A long and fascinating history
As early as the 13th century it is recorded that Cromarty was a thriving market town with links to England and beyond. The Cromarty to Nigg ferry crossing was an important part of that connection. Only as the town gradually expanded and moved to the west was a rudimentary harbour, most likely constructed of timber, eventually built and it is thought that the promontory known as Maryness, with its sandy shore to the west was then, as now, the site of that harbour.
Sir George Mackenzie of Tarbert (1630-1714) was created the first Earl of Cromartie in 1703. He started to develop the town and by the 1660s he executed regular agreements with Leith merchants and Edinburgh brewers for the sale of his crops and fish which were shipped south in specially chartered vessels. He also built the girnal (storehouse) next to the harbour in Cromarty. By the early eighteenth century Cromarty was a flourishing port trading with Norway, Sweden and Holland as well as England. Timber, iron and coal were imported also salt, wine and spirits from Spain and Portugal. Grain and fish such as salmon and salt cod were exported to England, Scandinavia and the West Indies.
Painting of the harbour by Jean Claude Nattes in 1799
The harbour as we know it today built by George Ross, proprietor of the Cromarty Estate who commissioned John Smeaton (1724-1792) an English civil engineer to design a new harbour for Cromarty in 1782. The harbour was paid for jointly by Mr Ross and by the Government. The Act of 1784 established the Harbour Trust to manage the harbour on behalf of the people of Cromarty.
George Ross’s investment in the harbour also supported his ventures in building the hemp works, nail and spade factories and also the new brewery.
Smeaton’s designs for the harbour were not followed exactly and it is believed the west or south pier incorporates an earlier probably timber structure. There was some later criticism that the east pier, being curved, was not suited to the mooring of ships.
Smeaton’s sketches show a section through the piers which were faced with ashlar masonry built off a foundation of coursed rubble stonework with a rubble fill to the core of the piers.
Sketch of Cromarty pier by George Smeaton
"Three arch ways of 6 feet wide each and 6 feet high begun at low water."
"NB at the propose pier head there will be about 9 feet at low water. And 18 feet at the high water of spring tides"
Smeaton instructed his site engineer John Gwyn not to proceed with two of the originally proposed arches in the east pier. The third was left open to create a scour with the intention it could be closed during winter storms, however this was permanently closed in the 19th century. The detached pier, built in 1783 and known as Smeaton’s Mole, was intended originally as a breakwater rather than a quay. The stepped masonry of the wharf may be a rare survivor of a partial dry dock and attributable to Ross’s aspiration for berthing ships of war. Smeaton also instructed Gwyn to add a parapet wall to the East pier to protect the harbour from the strong easterly winds.
Despite the extensive repairs undertaken in the next century much of the original harbour for which Smeaton and Gwyn were responsible remains today. Some of the hardware, such as the mooring rings are still in place and there is evidence on the east pier and the mole, of the original sandstone surfacing.
Cromarty first began to be used as an emigration port by Aberdeen shippers as early as 1784, but the numbers of emigrants remained low until 1820. Following the depression in the early years of the 1830s, the numbers rose and Cromarty became an established port of embarkation. Most passengers leaving from Cromarty were bound for Upper Canada and in particular Nova Scotia, most frequently arriving in Pictou whilst others travelled onto Quebec.
The effects of this intense activity on the fabric of the harbour may explain its deteriorating condition. Reports commissioned by the Harbour Trustees in 1834 were critical of Smeaton’s design and how it had fared with 50 years of intense usage.
In 1834, a Mr Leslie, an engineer from Aberdeen was commissioned to report on the required repairs. These included the widening of the west pier and the replacement of the soft sandstone paving with granite setts. Access to the basin would be improved by the construction of a new ramp adjoining the head of the west pier and timber fenders were to be applied to both of the piers. John Watson of Fortrose was contracted to undertake the work which was to be completed by 1836. However, work dragged on well beyond the completion date and he was dismissed and Forsyth and Williamson were appointed to complete the works.
Setting aside the boom time of the 1820s, the town never seemed to capitalise fully on the opportunities offered by commercial fishing. The role of Cromarty, as the principal port of the firth began to decline, the catalyst for this was the construction of Telford’s harbour at Invergordon, begun in 1817 and completed in 1823, and arrival of the railway in 1863 in Invergordon.
The fishing vessels moored in the harbour were restricted mainly to inshore work and it was not until the 1870s that deep sea trawling was beginning to take over. In 1881 Cromarty was registering 18 first class and 25 second class boats but the harbour’s dependency on the trade collapsed, and many of the fishermen and their families were reported to be destitute by 1885.
A further harbour order was secured for improvements in 1879 based on proposals by the civil engineer, James Fraser of Inverness. These works included a bridge linking the west pier to the breakwater and two timber landing stages attached to the breakwater to provide additional mooring facilities for the larger vessels.
The remains of the work undertaken under the Harbour Improvements Acts of the nineteenth century are still very much visible today. The vertical slots for locating the timber fenders and the bolt holes remain while the iron clamps remain in position at the north east end of the breakwater. The base and shaft of one of the cranes remains on the east pier.
