Pier at risk - Lismore

I'd been going to begin this post with "If there's a Buildings at Risk Register, there should be a Piers at Risk Register ..." when I thought I'd better check the BAR Register to see if there's any piers in it. There are: inserting search term "pier" revealed eleven piers but not the one I'm proposing for inclusion: Achnacroish Pier on Lismore:-

Picture credit - Barry Turner Photography

The pier is unused and now in such a parlous state that a red warning notice not to approach has replaced the name board which, just like the board at a railway station, informed voyagers by sea which island they were at back in the days when passenger vessels tended to sail on routes with multiple calls like a branch railway unlike today's "there and back" sea routes:-

Picture credit - Ornulf Halvorsen

A plaque on the wall pictured below indicates the pier was originally built in 1880 by A & K Macdonald and J Goodwin & Coy., Contractors with John Strain as the Engineer. A & K Macdonalds seem to have been quite prolific contractors around this time, a quick google revealing that they were also responsible for the wooden berthing head of Stromness Pier in Orkney in 1878/79 and the Achanalt to Attadale section of the Skye Railway (to Stromeferry later extended to Kyle of Lochalsh) in 1868. I couldn't find anything about J Goodwin & Coy. but John Strain was the engineer to the extension of the railway from Dalmally to Oban and Oban's Railway Pier which also (probably not coincidentally) opened in 1880:-

Picture credit Lynne

The boar's head, motto Ne Obliviscaris ("Don't forget") and ducal coronet on the plaque reference the Duke of Argyll who owned a lot of land on Lismore. I wonder if he paid for the pier? That's the sort of thing dukes did in these days (today, they generally don't have two brass farthings to rub together due to having costly stately homes to maintain) except that, in 1880, it would have been the same Duke that Edward Stanford of kelp fame had had to deal with as described here. Stanford noted (here) that, in 1863, His Grace had been accorded a cool reception on Tiree (which he also owned) due to his mean-ness and had refused to build a pier for that island and consented only to laying some moorings instead. Perhaps the Duke had mellowed by 1880 or the Railway Company had some money left in its budget after having completed the pier at Oban ...

No pier just tidal jetties at Achnacroish on the Ordnance Survey 1875 Six Inch Map

Whoever paid for the pier, it would have represented a boon in the 1880s of a similar magnitude to building a bridge to the island today. Tiree, with four times the population of Lismore, didn't finally get its pier until 1911, Coll and Colonsay until the 1960s and Rum, Eigg and Muck until the 21st century! A pier a steamer could get along side avoided the arduous task of loading passengers and - more particularly - cargo on to the steamer via a rowing boat operating from a crude tidal jetty as seen at Loch Harport on Skye in 1890s below:-

Loading sacks of wool on John MacCallum's Hebridean at Loch Harport, Skye

Turning to the vessels that called at Achnacroish Pier, remember that, until the 1970s when the transition to all passengers and cargo going on multi-purpose ro-ro vehicle ferries was complete, coastal shipping up the west coast and to the islands fell into two categories. First there were the cargo steamers sailing from Glasgow about once a week carrying heavy goods and (until the War) a few passengers. Second, there were the mail steamers running daily from the railheads with the mail and passengers and light and perishable goods. In summer (mid-May to mid-September), the mail runs were supplemented by additional routes and frequencies carrying passengers only and catering to the tourist trade: until the 1920s, these were known as "swift steamers".

The picture below is of one of MacBrayne's cargo vessels, the MV Lochshiel loading sheep at Achnacroish pier. She was built in 1929 and sailed from Glasgow delivering cargo to the Firth of Lorne, Sound of Mull and Loch Linnhe area until she was sold in 1952:-

The Lochshiel at Achnacroish Pier - picture credit Lismore Website Photo Gallery

Here's a closer up picture of the Lochshiel on the Clyde and you can see more of her at nearby Croggan Pier on Loch Spelve in Mull (another pier at risk) here.

