Fife Ness harbour
Balcomie, Fife
A wide view looking down on the ruined harbour and the rings cut into the
rock by Robert Stevenson to aid in the construction of the North Carr Beacon
in 1813-16.
The straight lines on the right running up to the old quayside were for rail
tracks to transport the stones from the test bed to the boats.
The small rings were probably cut to test the steel parts of the construction
and the larger semi-circles were to fit the stones together to check for size
before moving them by boat over to the rock, 2kn offshore.
The annotation gives you an idea of the sizes and depths of the cuts.
As you can see, there were difficulties with the site chosen.
Two ground-level views, at low tide and near a full spring tide.
The old customs and coastguard cottage is to the left. The rings are just below and
right of the exact centre of this image, close by the information board.
