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Saltcoats, Harbour And Saltpans

Harbour (17th Century), Salt Works (17th Century)

Site Name Saltcoats, Harbour And Saltpans

Classification Harbour (17th Century), Salt Works (17th Century)

Alternative Name(s) Saltcoats Harbour

Canmore ID 72045

Site Number NS24SW 44

NGR NS 24645 41014

NGR Description Centred NS 24645 41014

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/72045

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
Canmore Disclaimer. © Copyright and database right 2024.

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Administrative Areas

  • Council North Ayrshire
  • Parish Stevenston
  • Former Region Strathclyde
  • Former District Cunninghame
  • Former County Ayrshire

Archaeology Notes

NS24SW 44.00 centred 24645 41014

Harbour [NAT] (centred NS 2455 4101)

OS 1:10,000 map, 1981.

NS24SW 44.01 NS 24504 40896 Outer Harbour

NS24SW 44.02 NS 24517 40950 to NS c. 24550 40915 Pier

NS24SW 44.03 NS 24482 40857 to NS c. 24552 40906 New Pier

For remains of waggonway found at NS 247 411, see NS24SW 46.

Formerly also entered as NS24SW 156.

The ruins of an old salt manufactory stand at the head of Saltcoats harbour, and the remains of other salt pans stand on a jutting rock W of the harbour.

J Smith 1895.

NS 2453 4094. Old pierhead probably includes part of the harbour works of Robert Cunningham, built in 1686 as part of a salt pan and colliery complex.

J Butt 1967.

(Location cited as NS 246 408). Saltcoats Harbour, reconstructed 1914. Formed by two natural headlands, improved by the construction of a rubble L-plan pier, 17th century and later, extended in concrete by 1914. The width of the quays is a pointer to the harbour's use for coal shipment rather than for fishing.

J R Hume 1976.

There is no trace of the [saltworks] features decribed; the pierhead has several disused buildings, all apparently 19th century.

Visited by OS (JRL) 13 October 1982.

Saltcoats occupies a headland which projects into the Firth about a mile and a half SE of the Ardrossan promontory, from which it is separated by the South Bay [name centred NS 234 415]. South of Saltcoats begins the stretch of mainly sandy coast, comprising Irvine and Ayr Bays, that runs for some 17 miles [27.4km] to the mouth of the River Doon. The harbour is set in an inlet in the nose of the headland, between the Inner and Outer Nebbuck Rocks; it is not to be confused with supposed natural harbourage said to have existed nearby in the neighbourhood of Auchenharvie [name :NS 257 417] or Ardeer [name: NS 29 38] - an assumption depending on the theory that the River Garnock once crossed this low-lying ground, and ran out into the Firth by a mouth separate from the estuary of the Irvine.

No port existed at Saltcoats before the 1680's. Tucker, in 1655, reported only a 'shore' on Fairlie Roads. The construction of a harbour was begun in 1684 by Robert Cunningham of Auchenharvie, who was chiefly interested in the mining and exportation of the local coal. An impost was granted him for the project, which was ratified by Parliament in 1686 and again in 1693, and in 1707 his son James was allowed to raise a small duty on local brewing for the harbour's maintenance and 'encouragement'. In 1797 an Act authorised the levying of rates and dues, for 'extending and enlarging, repairing, scouring, deepening and improving the said harbour'; while a further Act of 1821 noted that a considerable sum had been spent on enlargement, deepening and improvement.

The Cunningham's works were virtually finished by 1700 and may not have altered by 1793, when the parish minister set forth proposals of his own for the harbour's improvement. These were illustrated with a well-drawn plan, which distinguished clearly between proposed and existing structures; and on the strength of it one may conclude that the latter was an L-shaped work corresponding with the landward portion of the present pier plus the branch which returns northwards and ends at the Old Pier Head [name: NS NS 2451 4095]. These structures bear the legends respectively of 'Old Harbour Breast' and 'Old Quay'. Two rectangular enclosures ('Store House' and 'Coal Ree') are marked on a slightly expanded section of the pier, and the written account mentions hewn masonry facing and also a protective wall on the pier's outer side. The harbour angle within the angle of the 'L' gave 10 to 12ft [3.0 to 3.7m] of water at high springs, but dried out partially at low water and was not accessible to craft of over 200 tons. It would hold 24 sail, but the lack of water made difficult the berthing of the larger vessels, and delays in loading and discharging were apt to result.

