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MHG14260 - Fish Trap or pier - Brecknish

Summary

Culloden Brick and Tile Works pier.

Type and Period (2)

Protected Status

Full Description

A fish trap or C19 pier associated with Culloden Brick and Tile Works.

What could be a long linear fish trap is visible on aerial photography, possibly forming a right angle and extending towards the shore at Brecknish, although these may be separate. <1>

NH713 485 Remains of pier associated with Culloden Tile and Brick Works (site: NH727478 approx). The Brick and tile works were established c1850 by McNab and Campbell and a wooden pier was to be erected, linked to the works by a 1000 yard railway which was to be the first in the north - but it only had horse drawn waggons (Inverness Courier 28 Nov 1850). Bricks and tiles were being shipped to Balintraid where the company had a yard to supply Easter Ross (Northern Ensign 15 April 1852). The tile works were established largely to produce field drainage tiles, following the Drainage Act of 1846, which provided low interest government loans for drainage schemes. Part of the pier is a walkway built with field drainage tiles and is still in position.
Reported by David Alston 14/2/1999

This feature was photographed during aerial surveys by RCAHMS in 2013. See link below to HES Canmore record. <2>

The site was visited by members of the North of Scotland Archaeological Society (NOSAS) on 2nd April 2022 as part of the SCAPE Coastal Survey. There is no doubt the structure is the Culloden Brick and Tile Works pier. However, the remains are insufficient to fully understand the original structure. It sits on the spit and at full tide is totally covered with water but not to a depth that would allow ships to be loaded. The right-angled stone structure at the W end where the water is deepest may have been suitable for ships to come alongside for loading. However, at full tide this would be only usable if there was an upper structure. The wooden timbers of central part of the pier suggest an upper structure, however this has been completely lost. The discovery of twotimbers in situ extending below the brick setting at the inner (landward) end of the pier after the winter storms of 2023/24 may indicate the brick setting originally extended much further down the spit towards the sea. The purpose of the brick setting is unclear but may relate to the reports of there being a wooden trackway or railway which could have taken the products to the end of the pier, however there is no evidence of this option.

The Inverness archives were checked for any documents referring to the pier. There is a considerable archive of newspaper articles about the Brick Works but there is only one on the pier. There is also documentary evidence of the ships owned and used by the Brick Works which taking bricks around the Highlands. For about forty years the pier was used to carry the products of the Brick Works throughout the Highlands but may well have fallen into disrepair rapidly once the Brick Works closed. After the survey the site was revisited, the seaweed had regrown and covered most of the site. The brick setting had suffered slightly with the winter storms of 2023/24 with the upper level of bricks had been dislodged in places. <3>

Sources/Archives (5)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NH 7124 4844 (207m by 165m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NH74NW
Civil Parish	PETTY
Geographical Area	INVERNESS

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