Dunbar Harbour
The wall has a number of different forms of masonry, including the use of large boulders, rough-set blocks and slabs and giving the impression of the sum of works and repairs done over the centuries.
In contemporary times, access to Broad Haven is made from the Victoria Harbour via a 30 ft wide breach in the causeway, spanned by a bascule bridge.
It is defined by an east–west sea-wall running from the west of Lamar Island, to a point north-east of the promontory on which stands the ruins of Dunbar Castle, when it turns south-west and then north-west to form a 45 ft wide sea-entrance.
The promontory forms the west side of the harbour; mainland quayside the south, and the Lamar Island causeway the eastern wall.
The port complex has a number of notable structures: on Lamar Island, a fort with a battery of 16 guns was constructed from 1781 to guard against invasion and privateers; armaments were removed some time after the conclusion of the Peninsular War in 1814.
A number of houses surrounding the harbour were commissioned by the local authority to cater for fishing families and designed, in varying styles and configurations, by Sir Basil Spence.
[11] A 15 ft high Fishermans' Memorial was erected in the 1856-1861 period at the south-end of the east wall of the Old Harbour to a design by Alexander Handyside Ritchie, and contains a barometer (no longer working) for the use of fishermen.
[15] In December, 1655, the harbour suffered so severely from storm damage that the inhabitants were compelled to petition Parliament for aid in its restoration; and, in 1658, when, apparently, the "outer head" and "cross dike" were demolished, they applied for the same purpose to the Magistrates and Town Council of Edinburgh.
Although some authorities, such as James Miller in his 1859 The history of Dunbar asserts that "for some years prior to 1735, the harbour had become almost ruinous"[19] Graham argues that the record of work undertaken at the port from 1717 onwards renders the impression unacceptable.
Work in the early 18th-Century includes building (or rebuilding) the return wall from the pier head, commenced in 1717; and from 1720 repeated projects to cut back bedrock and so considerably increase the anchorage space within the port and the safety of navigation within and on its approaches.
[15][d] The history of Broad Haven, like the Old Harbour, is one of gradual widening, deepening and making safe by the removal of bedrock to provide width and depth, and the smoothing of stones to decrease collision damage.
[15] Through the 19th century a number of variants of the use of removable booms to act as entrance gates to the Old Harbour were employed, between configurations of the end of the return wall and the quayside to its south-west.
Multiple squared timbers were craned into and out of slots in the wall; but boom systems appear frequently to have been destroyed by storms and in any event disfavourably narrowed the harbour entrance.
The Treasury agreed to construct it as a refuge harbour for fishing-boats and other small craft, provided the Corporation of Dunbar would advance £4,500 towards the expense.
The Board of British White Herring Fishery undertook to find £2,500, and, with the sanction of the Treasury, carried out the building, excavating, and finishing of the works, which were designed by Mr. Joseph Mitchell, C.E., letting it by contract to the lowest tender, £12,990.
[3] It was soon apparent to the contractors and the local authorities that the works would prove defective, owing to the material used in the formation of the sea-barrier — soft free-stone, and to the mode of construction below water, the stone being set dry.
Even with these additions, both the Corporation and contractors felt doubtful, and immediately on the works being completed, the latter anxiously pressed on the engineer of the Fishery Board to have them taken off their hands.
Repairs were executed by the Fishery Board, but only in a temporary manner, nothing being done to render the works permanently stable, although their own engineer pointed out the causes of failure and suggested a remedy.
It was also arranged to make a wharf on the land side, deepen the harbour 4 ft. below low water level, and to form an access and swing-bridge, to enable boats to use the eastern entrance when the direction of the wind made it advantageous.
[3] The sum spent on this harbour - about £60,000 — seems large in proportion to its size; but it includes the first expenditure and the work of excavation was in rock; a portion in the channel was in whinstone, which was blasted and the bottom smoothed by means of the diving-bell.
A regular trade was for many years carried on by sailing-vessels transporting potatoes to the London, the district around Dunbar being famed for the fine quality of this vegetable, which obtained the highest price in the market.
The remainder of the shipping trade consists principally of inward cargoes of coal, grain, esparto grass, timber, oil cake, china, glass, and wood pulps.
