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Of all the terrors known to mariners navigating the
east coast of Scotland in olden days, the Inchcape Rock,
otherwise known as the Bell Rock, was probably the one most
dreaded! The fear of striking the rock was so great, that
it is said that more ships were shipwrecked on the neighbouring
shores trying to avoid it, than actually on it!
At best, it may be described as a treacherous submerged
reef, situated in the northern reaches of the great sea
estuary known as the Firth of Forth, and as such lies directly
in the way of shipping approaching the River Tay and the
City of Dundee.
Map showing the position of the Bell Rock on the coast of
Scotland
Whatever may have been the early state of the Inch Cape
or Bell Rock as an island, Stevenson, in his “Account” says:
“Its present character is strictly that of a sunken
rock and, as such, its relative situation on the
eastern shores of Great Britain renders it one of the chief
impediments to the free navigation of that coast.”
The earliest mention of the Rock in contemporary records
comes from the Cosmographer to the King of France in
1583, Nicolay D’Arfville, Seigneur Du d’Aulphinois.
This French writer gives a hydrographical description of
the coast of Scotland from Leith to the Solway Coast mentioning
the distances of places, tides, rocks and sandbanks, or
“dangers” as they were termed, to be avoided. In describing
the coastline from Leith to Caithness he observes:
“Entre Finismes [Fifeness] et la pointe nommé Redde,
xii mille à l’est sud-est du costé de la dicte pointe Redde,
gist un danger appelé Inchkope”
This is undoubtedly a reference to the Bell Rock, the inch
or island of the Cape, and with an obvious reference to
Redhead, the highest point on the coast just to the
north of Arbroath.
An old Scottish writer, to which Stoddard refers in his
“Remarks on Scotland”, and attributed to John Monypenny
(1633), says:
“By east of the Isle of May, twelve miles from all land
in the German Seas, lyes a great hidden rock, called Inchcape,
very dangerous for navigators, because it is overflowed
every tide. It is reported in old times, upon the saide
rocke there was a bell, fixed upon a tree or timber, which
rang continually, being moved by the sea, giving notice
to the saylers of the danger. This bell or clocke was put
there and maintained by the Abbot of Aberbrothock, and being
taken down by a sea pirate, a yeare thereafter he perished
upon the rocke, with ship and goodes, in the righteous judgment
of God.”
This reference above to the Abbot of Aberbrothock
and the bell, which tradition says he placed on the Rock,
would suggest the correct origin of the name Bell Rock.
Even Stevenson himself thought that the erection of a bell
was not an “improbable conjecture”. The Abbot obviously
knew well of the peril to vessels offshore, and decided
to mark the place with a floating bell to warn them of the
dangers.
Readers, who are aware of Robert Southey’s famous poem
“Inchcape
Rock”, will know about the pirate, Sir Ralph the
Rover, who, as Monypenny says, became a victim himself of
the Rock, having a year earlier cut down the Abbot’s bell.
“Canst hear,” said one, “the breakers roar?
For methinks we should be near the shore.”
“Now, where we are I cannot tell,
But I wish we could hear the Inchcape Bell.”
Sir Ralph the Rover tore his hair,
He curst himself in his despair;
The waves rush in on every side,
The ship is sinking beneath the tide.
The Bell Rock is situated off the east coast of Scotland,
approximately 11 miles from the Royal Burgh of Arbroath,
and 14 miles from St Andrews on the Fife coast. Its composition
is that of sandstone of a reddish colour. Redhead
and the sea-cliffs in the area are formed of similar rocks,
and old Arbroath and its ancient Abbey are built of the
same material. This strata of red sandstone rock extends
across the Firth of Forth to the Coast of Berwick and the
town of Dunbar, over 35 miles distant (almost 60km).
Chart showing the distance of the Bell Rock from the Friths
of Forth and Tay
The main part of the rock is about 427 feet (130.14m)
in length and 230 feet (70.1m) in breadth; however,
the south-western reef extends another 1000 feet (304.8m)
beyond the main area. Stevenson remarks that the “greatest
length, therefore, of the Bell Rock, which may be said to
be dangerous to shipping, is about 1427 feet (435m), and
its greatest breadth is about 300 feet (91.4m).”
Tides vary, of course, according to the time of year. At
high water during spring tides, the part of the rock on
which the lighthouse is built, is on average about 12
feet (3.65m) below water level; and at low water
of spring tides, where the lighthouse is built, the rock
is about 4 feet (1.22m) above sea level. Higher
parts of the rock may be two to three feet higher above
that again. At low water during neap tides hardly any part
of the rock is visible.
Before the lighthouse was built the position of the rock
would be, in most instances, quite noticeable due to the
huge breakers and waves crashing over the area. Even
the noise in itself would suggest that there was something
very nasty in the vicinity! However, in calm weather and
at high tides, nothing whatsoever would be visible to warn
of the great danger that lay only feet below the surface.
Sometimes great rocks or boulders are thrown up onto the
rock by the sheer force of the sea. These rocks (called
Travellers) may weigh as much as two tons. They may
lie on the surface of the Rock for many months until another
great storm comes along, whereupon the force, which deposited
them there in the first instance, carries them off again
back into the sea.
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