Going Forth

The Hawes Inn has been the starting point of one literary journey in Scott's The Antiquary and a way-point in another, Stevenson's Kidnapped and so it was that we continued in the tradition, starting our little journey down the Forth from Hawes Pier. 

 Fortified with good coffee and a shared oat flapjack, we boarded the Maid of the Forth for our three hour voyage under the bridges, down the firth and down the ages to Inchcolm.

Sailing out under the iconic red structure that is the Forth Bridge, deservedly a World Heritage Site, we gave a thought to those that died in its construction before clearing its shadow and out past the oil terminals towards Inchcolm, - Columba's Isle. -Saint Colmes ynch as Shakespeare would have it.

Originally a Culdee hermit's cell, like its near neighbour Inchmickery, the solitude sought by its sole inhabitant was interrupted by the arrival of King Alexander I, storm bound as he crossed the firth in 1123. His gratitude was such that he established an Augustinian monastery on the island probably the last thing that the Culdee hermit wanted to see, but was in keeping with the royal house of Canmore's promotion of the hierarchical Roman church over the Celtic Columban church throughout their domain.

Despite the attacks of English and Danes, the Scottish religious wars, and being close to the first bombing raid of WWII, it remains the best preserved of Scotland's medieval religious houses.

Cormorant colony

The puffins had left by the time of our trip but the stiff winged fulmars still skimmed the waves and the reptilian eyed herring gulls screamed their raucous threats as we made our way to the island past the cormorant colony on the Haystack, one its rocky outliers.

The abbey has an immediate impact set above a little cove that allows landing access.

A short walk takes you to the buildings and the little hermit's cell or oratory that survives in the grounds of its prestigious successor. We were given a conducted tour and potted history by one of the Augustinian brothers. The chapter-house, cloisters, dormitory, refectory and calefactory or warming-room gave a glimpse of what our own local priory would have looked like before Cromwell's depredations. A few sentences in medieval Latin still adorn a wall. Amongst them, the advice that it is -

Foolish to fear what cannot be avoided

A hog-backed gravestone, typical of Norse burials, was a reminder of the importance of the island as a burial site for chiefs making it the "Iona of the East"

In Shakespeare's Macbeth, Ross, reporting to King Duncan of Macbeth's defeat of the Norwegian invaders, tells of the Norse king, Sweno wishing to bury his dead at Saint Colmes-inch and paying "ten thousand dollars"for the privilege.

Shakespeare's dollars are an anachronism for Macbeth but the term occurs again in The Tempest. Perhaps W.S. meant dalers, Scandinavian coins he would have known about.

Our guide mentioned that the second part of the early Scottish history, the Scotichronicon, started by John of Fordoun in the 14th century, was completed by the abbot, Walter Bower in 15th at Inchcolm.

Sir Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson, William Shakespeare, and now a medieval historian compiling "probably the most important medieval account of early Scottish history", Inchcolm has made its contribution to literature as well as history.

With heads teeming with dates and facts, we boarded the Maid of the Forth for the return trip to South Queensferry and watched the seals lazing on gas pipe-line installations and navigation buoys. What do they care about words and histories as long as there are plenty fish in the sea.

A rainbow bridge between the bridges