Piers & perils – before there were bridges

"In October 1809, a most melancholy accident occurred at the Newhalls Pier [now Hawes Pier, South Queensferry], owing to the very reprehensible practice of driving the coaches to the water's edge along the piers, to receive passengers from the boats.

A young lady and a female servant were precipitated with the coach, into which they had just entered, into the water, and drowned before they could be extricated. The mother of the lady and a gentleman had nearly shared the same fate. Since that fatal day, which will not be speedily forgotten, the practice of driving on the pier has been abandoned.”

Hawes Pier, South Queensferry, from the west (2026)

Since even before the days of Queen Margaret (see sidebar) who, nearly 1000 years ago embarked at the rocky ledges - the Binks - to cross the Forth at its narrowest navigable point near Edinburgh, the best way of crossing this strip of water has been in constant evolution.

When boats where the only means of crossing, it was a complicated business with shared ownership of landing places, boats, and the rights to charge for crossing. In the 11^th century, land totalling 17 acres had been dedicated by Queen Margaret to guarantee free access to the crossing for pilgrims en route to St Andrews. With land ownership changing over the centuries, local landowners leased out launch and landing rights to boat owners, who offered crossing services independently.

One of the main problems with this was the lack of safety checks on individual vessels and the difficulty of regulating the crossing. In the late 18^th century the economic model was changed – boat owners were no longer allowed to run a crossing service, and all vessels were owned by the landowners. Both landing rights and vessels were leased out to operators. This led to safer boats as they were regularly inspected by the owners, and the crossing was much more regulated.

However, the landing places themselves were not well-maintained, and there were not enough of them given how busy the crossing had become for both commercial and private traffic. Funding for landing-place maintenance was allocated from percentage of the gross freight takings, and was insufficient to cover the necessary costs. The writer of the Old Statistical Account of South Queensferry, in 1796, describes watching people board and disembark at one of the landing places: “It is painful for a spectator to witness the difficulties passengers meet, the dangers to which they are exposed getting to and from that place, as they have to scramble a considerable way among rocks and large stones, rendered slippery by being covered with wet seaweed. To this landing place the boatmen are often obliged to carry, with much jeopardy to themselves, the great mail on the north road.” 

The Binks at South Queensferry: rocky ledges to the west of the harbour, exposed at low tide, forming natural piers used in early centuries as landing places.

At the time of the tragic accident quoted at the top of this article, there were two piers here on the south side of the Forth – one at New Halls which was then a separate hamlet (the site of today’s Hawes Pier), and one in South Queensferry itself at the harbour. There were also natural landing places, including the Binks rocks, Queen Margaret’s original launch location.

The New Statistical Account of Queensferry tells us that in 1809: “There were no suitable piers, no superintendents, boats only at the North Ferry, where all the boatmen lived, other traffic at the wharfs unconnected with the passage, and the arrangements at the piers so incomplete, as to admit of passage only four and a half hours in each tide. The rates and dues belonged to individuals, and the jurisdiction was such, that the proprietors could not be compelled to keep the piers in a state of repair.”

Besides the dangerous state of the piers and lack of supporting infrastructure, the accident may also have been a factor in pushing an application to Parliament in 1809 for a change in the way the crossing was regulated. The resulting Act of Parliament established a Trust, with Trustees drawn from various public offices, as well as the proprietor of New Halls estate and all those in the counties bordering the crossing who had a personal net worth of over 200 pound Scots. The Trust had the authority to construct piers, access roads, boatmen's houses and other infrastructure. A mix of public and private funding was secured, with Parliament advancing half of the money and the other half met by individuals.

Scottish civil engineer John Rennie was engaged for the works, and by around 1812 four new piers were constructed on the south – New Halls Pier (replacing the original one), a small pier at Port Neuk (behind Honey Pot Creative, almost no remains), a pier at Port Edgar and Long Craig. Hawes Pier and Long Craig Pier slope into the sea, designed so that they can be used even at low tide. While Hawes Pier has been in constant use and has been resurfaced, the stonework on the Long Craig Pier is original, albeit repaired in places. The South Queensferry Lighthouse, nestled between the RNLI shop and the cruise ticket office, was built in 1812 as part of the works too, and was in operation until the Hawes Pier Light was installed in 1877. The Act introduced other regulations relating to the crossing, including that “not more than two thirds of the boats and yawls to remain at each side.”

Map produced 1832, showing the four new piers. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

The New Statistical Account quotes the following traffic figures for the crossing in 1811: An average of 228 persons crossed per day, and up to 447. Annually, there were 1515 carriages, 4254 carts; 18,154 horses, 18,037 cattle, 23,151 sheep, 2018 dogs and 5590 barrels.

The arrival of steam navigation around 1820 was another major change. The steam boat “Queen Margaret” launched in 1821, made the crossing faster and less dependent on calm weather. Porters to attend to passengers on each side were employed by the trustees. It was more expensive to cross in the dark than in the light. Passengers exempt from the crossing fee included “mail horses or expresses from the post-office; soldiers on march, horses of officers, ordnance carts, volunteers, if in uniform; carts carrying vagrants with the legal passes.”

Long Craig Pier (2026)

Newhalls Pier (and Newhalls Inn) had become Hawes Pier and Hawes Inn by the time Robert Louis Stevenson visited in the 1880s, and set his novel Kidnapped here. The protagonist David Balfour is tricked into boarding a ship at Hawes Pier, with the promise that “the boat’ll set ye ashore at the town pier, and that’s but a penny stonecast from Rankeillor’s house.”

Hawes Pier was used regularly by passenger and cargo ferries until the opening of the Forth Road Bridge in 1964. The pier is now used by primarily by the RNLI and commercial sight-seeing tours. Long Craig pier is used and maintained by the Scouts. Old stonework is still visible on the piers at Queensferry Harbour. Port Edgar was heavily used by the Royal Navy during both wars, and the associated development there makes it harder to trace the earlier infrastructure.

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William Brassey Hole, The Landing of St Margaret at Queensferry A.D. 1068, 'National Galleries of Scotland' 

The Queen’s Ferry

Queen Margaret was born in Hungary, the daughter of an 11^th century English prince of the House of Wessex, who had been exiled there.

When her father was named heir to the English throne in 1057, he took his family, including Margaret and her siblings Edgar and Cristina, back to England. Dying shortly after, he left Edgar as heir, who inherited the throne after the death of Harold at the Battle of Hastings. But he was never crowned – with the Normans victorious, the royal family fled north, not before Edgar had spent some time in the custody of William the Conqueror.

They landed in Scotland and were welcomed by King Malcolm III. Within a year, Margaret was married to King Malcolm – it’s possible that they were previously betrothed. The wedding took place in Dunfermline where Malcolm had a palace.

A devout catholic, Margaret funded a free ferry for pilgrims to cross the Forth to St Andrew’s Cathedral, at the narrowest navigable part of the Forth to the west of Edinburgh. She also funded hostels on each side of the crossing, hence the establishment of the settlements at the Queen’s ferry. Malcolm and Margaret’s marriage was a long and happy one; she was extremely active and influential in Scottish religious life, and while Malcolm was not particularly religious himself he was happy for her to pursue her reforms. They had eight children. Margaret died at the age of 49 within days of learning that her husband and one of her sons had been killed at the Battle of Alnwick.

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Published in konect March 2026

Author: Helen-Jane Gisbourne