Bass Rock

Bass Rock
Firth of Forth (East Lothian)
The Bass Rock from North Berwick
Location
Location:	56°4’48"N, 2°38’24"W
Grid reference:	NT602873
Area:	7 acres
Highest point:	351 feet
Data
Population:	0

The Bass Rock is an island in the outer part of the Firth of Forth forming part of East Lothian. It is approximately a mile and a half offshore, and 3 miles north-east of North Berwick, and defies many attempts to land safely, so fierce are the rolling waves of the Forth against its unyielding rocky sides. Nevertheless, it has served as a fortress and a grim prison. It forms part of the parish of North Berwick.

The Bass is a steep-sided volcanic rock, reaching 351 feet at its highest point, and it is home to a large colony of gannets. The rock is currently uninhabited, but historically has been settled by an early Christian hermit, and later was the site of an important castle, which was, after Cromwell’s days, used as a prison. The island was in the ownership of the Lauder family for almost six centuries, and now belongs to Sir Hew Fleetwood Hamilton-Dalrymple. A lighthouse was constructed on the rock in 1902, and the remains of a chapel are located there.

The Bass Rock features in numerous works of fiction, including Robert Stevenson's Catriona and The Lion is Rampant by contemporary Scottish novelist Ross Laidlaw.

Geography and geology

Map of Bass Rock

The island is a volcanic plug of phonolitic trachyte rock of Carboniferous (Dinantian) age. The rock was first recognised as an igneous intrusion by James Hutton, while Hugh Miller visited in 1847 and wrote about the Rock's geology in his book Edinburgh and its Neighbourhood, Geological and Historical: with The Geology of the Bass Rock.

The Bass Rock stands over 350 feet high in the Firth of Forth Islands Special Protection Area which covers some, but not all of the islands in the inner and outer Firth. The Bass Rock is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in its own right, due to its gannet colony. It is sometimes called "the Ailsa Craig of the East". It is of a similar geological form to nearby North Berwick Law, a hill on the mainland. There are a couple of related volcanic formations within nearby Edinburgh, namely Arthur's Seat and Castle Rock.

Much of the island is surrounded by steep cliffs and rocks, with a slope facing south south west which inclines at a steep angle.

The Bass does not occupy the skyline of the Firth quite as much as its equivalent in the Clyde, Ailsa Craig, but it can be seen from much of southern and eastern Fife, most of East Lothian, and high points in the Lothians and Borders, such as Arthur's Seat, and the Lammermuir Hills.

Surrounding islands

The Bass is one of a small string of islands off part of the East Lothian coast, which in turn are considered some of the Islands of the Forth. To the west are Craigleith, and the Lamb, Fidra and finally to the west of Fidra, the low lying island of Eyebroughy. These are also mainly the result of volcanic activity.

To the north-east, the Isle of May on the coast of the East Neuk of Fife, can be seen.

History

The island was a retreat for early Christian hermits; St Baldred is said to have lived there in 600 AD.

The Lauder Family

The earliest recorded proprietors are the Lauder of the Bass family, from whom Sir Harry Lauder is descended. According to legend, the island is said to have been a gift from King Malcolm III of Scotland. Their crest is, appropriately, a Gannet standing upon a rock.

The family had from an early date a castle on the island. Sir Robert de Lawedre is mentioned by Blind Harry in The Actes and Deidis of the Illustre and Vallyeant Campioun Schir William Wallace as a compatriot of William Wallace, and Alexander Nisbet recorded his tombstone in 1718, in the floor of the old kirk in North Berwick:

"here lies Sir Robert de Lawedre, great laird of The Bass, who died May 1311".

Five years later his son received that part of the island which until then had been retained by The Church because it contained the holy cell of St Baldred. A century on Wyntown's Cronykil relates:

"In 1406 King Robert III, apprehensive of danger to his son James (afterwards James I) from the Duke of Albany, placed the youthful prince in the safe-custody of Sir Robert Lauder in his secure castle on The Bass prior to an embarkation for safer parts on the continent."

