Greetings Travels
Yesterday I went on a mission to discover some new areas of Scotland I have never seen before.
This past year I have been exploring many of the small fishing villages along the Fife side of The Fourth Estuary which separate's The Kingdom of Fife from its neighbouring region , The Lothians.
I haven't explored any of The Lothians side of The estuary and it turns out this area has a significant amount of history. Over the Summer months I will be documenting as much of this area of Scotland as I can ,learning and absorbing as much of the areas history as possible.
Today we are focusing on the village of Cramond which is one of the earliest known sites of human habitation in Scotland. There is evidence of a settlement from around 8500 BC. For a while in the early 3rd centaury there was a Roman fort in this area. During the Middle Ages it was a fishing village and in the late 18th centaury there were forges for manufacturing nails and iron tools along the River Almond.
This area also has a small island which was used as a guard post during the second Wold War.I will be exploring this Island in a future post.
On this first visit I walked along the River Almond heading towards the ruins of Fair - A - Far mill and Weir.
The main reason for visiting this area was to photograph the waterfall created by this weir.
The water from the weir was used to turn a water wheel which pounded a hammer in this late 18th centaury foundry.
In an exhibition about the history of Cramond near the estuary I found this model which shows how the mill was used to pound iron.
Gif by me
This area is a great place for a Sunday afternoon stroll along the riverside. I was surprized how photogenic this area is.
The area is home to many ducks.
There is a sense of peace and tranquillity in the air as I walked around this area. I believe most of these buildings date back to the 1700s.
This bench dedicated to the memory of Ena Margaret King and William Pretsell has a beautiful poem entitled "Tommorrow is another day"
"Do not stand around and weep ,we are not here ,we do not sleep
We are the thousand winds that blow
We are the diamond glints on snow
We are the sunlight on ripened grain
We are the gentle autumn rain
When you waken in the mornings hush
We are the swift uplifted rush of quiet birds in circling flight
We are soft stars that shine at night
So do not stand around and cry
We are not there
We did not die"
This beautiful poem gave me goosebumps when I read it.
The harbour area has an Inn that looks worth visiting ,unfortunately it is closed on Saturday's and Sundays.
There is also a free exhibition in the harbour which has a lot of information about Cramonds past.
I love these old paintings.
This cool little model shows the Fair - A- Far mill as it was in 1780
Cramond was home to a fellow by the name of John Howison who was hanged for the murder of Martha Geddes on January 21st 1832.John Howison is of historical significance as he was the last criminal to be given over for dissection by Edinburgh university before the Anatomy act of 1832 abolished the practice.
In 1997 a historic discovery was made in the harbour when a local fisherman discovered a statue of a lioness which dates back to Roman times. It is thought that this statue would have adorned the tomb of an important Roman general. How it came to be in the harbour is a mystery.
The sculpture, which turned out to be one of the most important Roman finds in Scotland for decades is now housed in The National Museum of Scotland.
You can read some more and see a picture of this historic statue here...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cramond_Lioness
A short walk along the beach from the harbour we find this interesting Fish Sculpture. It took the artist Ronald Rae 20 years to carve this statue in the local church. It was purchased by a local community fundraising campaign in April 2009.Now a landmark of Cramond shore front the sculpture looks like its been here forever.
In this video you can see the artist Ronald Rae visiting the sculpture.
Lets end this post with a few shots of the church.
▶️ 3Speak
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