Scotland Seaside

Scotland's Coast: A Photographer's... Journey. Following the success of his best-selling First Light, Joe Cornish has now turned his attention to the magnificent scenery of Scotland's 6,000-mile coastline. He has travelled from the Mull of Galloway in the south to the tip of Unst in the Shetlands, the northernmost point in the British Isles, and from remote St Kilda out in the Atlantic to the Sands of Forvie National Nature Reserve on the North Sea to capture the enormous variety of scenery that characterises the Scottish seacoast. Some of the sites he has photographed, like St Kilda or the sandstone peaks overlooking Loch Torridon, belong to the National Trust for Scotland, but many others are privately owned; some, like the majestic Cuillins on Skye, are well-known to tourists, others are hidden coves or remote sea stacks that few visitors will ever have seen. Whatever the subject, be it a wide Hebridean vista or fragmentary patterns of ice on a frozen beach, Joe Cornish, with his artist's eye and his dramatic use of light, helps us to look at it afresh and reveals new and unsuspected beauties. In the text which accompanies his photographs he explains the aspects of each particular landscape that made it special to him, its geology, its flora, its history or its associations. The result is a stunning book book which will delight Cornish's legion of admirers and all those who have found enchantment on Scotland's wonderful coastline.

The Scottish Fisheries Museum. Spectacularly situated on the harbour front in Anstruther, in the heart of the Fife fishing community, the Scottish Fisheries Museum tells the story of fishing in Scotland and its people from earliest times to the present.

The East Neuk, or corner, is one of the main attractions of Fife. It is a stretch of coastline dotted with a series of delightful fishing villages, each clustered around its harbour. The villages are a joy to discover with their wealth of vernacular architecture.

The Scottish Seabird Centre is an award winning wildlife visitor centre and one of Scotland's five star attractions. From its stunning location overlooking the sea and islands of the Forth at North Berwick, visitors enjoy a close encounter with nature to remember.

Aberdeen Maritime Museum. Situated on the historic Shiprow and incorporating Provost Ross's House - built in 1593 - Aberdeen Maritime Museum tells the story of the city's long relationship with the Sea.

Scottish Lighthouses Scotland boasts a landscape of stunning coastlines and awe-inspiring islands. With some of the most dangerous coastal waters in the world, however, such breathtaking scenery comes at a price. Lighthouses have played a significant part in the history of this country, which is so heavily dependent on the sea for its livelihood. Scottish Lighthouses is a beautifully illustrated and insightful tour of 31 magnificent lights, built over the last two centuries to protect ships from the perilous coastline. Because Scotland has led the way in maintaining lighthouse stations, most of the buildings described here are, happily, still both functional and in excellent condition.

North East Coastal Trail. The coastline of the north-east of Scotland is one of the most fascinating, unspoilt and varied stretches of any in Britain. Many of the communities which have grown up by the edge of the sea have at one time earned their living from it. Today their heritage is the tiny fishing harbours, now mostly given over to recreation, as well as the traditions of colourful paintwork which protects their dwellings from the salty winds.

The Dundee Whalers 1750-1914. This is a study of what was Britain's leading whaling port. Today, Dundee captains and the city's whaling fleet have a permanent place in the geography of the world. Cape Adams, Cape Milne, Artic Bay and Eclipse Sound recall an era when the city's stoutly built ships, manned by heroic adventurers, discovered new routes, made new friends, but seldom sailed far from danger. In Dundee itself, streets such as Whale Lane and Baffin Street serve as reminders of an era in which Dundee dominated the whaling grounds. Moreover, the Dundee fleet has excelled as polar exploration ships, providing vessels for Captain Scott, Ernest Shackleton and Admiral Byrd, leaving a permanent reminder of the city's historic role at Dundee Island, Antarctica. An appendix lists all the ships and their captains.

H.M. Frigate Unicorn. Dundee, Scotland. The World's most original Wooden Warship.

Signal Tower Museum. Beside Arbroath's picturesque harbour, high on the sea front, stands an elegant complex of regency buildings. These now house Arbroath Museum but were originally built in 1813 as the shore station and family living quarters for the famous Bell Rock Lighthouse.

Discovery Point, Dundee.Follow in the footsteps of Captain Scott and Ernest Shackleton aboard the Royal Research Ship Discovery and experience one of the greatest stories ever told.

Scottish Maritime Museum. Scotland's influence on the maritime history of the world from the eighteenth century to the modern day has been enormous and out of all proportion to the size of the Country. The three sites operated by the Scottish Maritime Museum contain the exhibitions and collections that tell the story of that great maritime tradition. On two of the sites the buildings themselves are important parts of that story. The sites are complemented by the collection of vessels that represent 150 years of the working vessels of Scotland.