Subsequently, says Tytler, "Sir Robert Lauder of The Bass was one of the few people whom King James I admitted to his confidence." In 1424 Sir Robert Lauder of The Bass, with 18 men, had a safe-conduct with a host of other noblemen, as a hostage for James I at Durham. J J Reid also mentions that "in 1424 when King James I returned from his long captivity in England, he at once consigned to the castle of The Bass, Walter Stewart, the eldest son of Murdoch Stewart, Duke of Albany, his cousin. The person who received the payments for the prisoner's support was Sir Robert Lauder", whom Tytler further describes as "a firm friend of the King".

Hector Boece

Hector Boece offers the following description (original spelling):

“

ane wounderful crag, risand within the sea, with so narrow and strait hals [passage] that na schip nor boit bot allanerlie at ane part of it. This crag is callet the Bas; unwinnabil by ingine [ingenuity] of man. In it are coves, als profitable for defence of men as [if] thay were biggit be crafty industry. Every thing that is in that crag is ful of admiration and wounder.

”

Royal visits

In 1497 King James IV visited the Bass and stayed in the castle with a later Sir Robert Lauder of The Bass (d.bef Feb 1508). The boatmen who conveyed the King from Dunbar were paid 14 shillings. George Lauder of The Bass entertained King James VI of Scotland when he visited The Bass in 1581 and was so enamoured that he offered to buy the island, a proposition which did not commend itself to George Lauder. The King appears to have accepted the situation with good grace. George was a Privy Counsellor - described as the King's "familiar councillor" - and tutor to the young Prince Henry.

Famous prisoners

During the 15th century James I consigned several of his political enemies, including Walter Stewart to The Bass. In this period, many members of the Clan MacKay ended up here, including, Neil Bhass MacKay (Niall "Bhas" MacAoidh), who gained his epithet from being imprisoned there as a fourteen year old in 1428. He was kept there as a hostage, after his father, Aonghas Dubh (Angus Dhu) of Strathnaver in Sutherland was released, as security.

Cromwellian invasion and after

The Bass in the 17th century

After almost 600 years, the Lauders lost The Bass during Cromwell's invasion, and the castle subsequently (in 1671) became a notorious gaol to which for many decades religious and political prisoners, especially Covenanters such as Alexander "Prophet" Peden, were sent. John Blackadder, one of the Covenanting martyrs, died on the Bass in 1686 and is buried at North Berwick, where a United Free Church was named after him.

Charles Maitland, 3rd Earl of Lauderdale held the Bass for James VII for a brief period after the Scottish parliament declared his abdication. The fortress was destroyed by the government in 1701, and on 31 July 1706 the President of the Court of Session, Lord Dalrymple, acquired The Bass by charter (ratified by Parliament in March 1707), for a purely nominal sum, and the island has been ever since in the uninterrupted possession of the Dalrymple family.

Description

On the island stands 66 foot lighthouse built in 1902 by David Stevenson, who demolished the 13th century keep, or governor's house, and some other buildings within the castle for the stone. The Commissioners of the Northern Lighthouse Board decided that a lighthouse should be erected on the Bass Rock in July 1897 along with another light at Barns Ness near Dunbar. The cost of constructing the Bass Rock light was £8,087, a light first being shone from the rock on the evening of 1 November 1902. It has been unmanned since 1988 and is remotely monitored from the Board’s headquarters in Edinburgh. Until the automation the lighthouse was lit by incandescent gas obtained from vaporised paraffin oil converted into a bunsen gas for heating a mantle. Since that time a new Biform ML300 synchronised bifilament 20 watt electric lamp has been used.

Castle

Not far above the landing-place the slope is crossed by a curtain wall, which naturally follows the lie of the ground, having sundry projections and round bastions where a rocky projection offers a suitable foundation. The parapets are battlemented, with the usual walk along the top of the walls. Another curtain wall at right-angles runs down to the sea close to the landing-place, ending in a ruined round tower, whose vaulted base has poorly splayed and apparently rather unskillfully constructed embrasures. The entrance passes through this outwork wall close to where it joins the other.

The remains of the castle today, and the lighthouse

The main defences are entered a little farther on in the same line, through a projecting two-story building which has some fireplaces with very simple and late mouldings. The buildings are of the local basalt, and the masonry is rough rubble; there are, as is so frequently the case, no very clear indications for dating the different parts, which were in all probability erected at different times.

A little beyond the entrance there is a tower that formed a simple bastion and to which has been added a gabled chamber in the 17th century, which, though of restricted dimensions, must have been comfortable enough, with blue Dutch tiles round its moulded fireplace, now very much decayed.