The minister's proposals for improvement were not carried out, but one of them, the extension of the pier to the inner Nebbuck Rock, was again recommended in 1837, and the work had evidently been done by 1847. In the relative passage, the Parliamentary Report describes the Old Quay as a 'jetty', and states that an entrance 90yds [82.3m] had been left between its end and the rocks on the N side of the harbour. This entrance could be negotiated at all states of the tide, but a figure of 220 tons is given as the limit for the size of the craft. The quay was credited with a depth of 13ft [4m] of water at high springs; there was a light at the Old Pier Head; and the Outer Nebbuck and some rocks were marked with upright 'perches'. A breakwater was considered desirable. The Report classes Saltcoats as a 'small district harbour'.

The general outline of these arrangements can be recognised easily enough in the existing harbour-works - the main pier, its extension to the inner Nebbuck rock, and the Old Quay, projecting from the pier at right angles to produce the L-shaped plan. The modern 25-inch OS map gives the length of the pier to the outer angle of the 'L' as 490ft [149.3m], that of the extension as a further 270ft [82.3m], and that of the Old Quay (externally) as 160ft [48.8m]. The pier varies somewhat in breadth, as it conforms with the irregularities of the rocks on which it is founded; the quay broadens at its end, where there has been some reconstruction in fairly recent years. Both the pier and the quay bear crenellated sea-walls with parapet-walks; the wall on the pier, which is backed by brick pilasters, stands about 9ft 6ins [2.9m] and 11ft [3.4m] respectively at two points selected for measurement. The end of the extension is rounded, and on it there stands a round turret some 15ft [4.6m] in diameter, the top of which is reached by an outside stair rising from the parapet-walk of the sea-wall. On the face of the turret is mounted a metal plate inscribed SALTCOATS HARBOUR / ERECTED UNDER ACT OF SCOTS PARLIAMENT 1686 / ENLARGED 1797/ PURCHASED BY THE TOWN AND RENOVATED 1914. A narrow walkway runs round the W sector of the turret, ending in steps which descend to the Inner Nebbuck rock; steps also lead down into the harbour at both ends of the extension, and there is a range of tallish iron bollards with simple mushroom tops. The original masonry seems to have been large squared blocks, such as appear, for example, on the SW face of the quay, and on parts of the pier-extension and the roundel. There are also many traces of patching where damage has occurred. Pleasing examples of Victorian commercial taste are provided by the decorative standards for gas-lamps of cast iron, which stand one at each end of the quay's sea wall, with the broken connections of their supply-pipes still surviving at their bases.

Some facts about the harbour's trade are given in the Statistical Accounts. In 1793, the export of coal was most important activity, while salt-making, formerly a small-scale cottage industry as the name 'Salt Cotts' suggests, was prejudiced by the smuggling of Irish slat into ports in the Solway Firth. Apart from coal and salt, exports included silk and cotton textiles, oats, timber, iron and Baltic hemp; imports mentioned are grain and fish, the latter from both Newfoundland and the West Highlands. Shipbuilding, previously carried on in the American colonies, became impossible during the Revolutionary War, and Saltcoats shipbuilders accordingly started operations at home, using timber from South Wales. Sixty-four ships were built between 1775 and 1790. In 1837, about thirty ships, of from 20 to 250 tons, were trading out of Saltcoats, the principal exports at that time being coal, freestone, herrings and woollen textiles. Wherries from the Highlands were bringing in herrings and taking out coal. Imports came chiefly from Ireland, oats being the most valuable item. Some six to eight vessels of 20 to 30 tons went to the herring fisheries in the northern Highlands, and wherries worked Loch Fyne and Kilbrannan Sound. Shipbuilding was also carried on, but this industry, like the salt and rope works was less flourishing than in the 1790's.

A Graham 1984.

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