An empty barometer cupboard

This cupboard, once glazed with a glass front, and set into the wall of an old house at Crail harbour, once contained a FitzRoy mercury barometer.

Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy FRS (5 July 1805 – 30 April 1865) was an English officer of the Royal Navy and a scientist. In 1854, following his retirement from the navy, FitzRoy was appointed as chief of a new department to deal with the collection of weather data at sea.This was the forerunner of the modern Meteorological Office. 

FitzRoy soon began to work on strategies to make weather information more widely available for the safety of shipping and fishermen. He directed the design and distribution of a type of barometer which, on his recommendation, was fixed at every port to be available to crews for consultation before setting out to sea. The stone housings for such barometers are still visible at many fishing harbours. A few still contain the barometer, for example the one at  Stromness in Orkney.

Fitzroy is probably best remembered as the the captain of HMS Beagle during Charles Darwin's famous voyage.