Well and chapel

During the 16th and 17th centuries there was sufficient grass present for 100 sheep to graze. The freshwater well was right at the top of the island, where today the foghorn is situated.

Half-way up the island stands the ruin of St Baldred's Chapel, which is sited upon a cell or cave in which this Scottish Saint spent some time. Although the Lauders held most of the Bass Rock, this part of it had remained in the ownership of The Church until 1316 when it was granted to the family. The chapel appears to have been rebuilt by the Lauder family several times. A Papal Bull dated 6 May 1493, refers to the Parish Church of the Bass, or the Chapel of St Baldred, being "noviter erecta" at that time. On the 5 January 1542 we find John Lauder, son of Sir Robert Lauder of The Bass, Knt., as "the Cardinal's Secretary" representing Cardinal David Beaton at a reconsecration of the restored and ancient St. Baldred's chapel on The Bass. In 1576 it is recorded that the Church on the Bass, and that at Auldhame (on the mainland), required no readers.

Wildlife

Gannets circling above the Bass

The island plays host to more than 150,000 Gannets and is the largest single rock gannetry in the world, described famously by Sir David Attenborough as "one of the wildlife wonders of the world". When viewed from the mainland, large regions of the surface appear white due to the sheer number of birds (and their droppings, which give off 150 tons of ammonia a year, equivalent to the achievements of 10 million broilers). In fact the scientific name for the Northern Gannet, Sula bassana or Morus bassanus, derives its name from the rock. They were traditionally known in Scots as 'Solan Goose'. In common with other gannetries, such as St Kilda, the birds were harvested for their eggs and the flesh of their young chicks, which were considered delicacies. It is estimated that in 1850 almost 2,000 birds were harvested from the rock.

Other bird species that frequent the rock include Guillemot, Razorbill, Cormorant, Puffin, Eider Duck and numerous gulls.

The natural history of the rock was written about almost five hundred years ago in John Mair's De Gestis Scotorum ("The deeds of the Scots") published in 1521. Today, the Scottish Seabird Centre at North Berwick has solar powered cameras located on the island which beam back live close up images of the seabirds to large screens on the mainland, just over a mile away. The images are sharp enough for visitors at the Scottish Seabird Centre to read the ID rings on birds' feet. The Seabird Centre has 10 cameras located on the islands of the Forth and also broadcasts the images live on the internet. The Centre also has exclusive landing rights to the island from the owner Sir Hew Hamilton-Dalrymple and operates a limited number of photographic boat trips to the islands throughout the year, weather permitting.

Plants

The soil is fertile and supports a wide variety of plants. These include the Bass mallow which is otherwise only found on a few other islands, including Ailsa Craig and Steep Holm.

Cultural references

Caves in the Bass Rock

Due to its imposing nature, prison and connection with Scottish history, the Bass has been featured in several fictional works.

The Seafarer

The Old English poem known as The Seafarer is a tenth century poem consisting of the lament of a lonely, wandering seafarer as an analogy for the woes of the world. It is one of the finest examples of Anglo-Saxon poetry to come down to us, indeed one of the finest poems ever written in English. James Fisher (1912 - 1970) analysed the reference to sea birds in The Seafarer and determined from the accuracy of the observations found there that poet was a seasoned ornithologist with particular knowledge and experience of the gannets of the Bass Rock.

Robert Louis Stevenson and Catriona

Robert Louis Stevenson had at least one strong connection with the Bass, as his cousin, David Stevenson, designed the lighthouse there. Amongst his earliest memories were holidays in North Berwick. He often stayed at Scoughall Farm, whence the Bass can be seen, and some local folklore gave him the inspiration for his short story The Wreckers.

Catriona is Stevenson's 1893 sequel to Kidnapped. Both novels are set in the aftermath of the Jacobite Risings, in the mid-18th century. The first part of the Catriona recounts the attempts of the hero - David Balfour - to gain justice for James Stewart - James of the Glens - who has been arrested and charged with complicity in the Appin Murder. David makes a statement to a lawyer, and goes on to meet Lord Prestongrange, the Lord Advocate, to press the case for James' innocence. However his attempts fail as he is once again kidnapped and confined on the Bass Rock, until the trial is over, and James condemned to death.