MV Lochshiel (1929-52) on the Clyde. Scan from Duckworth & Langmuir's West Highland Steamers

Turning to the mail steamers, in 1881, the year after Achnacroish Pier was opened, MacBrayne's signed a contract with the Postmaster General to carry the mails between Oban and Fort William with calls at Lismore, Port Appin, Ballachulish and Ardgour (Corran Ferry), one sailing each way six days a week year round, on a steam vessel capable of 13 knots in summer and 12 in winter: you can read the full contract here. In fact, this mail run didn't last long after the railway to Fort William opened in 1894. Instead, swift steamers between Oban and FW called at Lismore daily but, of course, they only sailed in summer. In winter, the island had to make do with only one call a week by the Oban to Tobermory mail steamer.

Amongst the swift steamers which called at Lismore on the Oban-Fort William run before the War, these included the paddle steamer Fusilier built in 1888: I think she was also the mail steamer in the mid 1890s:-

Picture credit - Dalmadan

That picture above can probably be dated to 1926 or 1927 because, prior to 1926, the Fusilier's navigating bridge was aft of her funnel and she was removed to a different route in 1928. From 1927, her place was taken by the larger but older paddle steamer Iona seen approaching Achnacroish Pier below:-

The Iona approaching Achnacroish Pier. Picture credit - Lismore Website Photo Gallery

Here's another one of the Iona (or perhaps the very similar but slightly smaller Chevalier) approaching the pier:-

The Iona (or Chevalier?) approaching Achnacroish Pier - the mountain is Beinn Bheithir, not Ben Cruachan!

 In 1936, the Iona was replaced by the MV Lochfyne, seen at Lismore below:-

The Lochfyne at Achnacroish. Picture credit - Lismore Website Photo Gallery

After the Oban-Fort William mail service ceased in the mid 1890s, the Oban-Tobermory mail steamer which called at Lismore once a week and maintained the island's connection with Oban in winter when the swift steamers weren't operating was, from 1908, the MV Lochinvar. The picture below is taken on board the Lochinvar approaching Achnacroish Pier:-

Approaching Achnacroish Pier on the Lochinvar. Picture credit - Corriebob

Here's a picture of the Lochinvar as she appeared early in her career at an unknown location:-

MV Lochinvar

 
And here she is at Lismore later in life after she'd acquired a wheelhouse, a traditional funnel and a bigger crane:-

The Lochinvar at Lismore - picture credit Lismore Community Website Photo Gallery

In 1947, a new mail contract provided for a new year-round twice daily sailing between Oban and Lismore by motor launch. This was to be in addition to the Tobermory mail steamer's once weekly call which continued until that run was discontinued in 1964 upon the advent of car ferries to Mull (Craignure). For the purposes of the new daily service to Lismore, MacBrayne's acquired a former hospital launch built in 1941 to bring stretcher cases ashore from ships anchored in the Clyde and renamed her Lochnell. Below is a picture of her leaving Achnacroish Pier:-

The Lochnell leaving Lismore - picture credit William MacDonald

Already in 1934, Achnacroish Pier was described as "soon unusable" by the MP for Argyllshire in a question in the House of Commons to the Under Secretary of State for Scotland about reconditioning dilapidated piers in the county. In the picture below taken in the early 1950s, from on board the Lochinvar, its fragile state is plain to see:-

Picture credit - corriebob

An upgrade to this vital piece of island infrastructure was clearly overdue so the iron pierhead built in 1880 was eventually replaced by a reinforced concrete structure: I don't know the exact date but this entry in the National Records of Scotland including "bound plan and section of work at Achnacroish Pier" suggests the early 1950s, perhaps 1951 or 1952. Anyway, as well as the berth itself, the improvements included a livestock ramp, a new goods shed on the pier and a passengers' waiting room:-

The waiting room at Achnacroish Pier. Picture credit - David Taylor

But if there were improvements to Lismore's transport infrastructure in the early post-War years with the establishment of the daily year round mail boat and refurbishment of the pier, there were also set backs. The summer only Oban to Fort William passenger service (they weren't called "swift steamers" after the 1920s) operated by the Lochfyne was resumed after the War but called at Lismore only four days a week now instead of six as previously. Then, in 1949, Lismore became a request stop and, finally, calls at the island by the Fort William steamer stopped altogether after 1952.

