Old Photograph Coastal Path Portpatrick Scotland

Old photograph of the coastal path to Portpatrick, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Portpatrick village was founded on fishing, operating from the sandy, crescent shaped harbour that remains the focal point of the village today. Attempts were made to render it safer from the strong North Channel gales. In 1770 John Smeaton, the leading civil engineer of his day, was appointed to make further improvements. He constructed breakwaters that turned the sandy bay into an enclosed harbour. Strong westerly winds and waves eventually broke through this construction, and in 1821 John Rennie was appointed to create a new harbour defined by two new piers. Money and weather problems meant that these piers were never finished. The calm inner basin, now home to the port's lifeboat, was constructed between 1861 and 1863, too late to prevent the government switching the mail service to boats that plied between Stranraer and Larne. The harbour retains a fleet of fishing craft, a Navtex and a lifeboat station.



All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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