The book begins with a dedication to Charles Baxter, a friend of Stevenson, written in his home in Western Samoa and says:

“

There should be left in our native city some seed of the elect; some long-legged, hot-headed youth must repeat to-day our dreams and wanderings of so many years ago; he will relish the pleasure, which should have been ours, to follow among named streets and numbered houses the country walks of David Balfour, to identify Dean, and Silvermills, and Broughton, and Hope Park, and Pilrig, and poor old Lochend - if it still be standing, and the Figgate Whins - if there be any of them left; or to push (on a long holiday) so far afield as Gillane or the Bass. So, perhaps, his eye shall be opened to behold the series of the generations, and he shall weigh with surprise his momentous and nugatory gift of life.

”

View towards Belhaven Bay (John Muir Country Park) from Dunbar with North Berwick Law and Bass Rock in the distance.

Chapter XIV is entitled simply, The Bass, and gives a long description of the island, which is described as "just the one crag of rock, as everybody knows, but great enough to carve a city from."

“

It was an unco place by night, unco by day; and there were unco sounds; of the calling of the solans [gannets], and the plash [splash] of the sea, and the rock echoes that hung continually in our ears. It was chiefly so in moderate weather. When the waves were anyway great they roared about the rock like thunder and the drums of armies, dreadful, but merry to hear, and it was in the calm days when a man could daunt himself with listening; so many still, hollow noises haunted and reverberated in the porches of the rock.

”

Bruce Marshall and Father Malachy's Miracle

Scottish writer Bruce Marshall used Bass Rock as the miraculous destination of the "Garden of Eden", a dance hall of dubious reputation in Father Malachy's Miracle a 1938 novel.

During an argument with a Protestant minister, Father Malachy, claims that God could miraculously remove the "Garden of Eden." The Protestant scoffs and Father Malachy inadvertently predicts that God will indeed remove the "Garden of Eden" on a specific date.

The date comes and the building and all people inside vanish and reappear on Bass Rock. This apparent miracle draws the attention of the media, politicians and scientists, all trying to find rational explanations. The Roman Church is reluctant to officially recognize this occurrence as a miracle, both fearing a loss of control in matters of faith, or a loss of face if the disappearance of the "Garden of Eden" would turn out to be a fabrication.

The novel was the basis for the German film Das Wunder des Malachias a 1961 black-and-white film directed by Bernhard Wicki and starring Horst Bollmann. The film did not specify Bass Rock as the destination of the offending dance hall.

James Robertson and The Fanatic

The Bass Rock is a key location in The Fanatic, a novel by James Robertson. The novel tells the story of a tourist guide in modern day Edinburgh who becomes obsessed with two characters from Edinburgh's past: Major Thomas Weir, a Presbyterian who was eventually executed for incest, bestiality and witchcraft; and James Mitchel, a Covenanter who attempted to assassinate the Archbishop of St Andrews. Mitchel was tortured, imprisoned on the Bass Rock and eventually also executed.

Proverb

An old saying has the following:

"Ding doun Tantallon,—

Mak a brig to the Bass."

This meant to do something impossible.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Bass Rock)

• Bass Rock Gannetry – wildlife wonder of the world
• History of the island
• NLB History of Bass Rock Lighthouse
• Article from The Gazetteer for Scotland
• Webcams at Scottish Seabird Centre Website
• A Bass Day in the Life of Maggie

References

• The History of Scotland, by Patrick Fraser Tytler, Edinburgh, 1866, vol.III, pps:187 -190.)
• The Bass - Early notices by John J. Reid, in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1885.
• Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland 1357 - 1509, edited by Joseph Bain, F.S.A.,(Scot), Edinburgh, 1888, vol. iv, number 942, 3 February 1424.
• The Bass Rock and its Story by Louis A. Barbé, Glasgow & Edinburgh: William Hodge & Co, 1904.
• North Berwick, Gullane, Aberlady and East Linton District, by R.P.Phillimore, North Berwick, 1913, p. 40.
• The Berwick and Lothian Coasts by Ian C. Hannah, London & Leipzig, 1913.
• The Bass Rock in History in Transactions of the East Lothian Antiquarian & Field Naturalists' Society, 1948, vol.5, p. 55.
• The Lauders of The Bass by G.M.S.Lauder-Frost, F.S.A.,(Scot), in East Lothian Life, Autumn 1996, issue 22, ISSN 1361-7818