Trading continued to decline throughout the 19th century and by 1913 there were no herring boats in Cromarty. Line fishing did continue and by 1918 Cromarty had 3 boats with motors two of which continued until 1930s.
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Boys on the harbour early 1900s
Cromarty harbour continued in its role as an important ferry terminal with regular crossings to Invergordon, Nigg and Inverbreakie, a primary use which was maintained into the twentieth century.
The Cromarty Firth was of strategic importance during the World War 1, together with Scapa Flow and Rosyth they provided safe anchorage for the Fleet and the Cromarty Firth became the main anchorage for armoured cruisers supplemented by occasional visits from ships from Scapa and Rosyth.
The harbour prior to 1914
Plans were drawn up at Rosyth in 1913 for the construction of the concrete jetties off the breakwater at Cromarty Harbour. The Admiralty draughtsman’s intentions had been to construct the new pier leaving the earlier timber jetties intact, but the two forms of construction were incompatible with one another the timber jetties were removed.
The Harbour Trustees never recovered from the wartime costs of improving and maintaining the harbour and by the end of the war the harbour had been left in a poor state by the Admiralty. A new bridge from the West pier to the breakwater was urgently required. After much lobbying by those farmers and merchants who required access to the outer pier for trade, funds were secured in 1936 and the following year the bridge was completed at a cost of £2000.
The Invergordon ferry service had originally been set up by John Bain in the 1890s. in 1927 Captain Watson brought the Ailsa to Cromarty Harbour and ran her for 11 years as a ferry primarily in the summer months and also for leisure cruises and to ferry visitors to warships open to the public at weekends. The Watson’s other boats were the Endeavour and the Enterprise which maintained the Invergordon ferry route. During the years between the wars the mail went out with every boat, three collections a day. Coal and other supplies were also brought to Cromarty through the harbour.
Cromarty Fisherfolk in the early 1900s
By the 1930s times were hard for the fishermen using the harbour. Avoch had specialised in larger vessels using seine nets rather than the lines used by Cromarty boats. In January 1935, November 1937 and also in 1938, the herring entered the firth in great numbers. Over 300 crans were caught in each of these occasions and if there had been more boats, the catches would have been greater
At the beginning of World War 2, a timber extension was built on to the end of the Outer Admiralty Pier to improve berthing capacity for Naval vessels although this has since collapsed.
Ships typically anchored in a line three or four miles long between Invergordon and the Sutors, with the largest ships, the battle cruisers such as the Tiger, Renown, Repulse, Hood, Courageous and Furious anchored off Cromarty. Quietly on the evening of Saturday 2nd September 1939, the fleet left the Cromarty Firth and did not return for six years. Cromarty maintained its close association with the Royal Navy and the ‘Hood’ became the towns adopted ship until its departure in 1935 to be replaced by the aircraft carrier ‘Courageous’.
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Post being delivered to the harbour in the 1960s
At the beginning of the 1950s, greenheart timber fenders were attached to the concrete columns of the Inner Admiralty pier.
In the early 1960s the derelict girnals were demolished to help tidy up the harbour and town in anticipation of the Royal Visit.
After many years of decline for the town and the harbour, in 1971 Highland Fabricators (Hi Fab) announced plans for an oil rig construction yard at Nigg. The town campaigned for a regular ferry service to Nigg which operated from the harbour both transporting workers to the construction yard and as a public service. The ferry continues to operate in the summer months from the nearby slipway.
In the late 1990s the boat compound to the north of the harbour was created and the Boat Club has adapted the Seaplane tower as a club house with facilities for visiting sailors. In 1995 the bridge linking the west pier with the breakwater was replaced by the Highland Council.
The watchtower, now the Boat club house
The provision of a new central pontoon in the basin, following a dredge in the 2004 allows the safe mooring of small yachts and other small leisure craft and fishing boats. The harbour remains the focal point of the town and many water-based activities centre around it.
In 2019 the Harbour Trust began a major restoration project, to repair the concrete world war 1 piers and stonework of the original harbour. To date, October 2020, the Trust is delighted to report that work to stabilise the stone work of the Smeaton Mole and to repair the concrete decks and supporting columns of the Inner Admiralty Pier has been now been substantially completed. New greenheart fenders and rubber D fenders have been added together with new harbour ladders, mooring capstans, floodlights and new harbour railings. The semi derelict harbour sheds have been replaced and CCTV has been installed to protect the harbour and its users.
New seating has also been provided on the grassed area facing the harbour and three information panels depicting the history of the harbour and the wildlife of the Cromarty Firth have also been installed. Two improved finer pontoons have also been added with plans to install three more in the coming season.
The next stage, in the Spring of 2021, was to repair the stone sett surfacing of the west pier and to Smeaton's Mole. During this time preparatory work also commenced to effect repairs to the East pier and quayside. As we leave Spring 2025, the East Pier project has secured funds and will soon commence. This has been a truly remarkable effort and preserves a unique harbour structure for generations to come.
