats'. In later years, however, the fishing gradually deteriorated as a result of casualties among the crews and the frequent impressment of fishermen into the Navy. By 1795 a small wharf had recently been built, but it was expected to remain unsafe until it could be protected by a breakwater. The ordinary depth of water was then between 10ft (3m) and 12ft (3.7m). Two years earlier, it had been noted that 12 ships, totalling 475 tons, were owned in the village. In 1847 Johnshaven was described as an inlet protected by 'high-water rocks', with no pier or landing-place; it then supported ten fishing-boats and did some small trade in the export of local grain.
A Graham 1979.
Air photographs: AAS/97/03/G6/10 and AAS/97/03/CT.
NMRS, MS/712/29.
The net drying area lies to the SW of the storehouse NO76NE 25.
Information from RCAHMS (SC), 5 October 1999.
Publication Account (2007)
This natural harbour, protected by high water rocks, was well established as a fishing port at least as early as 1722 when it is said to have had 26 boats. By 1795 a small wharf existed. The harbour’s potential for improvement was referred to in 1837 but not actioned, but by 1868 a
short pier existed which was presumably demolished when the harbour was built.
The present harbour of about 112 acres, with its central jetty, adjoining the inner tidal basin enclosed by the west pier, which is accessed from an outer basin abutting its east side and enclosed by the east pier, was built in 1884 of local stone, possibly from nearby Balandro Quarry, at a cost of over £4000. The harbour, refurbished with concrete in the 1950s, contains from 10–20 ft depth of water at high tide and is now mainly used for leisure activities.
R Paxton and J Shipway, 2007.
Reproduced from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Highlands and Islands' with kind permission from Thomas Telford Publishers.
Field Visit (September 2022)
NO 79538 66950 Visited during fieldwork by SCAPE. Harbour, still in use, originally a small wharf built in the later 18th century that was protected by high-water rocks. It was then rebuilt in 1871 and 1884. There are two rubble-built piers and a concrete inner harbour, that to the north with a later extension and a curved bastion to the harbour entrance. The slipway is from the roadside, and there are sloping walls to the landward side of the harbour. There is an interesting wood-piled leading light.
Information from S. Boyd and J. Hambly - Scottish Coastal Archaeology and the Problem of Erosion (SCAPE)
