SCAPE

@coastarch.bsky.social

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SCAPE works with the public to research, investigate, interpret and promote the archaeology of Scotland’s coast. https://scapetrust.org/

Cartoon-like drawing of an enemy soldier with the words No Pasaran and You Will Not Pass etched alongside in the wet concrete of the anti-tank cube at Tentsmuir.
This concrete anti-tank block is covered in WW2 graffiti that includes a smiling British soldier
WW2 anti-tank cube with graffiti
BF 1986 Polestar. Zulu, carvel, decked. Built 1897 Gardiner, Cullen. First registered 2/04/1897 to owners George Wood (master), John Wood, James Wood. 1917-19 owner John Mair, Cullen. Information from The Mighty Zulu, Joseph Reid, 2012 - Buckie & District Fishing Heritage Centre Thanks to Chris Harker for sharing these historic images
Fresh erosion shows the upper and lower buildings clearly, separated by a layer of sand.
Erosion has exposed the clear edges of a building
Volunteer lifesaving brigades erected these poles as a stand-in for a ship’s mast – used during regular practice drills firing a line from a mobile rocket apparatus to a ship in distress.
At Gossaborough, on Yell, several metres of shoreline reveal tumbled masonry, burnt stone and scattered finds – strong evidence of prehistoric houses now being lost to the sea.
Aerial image of the excavation trenches
Eroding beach section at Sads of Breckon
Toft house and enclosure wall in the sand dunes
broch outer works at the edge of a cliff
A corbelled stone structure continues beneath the visible closing slabs.
Breckon Mill
A massive, bleached white Sperm Whale skull rests on the rocky shore north of Portmahomack, having washed ashore years ago. A person stands behind it, highlighting its enormous size. Surrounding the skull are scattered stones and calm waters.
A group of five SCAPE volunteers stand next to an old, ruined fishing boat on the foreshore of the Dornoch Firth.
Opened in May 1936 the Portobello Lido had the first open air wave machine, and its water was heated from the adjacent power station. It was closed in 1979 and demolished in 1988. Copyright undetermined. Image courtesy of University of St Andrews Library.
The inauspicious remains of the building lie close to the shore, and some erosion can be seen on the south side (left-hand side of the picture) of the building.
This would have been a typical form of panhouse working in Scotland from the 15th to the 18th centuries. A very similar building used to stand at the saltworks at the Cock of Arran until it collapsed some years ago, leaving Ascog as a lonely survivor. The building survives to several meters in height on the edge of the bay, made out of red sandstone mortared together. Several small outlets can be seen, which may have been windows or used in the salt-making process. The building is partially covered in ivy and surrounded by trees.
An aerial view of the James A Wright. his is the James A Wright, an American full-rigged merchant ship built in Bath, Maine in 1868. Sailing from Liverpool to Finland when wrecked off Baile Sear in severe westerly gales on the 11th November 1877. All 18 crew were saved. Photo curtesy of David Newman.
Stronsay high school students help complete a measured survey of the kelping landscape at Grice Ness
Local volunteer Fran showing the scale of the Iron Age structure, not much of which is left. Excavations have shown it is 2000-3000 years old. Nearby are fragments of further walls and an area of black peaty deposit containing crushed bone, shell, and burnt stone. Like many sites in mobile sand dune systems, this one is sometimes visible and sometimes not, and always vulnerable to erosion. More of the site might be revealed in the coming years...
David, a local Kintyre volunteer, proudly showing off the partial remains of a millstone that he discovered on the coast at Brunerican Bay.
An original photograph of the Machrihanish Wireless station taken on the 17 October 1906, showing the 400 foot mast, the engine house to the right with chimney and the operators hut on the left. Looking east towards the Uisaed peninsula, with the Cnoc Sabhail Dun in the background. Courtesy of the State Archives of North Carolina. More photos can be found on the North Carolina. Archives website: https://digital.ncdcr.gov/Documents/Detail/selection-of-photographs-from-scrapbook-of-reginald-fessendens-work-on-trans-atlantic-wireless-signaling-with-the-national-electric-signaling-company./282958?item=283000
A 19th-century hand-cranked crane at Rodel Harbour on Harris.