New St, Musselburgh, EH21 6DH

Fisherrow is a harbour and former fishing village West of Musselburgh. The fishermen from here used to fish for herring, and later for white fish, prawns and sprats. This is not to be confused with the harbour at in the estuary of the river Esk, which was renown of the shellfish from this area gave rise to the name “Musselburgh”. In fact, there was some healthy rivalry between the two communities, for instance golf tournaments took place between the fishwives of Musselburgh and Fisherrow. The community held a “Box Walk” in September, marking the end of the fishing season, and giving charity to those in need.

Fisherrow Harbour and Seashore Association https://www.fhsa.org.uk

Morrisons Haven, Prestonpans, EH32 9RX

Prestongrange was a key industrial area for hundreds of years. The busy activity included harbour, glass works, pottery, colliery and brickworks. Whilst the workshops and factories have now disappeared, the industrial landscape remains, including a large winding gear, a vast brick kiln and a Cornish beam engine. Thus, following the closure of the Prestongrange coal mine in 1962 (spanning in total over 700 years of coal mining in the area), the site was transformed into an open-air museum with a dedicated Visitor Centre.

Visitors can experience the hubbub of industry that was Prestongrange, from the the first deep shaft in Scotland, which Matthias Dunn of Newcastle sank in 1830 to the Great Seam at 420 feet (128 m), and right to the end of the coal power in the area with the decommissioning of the Cockenzie Power Station in 2013 and the demolition of its two iconic 149m-tall chimney stacks. The ash lagoons created by the power station span the coastline towards Musselburgh, now home to abundant wildlife sheltered by the low woodland.

Prestongrange Museum https://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/info/210593/museums/11878/museums_in_east_lothian/4

Aberlady Bay Car Park, Longniddry, EH32 0QB

Along the coastal path connecting Aberlady with North Berwick, one can see many curiosities including the wreck of two World War II X-type midget submarines in Aberlady Bay.  These vessels were about 16 metres (52 ft) long, only big enough for a crew of four: a commander, a pilot, an engineer and a specialist diver. They were powered by a diesel engine when on the surface and an electric motor when underwater. These midget submarines were exclusively used for special coastal operations, for instance the 1943 raid on the German battleship Tirpitz in a Norwegian fjord and as guide boats for the 1944 Normandy landings.

The two submarine skeletons in Aberlady Bay were exclusively used for training, firstly as part of preparing for missions, as well as targeting research and for anti-submarine areal defence. It was as part of this latter use that they were towed and moored in the shallow waters near Aberlady, so they could be part of trials launched form the nearby East Fortune airfield.

Midget Submarines in Aberlady Bay https://awesomeaberlady.com/aberlady-bay-midget-submarines/

Tantallon, EH39 5PN

Tantallon Castle’s ruins sit on top of a sea cliff opposite the Bass Rock, and represent the last curtain castle constructed in Scotland, dating from mid-14^th century. The castle’s dominant “curtain wall” is made from distinct red sandstone and spans over 15 metres (49 ft) high, 3.6 metres (12 ft) thick, and around 90 metres (300 ft) long, with ruined towers on each side. The castle was besieged, attacked and damaged through some of the decisive moments in Scottish history, from the Bishop’s Wars to the 1651 Cromwell’s invasion, the latter leaving it ruined. Since, the castle has been quarried for stone, inspired a number of artworks, and served in training exercises in World War II to the nearby East Fortune airfield, which is now the National Museum of Flight. Tantallon is open to visitors, managed by the Historic Environment Scotland.

Tantallon Castle https://www.historicenvironment.scot/visit-a-place/places/tantallon-castle/

Dunbar, EH42 1HY

Dunbar Harbour is an important shellfish harbour as well as mooring for pleasure and rowing boats, and was in the past a key maritime commercial hub at the mouth of the Firth of Forth. The Harbour is made up of three distinct parts: The Old Harbour (sometimes called Cromwell Harbour) is dating from 1547 to the East and is protected by a 920ft sea-wall terminating short of Lamar Island, a rocky outcrop which long sheltered the prior natural anchorage. The New or Victoria Harbour in the West dating from 1842; and Broad Haven, the old entryway to from the sea, now sheltered water between the two Harbours. In the past, the harbours here were also protected by one of the strongest fortresses in Scotland, the Dunbar Castle, ruins of which are to the north of Victoria Harbour. 

Dunbar Harbour is also known as the home to the second oldest Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) station in the UK, constructed in 1901 and continuing a service dating from 1808. The Harbour complex has a number of engineering features such as:  The Ordnance Survey Tidal Gauge built in 1913 as part of a network of stations used to establish the ‘Mean Sea Level’ to measure all land heights in the UK; a 19th century two-leaf bascule bridge that spans from the Victoria Harbours Quay to the Lamar Island; and Dunbar Battery, a built in 1781 on Lamar Island, to protect the town from privateers. The battery’s structures were converted into a hospital for infectious diseases in 1874, though closing in 1906, until being re-opened as a World War I hospital in 1914. More than a century later, in 2017, the battery has been repurposed as an outdoor arts venue.

Dunbar Battery: https://dunbarbattery.org.uk/
Dunbar Harbour Trust: https://dunbarharbourtrust.co.uk/
Dunbar RNLI Station: https://rnli.org/find-my-nearest/lifeboat-stations/dunbar-lifeboat-station