Top - MacBrayne's cruise steamer King George V (1936-74) at Fort William; bottom - the Corran Ferry |
... and the north terminus of the old Bonawe Ferry across Loch Etive (page 92):-
I like piers. They're places where you can watch boats and sometimes even get on one which is always a good thing. If not, then you're often surrounded by water on three sides and can pretend you're on a boat. You can also go fishing. When I was young, I remember being invited to go "beach fishing" and thinking, "What's that all about - surely you can only go fishing from a pier?" As a child (late 60s, early 70s), we were more likely to say "Can we go to the pier?" than to the beach.
Armadale on Skye - a pier which ticks a lot of boxes |
MacBrayne's cargo steamer SS Claymore (1881-1931) at Gairloch Pier |
Anyway, one of my favourite abandoned "local piers" (although it's not in Alistair's book because I'm guessing there's a sequel to come called "Western Isles Piers") is the one at Croggan on the south shore of Loch Spelve in Mull.
In such a very remote location, the pier seems incongruously imposing. There are just a handful of crofts at Croggan (now, of course, mostly holiday houses) although it was no doubt designed also to serve the needs of the village of Lochbuie a mile or two to the west which is too exposed to the prevailing south westerly winds to allow reliably regular calls by steamers.
Photo credit ceeyefaitch |
Croggan - picture credit Graham Maxwell |
Black Mill Bay, Luing |
EDIT - also just noticed that the pier is marked on the 1897 edition of the Ordnance 6 inch map.
Anyway, this is all by way of a very long introduction to a series of photos of Croggan Pier in use which I was fasconated to see on the Ships of Calmac forum. They were taken by forum member Craig McDowall's grandfather who grew up in Croggan (his grandmother from Lochbuie although they all now live in the north of Mull) and with Craig's permission I reproduce them here and let them speak for themselves:-
I don't know exactly when Croggan Pier closed for business, but in Duckworth & Langmuir's "West Highland Steamers", I read that, from July 1953, "further road transport and cargo trans-shipment was introduced so that Glasgow goods for Luing, Lismore and Croggan were conveyed via Oban." I don't know how that would have worked in practice, though - were goods for Croggan off-loaded at Oban, transferred there to the Mull mail steamer, then off-loaded again at Salen (the first pier on Mull up the Sound of Mull before Craignure Pier was built in 1963) and eventually taken by lorry to Croggan and Lochbuie? If so, I'm not sure how that fits with the fact that D&L tell us in the next sentence that goods for Bunessan and Fionnphort, further west on Mull, were to be conveyed by road from the cargo steamer at Tobermory. Anyway, I'm guessing the changes in 1953 spelt the end for Croggan Pier (and Black Mill Bay on Luing). Cargo services to the Western Isles finally ended in 1976 with all the islands by then being linked by ro-ro ferries.
Picture credit tobers |
Most interesting and enjoyable. And some of this pix/cards are simply wonderful. Most evocative. I, too, love piers, they're irresistible for a wander and nose around on, often cluttered with interesting machinery and bits and bobs from local industry.
ReplyDeleteCroggan pier was twice mentioned in the House of Commons! In 1893 it was announced that piers were to be built at Croggan, Luing and Portnahaven. In 1928 a question was asked about the proposed closure of Croggan - but whether or not it closed at that time I haven't discovered.
ReplyDeleteArgyll County Council issued tenders for the construction of Croggan in July 1894 and held a site meeting there on 1 August (special steamer from Oban at 9.30). The pier was opened early in May 1896, at the same time as Mingary, and both were leased to the former
ferrymen at the two places. A livestock sale was held at Croggan on 15 May 1896 - the Handa sailed specially from Oban at 9.00.
Blackmill Bay pier opened at about the same time but two years later was the subject of a legal dispute between the County Council and the contractor, who claimed (unsuccessfully) that he had not been paid in full.
Very interesting comment Iain - thanks for adding it.
ReplyDeleteThere is indeed a 'sequel' to the West Highland Piers book and it appeared at more or less the same time- 'Piers of the Hebrides and Western Isles'.
ReplyDeleteCroggan is featured in it with 'Lochfyne', no less, un/loading sheep there in the 50s.It offers the interesting info that "the pier and 7 miles of road serving it were built as part of an overland route to Iona thta never got off the ground" which is interesting if a little strange, as the pier was built well before road transport was an easier alternative to the sea.
My website, www.ports.org.uk, attempts to list all ports, harbours, jetties and piers around the UK coast. Needless to say, there are more in Scotland than the rest of the UK put together.
ReplyDeleteI visited Croggan last year as part of my round-Britain cycle ride (see www.coastrider.org.uk), which took in 634 'harbours'. Sad to see the pier fenced off, although it still appears to be in a reasonable condition.
Hi Neil - what an interesting site. I am doing family history of McLeans of Coll - went to NSW where they were boatbuilders, heavily into rowing, built their own rowing skiffs, rowing champions etc. Curious about boats and boat building in the western isles - they must have been pretty sea-faring folk. What sort of boats in the 17 and 1800s, and where did they source the timber (no trees!). Interested in any comments you might have or source you can point me too. Cheers. Alec McLean (NZ)
ReplyDelete