Granton Sea Quarry

Jan 152019

Photograph of a field with the harbour in the background; this was the original location of the quarry — The original location of the quarry, now near-invisible

West Shore Road, Edinburgh EH5 1QT

This stretch of grassy fields (Gypsy Brae) was the location of Granton Sea Quarry. The earliest recorded use of stone from this quarry is for Holyrood Palace (1532) and Leith Bulwark (1552-53). Later, the stone was used for Granton Harbour’s pier and breakwater, the Granton Hotel, and even the statue on top of Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square, London. The quarry, nearly 80 feet deep and over eight acres, collapsed and flooded after a storm in 1855. In 1884, it became the headquarters for the Scottish Marine Station for Scientific Research. This organisation carried out research on marine life in the quarry both from a floating platform and nearby buildings. The inconspicuous rock beds along the Forth shoreline are known as the Muirhouse ‘shrimp-bed’, in which geologists made a major discovery: a complete conodont, an eel-like creature whose teeth are the earliest found in the fossil record. The first trace fossils of the body of a conodont was unknowingly collected in the quarry in the 1920s. Starting in the 1980s, 11 more near-complete conodonts were found and identified, and then more again in 2013.

Extract from Mechanic’s Magazine, Museum, Register, Journal & Gazette, Jan-June 1842, p480

Black and white illustration of the Scottish Marine Station for Scientific Research in the quarry — Scottish Marine Station for Scientific Research in the quarry

Portrait of Patrick Geddes Inga Mantle — Patrick Geddes was the director of Education & Zoology of the Royal Scottish Marine Station (Laboratory) based at Old Sea Quarry in Granton 1884.

The Building of Granton Harbour

Granton No Responses »

Jan 152019

Photograph overlooing the west harbour of Granton Harbour — This road is located on the original middle pier. Looking towards Leith, the west harbour is now used for leisure purposes

Lochinvar Drive, Edinburgh EH5 1GT

The idea of building a harbour at Granton is said to have been suggested in 1834 by R.W. Hamilton, the manager of the General Steam Navigation Company. A deep water port, unlike Leith harbour, which was tidal, would allow Edinburgh to import and export goods. The 5th Duke of Buccleuch, who owned land in the area, saw the opportunity to build this new harbour on part of the estate he owned, which included Caroline Park House. Robert Stevenson, the lighthouse engineer and grandfather of Robert Louis Stevenson, advised on the harbour’s design and it was built using stone from the Granton Sea Quarry. Construction was completed in 1863, although part of the harbour, the Central Pier, was opened much earlier on 28 June 1838, the day of Queen Victoria’s Coronation.

Color photograph of pilot boats on the Forth — Pilot Boats on the Forth

Vintage map of Granton Harbour and the surrounding neighbourhood — The development of Granton Harbour

Sepia photograph of Walter Francis Montagu Douglas Scott, 5th Duke of Buccleuch, 7th Duke of Queensberry

Colorful painting of two boats in Granton Harbour by Jenny Haslam

Red, yellow, and turquoise abstract illustration of boats in Granton Harbour by Louise Montgomery — Boats at Granton Harbour by Louise Montgomery

New Curious Edinburgh tours

For International Women’s Day on March 8, we are launching a new tour featuring locations in Edinburgh connected to amazing women in STEM. Celebrate equality, diversity and inclusion in STEM by taking a look at Edinburgh-connected women who have made an impact in a wide range of STEM fields.

Check out our new bird trail! We are currently working on the development of coastal trails, in collaboration with Traveltech for Scotland and the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s Young Academy Scotland’s Coastal Knowledge map. Here you can upload your own experiences of the coast, including birds you have spotted.

Last year we added the Second World War tour developed by academics from the schools of Social and Political Science and History, Classics and Archeology.