Seacliff - North Berwick

Seacliff Harbour - North Berwick

Seacliff Estate

Pictured left is the small harbour at Seacliff with Tantallon Castle in the background. The long sandy beaches and rocky coastline was the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson's story named 'The Wreckers'.

During the 8th century, Seacliff and the neighbouring estates of Aludhame and Scoughall were the base for the Christian missionary St. Baldred. Many of the place-names in this area still refer to the Culdee priest such as St. Baldred's Well and St. Baldred's Boat, a rock formation in the bay. Ghegan rock where the harbour is situated, means the 'Churchman's Haven'.

Ghegan Rock

John Watson Laidlay, an Indigo manufacturer in Calcutta acquired the estate in the 1870s which then passed to his son. In 1890, Andrew Laidlay constructed the harbour on Ghegan Rock (right) using a steam engine and compressed air to cut the stone. The harbour believed to be the smallest in Britain, was once busy with small cobbles working stake nets for salmon off the River Tyne. The ancient landmark on the South Car rock named St Baldred's Beacon was originally built by monks and rebuilt by the Laidlays.

In 1919, John R. Dale bought the estate after being tenant farmer of Scoughall since 1848, and Auldhame since 1834. The three estates remain to this day in the ownership of the Dale family.

Picture Gallery
Bass Rock
Harbour
Golf Courses
Town Centre
Tantallon Castle
Canty Bay

More Views of North Berwick