Tour Scotland 4K short travel video clip, with Scottish music, of the lighthouse on the Island of Inchkeith, Scottish Gaelic: Innis Cheith, on ancestry, genealogy, family history visit to the Firth Of Forth. Inchkeith has had a colourful history as a result of its proximity to Edinburgh and strategic location for use as home for Inchkeith Lighthouse and for military purposes defending the Firth of Forth from attack from shipping, and more recently protecting the upstream Forth Bridge and Rosyth Dockyard. Inchkeith has, by some accounts, been inhabited, intermittently, for almost 1,800 years. The island lies in the middle of the Firth of Forth, midway between Kirkcaldy to the north and Leith to the south. Due to the undulation of the Fife coast it lies substantially closer to Fife rather than Midlothian, the closest settlement being Kinghorn to the north, with Burntisland to the north west being only slightly more distant. In 1497, the island was, along with Inchgarvie, a few miles away, used as an isolated refuge for victims of grandgore, also spelled glandgore, an old Scots name for syphilis, in Edinburgh. In 1589, history repeated itself and the island was used to quarantine the passengers of a plague ridden ship. More plague sufferers came here from the mainland in 1609. In 1799, Russian sailors who died of an infectious disease were buried here. In the 16th century, the island suffered further English depredation during the war of the Rough Wooing. The General Duke of Somerset garrisoned the island in 1547 after the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh. His force of marines was ordered to reinforce the island, so they built a large square fort, with corner towers, on the site of the present day lighthouse. In July 1561, Mary, Queen of Scots made Robert Anstruther captain of the island, in succession to the French Captain Lussaignet. She inspected the garrison, and a stone from the original gateway with MR (i.e. Maria Regina, and the date still exists, built into a wall below the lighthouse. In 1803, construction was begun of Inchkeith Lighthouse, designed and built by Thomas Smith and Robert Stevenson. The lighthouse, standing 67 metres high, was first operational by 1804, and is now listed as a building of architectural and historic significance. Inchkeith was the HQ of the Outer Defences of the Firth of Forth in both world wars, in conjunction with batteries at Kinghorn, on the north shore, and Leith on the southern. The defences were designed to protect Edinburgh and the naval anchorage from distant bombardment, the Rosyth Dockyard was out of range, and also to deal with ships attempting to force their way into the naval anchorage beyond the defences, and towards the Forth Rail Bridge and the Rosyth Dockyard. The Firth of Forth is the estuary of several Scottish rivers including the River Forth. It meets the North Sea with Fife on the north coast and Lothian on the south. It was known as Bodotria in Roman times. Of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to visit one day. Find things to see and do in Scotland where you are always welcome.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
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