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Cove Harbour Cellars

Cove, Berwickshire.

Cellars or Vaults cut into the rock. Some debate over whether the tunnels are entirely man made or exploited natural fissures in the cliff. The far end of the cellars (off cellar 1) is located within the Cove Harbour Access Tunnel.

An 'Outer Cellar- comprising 4 lateral cellars (nos. 1-4 in the Redpath memorandum) and another small compartment (not mentioned). They lie south of the [access] tunnel and at a lower level, the lintel of their entrance more or less level with the threshold of the tunnel entrance, at a distance of 36ft [11m] from it. The outer cellar is aligned almost from East to West, and the lay-out is neatly rectangular suggesting a practised surveyor. Walls and roof dressed with pick to a high standard of workmanship, surfaces being even, door-checks carefully executed, and many of the door-jambs rounded off.

Original doorway of outer cellar almost blocked by landslips (worst caused by the great rainstorm of 1948); entry now by way No. 1 cellar. A deposit of clay from the slipped material has been washed in through the doorway, and extends, in decreasing depth, for at least 30ft [9.1m] into the cellar, largely obscuring its features for half this distance. The cellar is 114ft 3ins [34.8m] long, and varies in breadth from 9ft [2.7m] to 10ft 6ins [3.2m], but a section of the south wall has been squarely cut back to a depth of nearly 2ft [0.6m] to produce a shallow alcove 17ft [5.2m] wide in the centre of which a low, arched recess, apparently natural, goes back a further 5ft [1.5m] into the rock. The north wall has been similarly cut back 2ft [0.6m] at 10ft 6ins [4m] E of the entrance to No. 1 cellar. Evidence of internal construction appears at several points:

i. on the south wall, close to the entrance, the tops of two broad chases emerge from the washed-in clay,

ii. between these, a socket in the ceiling, with a similar one opposite on the north side,

iii. a beam-socket and a chase in the alcove on the south wall, above the east corner of the recess, with a corresponding chase opposite on the north. These chases suggest a transverse partition.

iv. three shallow notches, one above the other at 1ft 1in [0.3m], 2ft 5ins [0.7m] and 3ft [0.9m] above the floor, at 2ft 6ins [0.8m] W of the alcove, with dook-holes opposite in the north wall.

v. in the end wall, 2ft [0.6m] above the floor, a horizontal channel of triangular section, 5ft 10ins [1.8m] long by 1ft 10ins [0.6m] high art the wall-face, and beside it, at the same level in the NW corner, a vertical slot 4ft [1.2m] high by 10ins [254mm] wide at the wall-face, 1ft 6ins [0.5m] deep and showing a small cup nicked in its base.

The floor is uneven, and between Nos. 2 and 3 cellars tends to be damp and muddy. The roof is more or less flat, its junction with the walls rounded off, and heights of from 7ft [2.1m] to 7ft 10ins [2.4m] were noted; but along the outermost part their runs a natural fissure, and under this heights are greater which lends colour to the statement in the New Statistical Account that natural caves were made use of in the formation of the tunnel and cellars. Some small niches in the walls suggest sockets for lights, but they may not be original features as one, at least, is a chase which seems to have supported a partition.

The small chamber just mentioned opens on the north immediately inside the entrance, but has been filled up almost to the roof with washed-in clay. It is 9ft [2.7m] long by 3ft 6ins [1.1m] wide, is checked at the entrance for a door-frame, and shows a chase at each of its inner corners.

No. 1 cellar opens 33ft [10.1m] from the entrance. Its own entrance-passage, 9ft [2.8m] long by 5ft 6ins [1.7m] high, is 4ft 6ins [1.4m] wide at the mouth, where it is checked for a door-frame, but it is widened in the middle to 6ft [1.8m] by a recess on its W side. This recess suggests a 'refuge' where a person could stand without obstructing traffic in the passage; it contains a shelf 1ft 2ins [0.4m] wide which is marked by a shallow rectangular depression, measuring 9ins [229mm] by 6ins [152mm] and a hole 5ins [127mm] deep, perhaps designed to hold a lamp and a torch respectively. The cellar proper is 47ft 6ins [14.5m] long, from 9ft [2.8m] to 10ft 6ins [3.2m] wide, and generally about 6ft [1.8m] high.

From the NE corner of this cellar, the passage communicating with the tunnel has broken out. This 25ft [7.6m] long by up to 3ft 6ins [1.1m] wide and 6ft [1.8m] high, and rises about 3ft [0.9m] from the cellar to the tunnel. Its opening into the tunnel is checked for a door-frame. This passage is much later than the cellars, as it was made only in 1830: Lady Helen hall records 'This day returned to Geo. Paterson the Cooper his sketch for the improvement of Cove Cellars - of making a door from the inner end - to the Tunnel - thro a cut of above 20 ft [6.1m] - to give a through draft of air - as the place is damp for want of that. Also he and Roibt Fairbairn (who have it in [degrees Centigrade]) expect much advantage from the use of that upper door- for taking things in and out.'

No. 2 cellar opens 25ft [7.6m] W of No. 1. Its entrance-passage is 9ft 6ins [2.9m] long, 5ft [1.5m] to 5ft 6ins [1.7m] wide, and 5ft 10ins [1.8m] high; the W side is checked for a door-frame and the E side shows part of a chase at the top and dook-holes lower down. The cellar proper is 39ft 6ins [12m] long and from 9ft 6ins [2.9m] to 11ft 6ins [3.5m] wide, the W wall being straight and the E wall bulging outwards slightly towards the centre. Heights of from 6ft [1.8m] to 7ft 1in [1.9m] were noted. The regularity of the alignment of the W wall is remarkable.

