Kirkcudbright's Lifeboat Station

Saving lives

THE ROYAL National Lifeboat Institution was founded in 1824, but it was not until 1861 or 1862 that a local lifeboat committee was formed in Kirkcudbright, and the first lifeboat placed on station.

The original lifeboat house, constructed for £144, was at the Creekhead in Kirkcudbright where the Health Clinic now stands, at the top of St Cuthbert Street.

The boat had to be hauled from there on a wheeled carriage down the street to the quay, a laborious process, especially when the quay was obstructed by timber. There was a timber yard on the Moat Brae then.

In 1886 efforts were made to improve matters, and some launches took place from the access track to the old ferry rather than the quay. This would be close to the end of the present bridge. The Lifeboats Inspector arranged that a stone and ring be sunk at the side of that track to make launches and landings easier there.

It soon became clear that most of the vessels in difficulties had got into them in the bay, either on the bar, or when their anchors dragged as they sought shelter off Little Ross Island. To get out to them, the lifeboat at Kirkcudbright had to be rowed for at least three miles, often against the tide and almost always against the wind.

A better site was needed for the boathouse.

The Manor Hole just south of Ross Bay was proposed, but Lifeboat Headquarters turned it down. After a visit from the Deputy Chief Inspector the present site on the Torrs Shore was chosen. The boathouse and slipway were moved there in 1892. The cost of this new construction was £1,200.

From time to time the boathouse has been enlarged and improved and the 1 in 6 slipway strengthened.

The new site let the crew ride to the edge of Lake Wood. From there they had to walk or run on a rough woodland track for almost a mile to get to the boathouse. But it still produced faster launches and a shorter distance to row. The crew took much pride in beating earlier launching records.

It was not until the mid 1950s that some kind of a road was made through the wood by the then coxswain and crew.

The foundations were spent material transported from the gas works (where the veterinary clinic now stands in Gas Lane), which was laboriously spread manually. There was an odour of gas in the wood for many years afterwards which must have puzzled holidaymakers.