Eyemouth


Scottish Borders

A large village of Berwickshire in the Scottish Borders, Eyemouth is situated at the mouth of the Eye Water 8 miles (13 km) north of Berwick-upon-Tweed. This large fishing and holiday resort town on the Berwickshire coast became a burgh of barony in 1597 and was the port for Coldingham Priory. The town prospered through the 19th-century with the herring trade and the railway, now gone. Notorious as a centre of smuggling, its narrow and intersecting alleys are said to have given the smugglers a good chance of slipping past customs men in the 18th and 19th centuries. The harbour (1768) was extended in the late 19th century and deepened in 1964, providing shelter for one of Scotland's mid-sized fleets (126 vessels in 1997). In 1881 disaster hit Eyemouth when a gale sank half its fleet, leaving 129 drowned. The disaster is still referred to as 'Black Friday'. This event is commemorated by a memorial and as part of the events surrounding the crowning of a Herring Queen, held annually in July. The Queen sails into the harbour and parades around the town.

In the late 1990s, Eyemouth has benefitted from considerable private housing development, a further extension to the harbour, a new fish-market, with visitor centre, and an ice plant capable of producing 30 tonnes of ice per day and delivering it directly into the holds of the fishing boats.


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