No. 3 cellar, which opens 24ft [7.3m] W of No. 2 does not differ from it in any important respect. The entrance-passage is 9ft [2.7m] long by 4ft 6ins [1.4m] in average breadth, and shows a partial chase at the top of the E side. The cellar proper measures 33ft [10.1m] by 8ft 6ins [2.6m]. Heights of from 6ft 1in [1.9m] to 6ft 7ins [2m] were noted.

No. 4 cellar, which opens 24ft [7.3m] W of No. 3, differs from the others in its smaller size and irregular shape, and in the fact that its axis is not at right-angles to that of the outer cellar. It cannot, however, have been an afterthought, as its entrance is symmetrically placed in the plan, and it is also mentioned in the Redpath memorandum. The entrance-passage is 8ft 6ins [2.6m] long and widens inwards from 4ft 6ins [1.4m] to 7ft [2.1m]; it is not checked, but shows dook-holes at its inner end. The cellar proper is only 12ft 8ins [3.9m] long, measured over a bench left uncut at its inner end, and from 9ft [2.7m[ to 10ft 6ins [3.2m] wide. The height in the centre of a slightly arched roof is 6ft [1.8m]. The bench is 1ft 2ins [0.4m] high by 1ft 11ins [0.6m] deep, and 3ft 3ins [1m] above it there runs a horizontal channel up to 10ins [254mm] deep and splayed to a breadth of 1ft 1in [0.3m] at the wall-face.

The cellar dimensions and prices for their formation, given in the Redpath memorandum, show vagaries which defy explanation; a single example suffices to indicate their quality. The entry for No. 4 cellar gives dimensions of 27.76ft [8.5m] by 9ft [2.7m] by 6ft [1.8m], totals these as 3.46 cubic fathoms, and, at a price of 7s 6d per cubic fathom arrives at a sum of £1 6s; but these measurements, if multiplied together correctly, give a total of 5.44 cu fm, for which the price at 7s 6d would have been £2 8s 9 1/2d. On the other hand, the dimensions now ascertained, which are probably as accurate as the irregularities of the walls and roof permit, give a total of approximately 7 cu fm, for which the corresponding price would have been £2 12s 6d. Not only is the calculation of the volume from the stated dimensions wrong, but the dimensions themselves are incorrect, and, in particular, ignore the difference between cellar and entrance-passage. The 'due' sum would seem to be small by about £1 6s 6d, but again, as in the case of the 'Gutt' and the tunnel, it would agree with the untrue total of the volume excavated. It cannot be supposed that such figures would deceive a contractor and, failing information as to how wages were arranged, it is hard to see how they could have served to even swindle the workmen.

(The other entries are as follows:

Outer cellar: 87x6x6 = 47.63 at 7s6d (whole length 137): £5 9s 9d.

No. 1 cellar: 45.54x6x6 = 7.59 at 7s6d: £2 17s 0d.

No. 2 cellar: 50.16x6[?9]x6[?9] = 8.36 at 7s6d: £3 4s 9d

No. 3 cellar: 48.84x6x6 = 8.14 at 7s6d: £3 1s 0d).

The unit price for work in the cellars was less by a quarter than that for other rock-cutting jobs; no reason for this difference is given, but it is possible that expert miners may have been employed in the cellars and ordinary labour elsewhere, and that, if so, the former may have been able, in virtue of their special skill, to make adequate wages at lower piece-rates than the latter. A hint that this may have happened is perhaps to be found in the excellent workmanship of the cellars, and it is true that a force of miners was available locally at the time as, by the end of the 17th century, coal was already being worked at Cockburnspath by 'a regular set of colliers', while Sir John Hall himself 'made many attempts at coals' and certainly had a mine in operation in 1746 and 1747.

A question which remains to be asked about the cellars is that of their original purpose, and on this neither records nor remains provide a great deal of information. In view, however, of the cellars' known date and of the lack of any evidence of habitation, they can safely be dissociated from the series of artificial caves that are found in certain parts of Scotland; these originated earlier, probably as places of refuge and were commonly adapted for residence. The language of the Statistical Account further associates them with the harbour, and it would have been natural enough, when the harbour was building, to provide storage-room either for bulk exports awaiting shipment or for imported goods awaiting removal by the purchaser. The cellars at Gunsgreen (NT 94 64) on Eyemouth harbour (NT96SW 76.00), associated as they are with a substantial merchant's mansion, may well provide a parallel, the local tradition that they were made for the purposes of the smuggling trade being plainly incredible. Some connection with the fishing industry also suggests itself, though the Cornish 'fish-cellars' do not provide an analogy as these, notwithstanding their name, are built on the surface and are not 'cellars' in the present sense at all. The fact that it was a cooper who was interested in the cellars' ventilation in 1830 suggests that at that date, eighty years after their formation, they played some part in the curing and barrelling of fish - perhaps white-fish rather than herring, as the sun-drying and salting of white-fish is a lengthy process and the fish have to be moved in and out of some suitable keeping-place as weather and circumstances demand. This idea would accord with the fact that, in the later 18th century, the fish caught in the parish were mainly cod and other whitefish; the herring fishery, although very prosperous, seems to have been intermittent. The cool and even temperature of the cellars would seem to make them most suitable for the storage of fish. [A Graham 1966.[

Alternative Names: None recorded.