A day at the seaside

We spent the day in and around Gamrie Bay on the Moray coast. In the photograph of the bay you can see two fishing villages clinging to the shore; the nearer and larger one is Gardenstown, the more distant one is Crovie.

Gardenstown was founded in 1720 by, would you believe it, one Alexander Garden, specifically as a fishing village. As you will see if you take a look at the sign on the harbour wall shown in the first of the "extras", the inhabitants of Gardenstown are of a religious nature. We felt pretty close to heaven as we enjoyed our lunch on the pier; Scottish smoked salmon sandwiches washed down with Yorkshire Gold tea from Harrogate. The food and nectar of the Gods!

The second "extra" shows that the old fishing village of Crovie, pronounced "Crivie", is a single row of houses within feet of the sea and with absolutely no access for motor vehicles. They are built end on to the sea so as to reduce the impact of the winter gales.

Crovie is redolent with memories of the notorious and monstrous Highland Clearances. The village was built by farming families who had been evicted from their inland crofts, to make way for sheep, in the late eighteenth century. They built their new homes on the only land available to them, a narrow strip between cliff and sea.

These men and women of the land then had the pleasure of learning the art of sea fishing, using fishing boats owned by their landlord, largely for his benefit and entirely at their risk. By the mid nineteenth century some fishermen had built their own boats, and by the end of the century fifty odd owner-operated boats were sailing out of Crovie.

The end of Crovie's fishing industry came, abruptly, on 31 January 1953. A storm brought hurricane force winds and huge seas to the village. The path out of the village was washed away together with stretches of the sea defences and a number of houses and sheds. The village ceased to be viable almost immediately, and most residents moved round the bay to the neighbouring village of Gardenstown. Today the houses are almost all used as holiday lets for summer visitors.