The Magnificent Castle of Culzean and... the Kennedy Family. Culzean castle on the Ayrshire coast is the most visited property of the National Trust for Scotland. Built in the late 16th century above a network of caves, the castle became a centre for smuggling during the 18th century. Sir Thomas Kennedy, 9th Earl of Cassillis, went on an extended grand tour in the 1750s and returned full of ideas as to how to improve his vast estates and home. His brother and heir commissioned Robert Adam to create his masterpiece and became bankrupt as a result. The estate was rescued when wealthy American cousins inherited it in 1792. Archibald Kennedy, 1st Marquess of Ailsa, completed the house and lavished money on the property. Produced in association with the National Trust for Scotland, this volume tells the whole history of the castle. Michael Moss has carried out extensive research, drawing on estate records, original plans and family correspondence to create a major history of the castle and an account of the running of a Scottish country estate.

The Wreckers: A Story of Killing Seas,... From the bestselling author of The Lightouse Stevensons, a gripping history of the drama and danger of wrecking since the eighteenth century, and the often grisly ingenuity of Scottish and British wreckers, scavengers of the sea.

Maritime Scotland (Historic Scotland S.) Maritime history has played a large part in shaping Scotland. Scots have always been close to the sea, it forms most of their boundaries, and provides food, livelihoods and transport. Two maritime themes, the oil industry and nuclear submarine bases, are still at the forefront of Scottish politics. Maritime Scotland.

Echoes of the Sea: Scotland and the Sea... From the curraghs of Celtic monks to the longships of the Vikings, the sea has been central to the Scots. Weaving poetry and prose, reportage and travel writing, the editors have tried to reflect the full range and power of the sea and its influence on Scotland. Maritime Scotland.

The Lighthouse Stevensons Bella Bathurst's epic story of Robert Louis Stevenson's ancestors and the building of the Scottish coastal lighthouses against impossible odds. 'Whenever I smell salt water, I know that I am not far from one of the works of my ancestors,' wrote Robert Louis Stevenson in 1880. 'When the lights come out at sundown along the shores of Scotland, I am proud to think they burn more brightly for the genius of my father!' Robert Louis Stevenson was the most famous of the Stevensons, but not by any means the most productive. The Lighthouse Stevensons, all four generations of them, built every lighthouse round Scotland, were responsible for a slew of inventions in both construction and optics, and achieved feats of engineering in conditions that would be forbidding even today. The same driven energy which Robert Louis Stevenson put into writing, his ancestors put into lighting the darkness of the seas. The Lighthouse Stevensons is a story of high endeavour, beautifully told; indeed, Bella Bathurst writes like a dream and this was one of the most celebrated works of historical biography in recent memory. As a unique history that evokes the exact feel of time and place, this book is quite exceptional.

Salt Herring on Saturday: The Fishertown... Nairn in the 1920s and 1930s was a town of about 4500 people divided between the Fishertown and the Uptown. The author remembers life in the Fishertown, where the fishing provided work and support for as many as 250 Nairn men and their 1500 or so dependants. Before World War I, 75 locally owned boats were engaged in either line or drift-net fishing, and in 1920, when the European market for salt herring was shrinking fast, the Mariner's Almanac for that year showed there were still 30 steam drifters and 42 fishing boats powered by sail belonging to Nairn fishermen. Even in 1931 there were still 210 men employed in the industry, notwithstanding a degree of emigration. By 1951 the census enumerated only 80 fishermen and today there is but a handful, none of them based in the town. The fisher folk had a distinctive way of life, being to some extent detached from the rest of the townspeople by the nature of their exacting trade. They lived like a large family, observing a code of behaviour and set of customs and values prescribed by their seagoing forebears and handed down through generations. Their traditions were nurtured and sustained by a united and unswerving devotion to the ceaseless demands of the fishing industry. A stable pattern of life was established through close working partnerships and strong family ties, as boats were operated by groups of relatives who spent all their working lives together. The women shared equally in this solidarity in their closely packed Fishertown houses, communicating daily with each other over the men's work and their own connected duties.

Scots and the Sea The sea has shaped Scotland and Scots have helped to shape maritime history, trade and communications. "Scots and the Sea" is an account of this continuing interaction. It takes a look at some of the personalities involved; at the courage and endurance of fishermen and their families; the individual brilliance of Admiral Cochrane, who helped establish free nations across the globe; at the self-serving activities of pirates like Captain Kidd; and the bravery of lifeboat volunteers. It visits ports, harbours and shipyards and looks at Scotland's role in ship construction and marine engineering from the galleys and longships of early history to clippers, steamships, ocean liners, hovercraft and oilrigs - and research into wave and tidal power. The book details the origins of Scotland's maritime traditions, the founding of a Scottish navy, the pressures towards Union, development of trade, ports, harbours, shipbuilding and marine engineering and acts of courage at sea. It also recounts the exploits and achievements of Scots in all these fields from Sir Andrew Wood to Sir Andrew Cunningham and takes a look into the future.

The Northern Lighthouse Board's principal concern is with safety: the safety of the mariner at sea; the safety of our own people employed in or around some of the world's most dangerous coastlines; and the safety of environment in which we, and those who come after us, must live and work.