Cockenzie Harbour

Survey of Cockenzie Harbour by the Scottish National Buildings Record in 1962

Earlier harbour remains incorporated into design by Robert Stevenson, 1835. This is still in use as a harbour and it is generally in good condition and well maintained. A section of early stone walling can be seen.

Site recorded by GUARD during the Coastal Assessment Survey for Historic Scotland, 'The Firth of Forth from Dunbar to the Coast of Fife' 22nd February 1996.

Cockenzie harbour is depicted on the1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Haddingtonshire 1854, sheet 9), and described in the Object Name Book of the Ordnance Survey as 'A small harbour at the W side of Cockenzie at a natural basin. It was constructed in 1855 by Messrs Cadell at a cost of about 400 pounds. The harbour has 16ft depth of water in spring tides, and 10' in neap tides. It affords an easy access for vessels, from it coals are exported to England, France, Germany and the Northern parts of Scotland' (ONB 1853).

Cockenzie Harbour is thought to have been originally begun by the Earl of Winton, probably in 1630, for the export of coal and salt. The Earl of Winton, who supported the Jacobite rebellion in 1715, forfeited his estate which was acquired by the York Buildings Company in 1719. In 1722 the Earl repaired and enlarged the harbour and constructed a wooden wagonway, one of the earliest in Scotland, for the export of coal from coal pits at Tranent some two miles inland to the east side of the harbour. The wagonway featured as a strategic element in the battle of Prestonpans.

In 1774 both the harbour and colliery were bought by the Cadell family, co-founders of the epoch-making Carron

Ironworks in 1759. The harbour, of about five acres, was extensively rebuilt in 1833–34 to plans prepared by Robert Stevenson & Sons for the Cadells. It is essentially a tidal pocket of sand and flat rock, flanked and partially protected by ridges of rock. The east ridge carries a main breakwater pier 227 ft long and about 30 ft wide and 30 ft high with a returned head, built of squared red sandstone blocks and, across an entrance (out of sight to the left in the view) of about 90 ft; the west ridge carries a narrower pier of similar construction. The stone used on the works was found in the harbour basin which considerably reduced their cost, which did not much exceed £5000. The harbour, a good example of a small coal port, was much used for several decades but by the 1880s ships had outgrown the facilities, coal was transported by rail to other ports, and the wagonway was closed after more than 160 years in operation. The piers were extended and refurbished in the 1960s. The harbour is still used in a small way but its boat building and slipway use ceased in ca.1995.

R Paxton and J Shipway 2007

Reproduced from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Sdotland - Lowlands and Borders' with kind permission of Thomas Telford Publishers.

NT 39771 75654 In November 2021 an aerial survey of Cockenzie Harbour was completed and the collected data used to produce a photogrammetric model of the harbour. Plans, sections, and elevations of the harbour were produced from this model. This was part of a wider Conservation Management Plan (CMP) for the harbour, funded by the Historic Environment Scotland Year of Coasts and Waters grant. The survey was completed using a DJI Inspire 2 drone by two CAA-qualified pilots in November 2020, with the outputs being processed and digitised during the winter of 2020/21. The results informed the CMP of the current condition of the fabric of the harbour, as well as identifying areas of disrepair. Archive NRHE (intended)

Funder: East Lothian Council

Ben Saunders – Wessex Archaeology

(Source: DES Vol 22)

The cart-based gradiometer system used a Leica Captivate RTK GNSS instrument, which receives corrections from a network of reference stations operated by the Ordnance Survey (OS) and Leica Geosystems. Such instruments allow positions to be determined with a precision of 0.02 m in real-time and therefore exceeds European Archaeologiae Consilium recommendations (Schmidt et al. 2015). The detailed gradiometer survey was conducted using a non-magnetic cart fitted with four SenSys FGM650/3 magnetic gradiometers. The instrument has four sensor assemblies fixed horizontally 1 m apart allowing four traverses to be recorded simultaneously with an effective sensitivity of 0.03 nT over a ±100 nT range. Data was collected at 0.08 m intervals along transects spaced 1 m apart, in accordance with European Archaeologiae Consilium recommendations (Schmidt et al. 2015). Data was collected in the zigzag method. Ground Penetrating Radar The survey was conducted using an Impulse Radar Crossover 4080 system with a dual frequency antenna. The Crossover 4080 antenna is mounted on a rough terrain cart which is fitted with an odometer to measure horizontal distance along the ground surface. This was be deployed across the GPR areas within Cockenzie Harbour Wall East and the area south-west, with data collected along traverses spaced 0.5 m apart. Survey of the harbour wall produced evidence of an earlier construction phase of the harbour. The line of the earlier dock wall is denoted by a straight delineation in the data. The high amplitude point reflectors west of this line display the later construction phase during the remodel by Stevenson. The position of a former cottage may be highlighted within the eastern end of the harbour wall. While this corresponds with visible remains of the cottage, this response may be attributed more to water retention within the footprint of the former building. There is evidence of water retention at various depths in immediate vicinity of the southern and northern wall faces the in the wall. Part of these responses also coincides with the former position of a crane. Although not always clear, evidence for the potential tie wall locations have been identified within the data. These correspond to the plans produced by Stevenson during construction. The gradiometer survey areas have produced very limited evidence of possible archaeological activity associated with the Wagonway. This comprises a small rectilinear enclosure. Highly contrastive magnetic values impair further archaeological interpretation, possibly as a result of the industrial activity from the Wagonway coal industry through to the demolition of Cockenzie power station. The remaining anomalies are thought to be modern. These include demolition material, footpaths, services, and a garden feature identified in the Memorial Garden.

Information from OASIS ID: wessexar1-516869 (B Howard) 2023