Day 29: Eyemouth - Thursday, 26 September

Weather: 9º - 11º - Cloudy, strong winds, cold 

Accommodation: Cutty Sark Inn 

The first part of the day was in Leith, Edinburgh to meet up for brunch with Instagram’s Sewover50 account’s founder, Judith. My sister, Sandra joined Judith as editor shortly after the establishment of this very popular, influencing social media site about five years ago. We were really looking forward to meeting Judith and her husband Robert but all the plans went awry when Robert was tested positive overnight with Covid. We couldn’t take the risk so we had to cancel. It was very disappointing but that’s life. Thankfully, we have another opportunity to meet up in January when Judith comes to Australia. We enjoyed a tasty brunch at Toast sadly without Judith and Robert.

Today’s other goal was to tour the Scottish fishing villages in the Eyemouth area south of Edinburgh. I was keen to see the villages as my maternal grandmother’s family, the Maltmans, come from the area. My great, great, great grandfather, William Maltman, was born in Eyemouth in 1786. It was just over an hour’s drive from Edinburgh. As we drove the morning wind got stronger and buffered the car on the A1. 

We arrived at Eyemouth at noon and the wind was very strong and it was cold. We pushed ourselves against the wind alongside the long, narrow harbour and the esplanade.

I was keen to see Jill Watson’s five metre bronze memorial sculpture “Widows and Bairns” which overlooks Eyemouth’s beach. It commemorates the women and children left behind after 189 local fishermen drowned in waters just outside the harbour walls during an enormous storm in October, 1881. Many of them drowned in full view of their families who watched the boats crash onto rocks. The tragedy left 78 widows and 182 fatherless children in the town. A number of Maltmans are listed as those who lost their lives. 

Each figure on the sculpture represents a real person so descendants will be able to come and find their ancestors. At the time some of the children were offered places in children’s homes but the local mothers refused as they wanted to “keep their bairns” for the future of the ports.

We visited the small but excellent self-funded Eyemouth Museum which is run by volunteers. It documents the social and fishing history of the small town and houses the 4.5m wonderful Eyemouth Tapestry which commemorates the 1881 tragedy. It was made by 24 local women (some Maltmans) over a two year period and was finished in 1982. It records in over one million stitches the names and ages of all 189 fishermen who died and their boats. 

The elderly volunteer at the Information Centre said there were many Maltmans still living in Eyemouth. 

Our check-in time at our accommodation was 4.00pm so we made good use of the time visiting the other nearby small fishing villages of St Abbs and Burnmouth with their small harbours. By this time the wind was getting stronger and the sea was raging. It was such a contrast to yesterday. 

The first village was St Abbs a short distance north of Eyemouth. It has a small harbour with three separate sections surrounded today by surf-battered jagged cliffs. The entry into the harbour was between rocks and a narrow entrance. Needless to say the harbour was closed today. Inside the harbour the water was calm. 

At the Information Centre at St Abbs it talked of an 1862 report that the village was home to “one hundred fishermen, of a very respectable class, sober and well-dressed.” In contrast to their neighbours in Eyemouth who were described as …“rough, uncultivated and more drunken in their habits.” 

There were good views over the harbour from the top of the cliffs at the Information Centre.

Near the Information Centre was a smaller Jill Watson sculpture recognising the St Abbs women and children who were affected by the 1881 tragedy. 

From St Abbs we drove south of Eyemouth to Burnmouth. This is a much smaller village with a compact harbour. 

When we returned to Eyemouth it was time for check-in. It was good to get out of the cold and the wind. We braved it again at 5.30pm for dinner which was at The Ship Bar and Restaurant alongside the harbour. We had a great meal of Atlantic Fish Pie followed by locally made ice cream. From the restaurant we could see the boats bobbing up and down in the harbour from the wind.

When we left the restaurant we jogged much of the way to get back to the inn as quickly as possible to get out of the wind. 

It was great to see the fishing villages today especially in such adverse weather and gained an appreciation how tough life must have been as a fisherman. The forecast for tomorrow looks to be similar to today with strong winds.