The following year, 1953, the Glasgow cargo steamer also ceased calling at Lismore: within just a couple of years of the pier having been comprehensively upgraded, it had lost a huge chunk of its regular traffic! Henceforth the island's cargo would be unloaded and Oban then put on to the daily mailboat Lochnell. Any big loads she couldn't handle would have to be carried on the weekly call by the larger Lochinvar on the Tobermory mail route.  Below is a picture of an awkward looking piece of agricultural machinery too big for the Lochnell being lifted aboard the Lochinvar:-

The Lochinvar handling an awkward cargo. Picture credit corriebob

After the Tobermory mail service stopped in 1964 (replaced by the car ferry to Craignure), bigger loads for Lismore, and livestock going to market, had to go on extra sailings performed by one of the other mail or cargo steamers in its spare time - the Inner Isles Mail steamer, MV Claymore, is seen at Achnacroish Pier on one such sailing in 1972 below.

The Claymore on a special call at Lismore in 1972 - photo by Jim Aikman Smith in West Highland Steamers

In 1964, the Lochnell was replaced on the Lismore mail run by the converted fishing boat Loch Toscaig which had previously served between Kyle of Lochalsh and Toscaig in Applecross. That's her parked alongside the Lochfyne at Oban below:-

The Loch Toscaig alongside the Lochfyne at Oban - picture credit Ken Ross

And here's the Loch Toscaig leaving Oban for Lismore in 1972:-

Loch Toscaig leaving Oban 1972 - picture credit Rob Beale

The early 70s was the era of the drive to convert the passenger, mail and cargo services to the islands to a single fleet of multi-purpose drive on-drive off car ferries. Though not yet formally merged to form Caledonian MacBrayne, the Caledonian Steam Packet Company (the former BR subsidiary responsible for shipping services on the Clyde) and MacBrayne's had both been under the ownership of the Scottish Transport Group since 1969 and were already working together on developing a class of small landing craft type vehicle ferries to serve the smaller islands and secondary routes to some of the larger ones. Although Lismore would, no doubt, have come to benefit from the introduction of one of these so-called "island class" ferries in due course, according to the excellent Ships of Calmac website, it happened earlier than planned when the Loch Toscaig had to be temporarily withdrawn with engine trouble in 1974. She was relieved by one of the new ferries and once it had been discovered that she could unload vehicles onto the beach next to Achnacroish Pier, the Loch Toscaig  was never invited back. Shortly, thereafter a slipway was built and the island class ferry MV Eigg became the regular Lismore ferry.

Achnacroish Pier next to the slipway and car ferry which put it out of business. Picture credit Tom Careyette

The significance of the advent of car ferries operating from the slipway for Achnacroish Pier was that it ceased to have any regular traffic. Now it was just maintained by its owners, Argyll & Bute Council (see here), as a reserve asset in case ever needed to handle a load that for whatever reason couldn't go on a lorry on the Eigg. One example was the materials for the Ionad Naomh Moluag Lismore Gaelic Heritage Centre in 2006 which you can read about here and pictured below:-

Materials being unloaded in 2006 - picture credit Ionad Naomh Moluag

But these exceptional loads must have been rare and I'm guessing that the reason why the Council finally abandoned Achnacroish Pier was the replacement of the Eigg about 5 years ago with a larger drive-through ferry: henceforth, there would be no further risk of a load that couldn't manage the awkward reverse down the slipway a voyage on the Eigg entailed.

An awkward load of electricity poles for Lismore reverses onto the Eigg at Oban

Some of these old steamer piers have adjusted to the car ferry era by taking on new roles such as the overnight berth for the ferry (Gigha, Raasay, Lochranza); loading timber (Lochaline, Craighouse); fish farming base (Scalpay) or an occasional overnight berth for fishing boats (Canna) - one (Salen) has even been redeveloped under private ownership as holiday accommodation (as well a berth for fish farming boats). But Achnacroish has sort of fallen between all these cracks, I'd guess because Oban is so close and offers more facilities and also because it's rather exposed to the prevailing south westerlies. I wonder if modern attitudes to recycling and health and safety will soon compel the Council actively to demolish it or if it will be left to crumble away?

Achnacroish Pier from landward - picture credit alifetimeofislands