Inchcape or the Bell Rock is a reef about off the east coast of

Angus, Scotland Angus (; ) is one of the 32 Local government in Scotland, local government council areas of Scotland, and a Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. The council area borders Aberdeenshire, Dundee City (council area), Dundee City and Per ...

, near

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

and

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

, occupied by the

Bell Rock Lighthouse The Bell Rock Lighthouse, off the coast of Angus, Scotland, is the world's oldest surviving sea-washed lighthouse. It was built between 1807 and 1810 by Robert Stevenson (civil engineer), Robert Stevenson on the Bell Rock (also known as Inchca ...

. The name ''Inchcape'' comes from the

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...

''Innis Sgeap'', meaning "

beehive A beehive is an enclosed structure which houses honey bees, subgenus '' Apis.'' Honey bees live in the beehive, raising their young and producing honey as part of their seasonal cycle. Though the word ''beehive'' is used to describe the nest of ...

isle", probably comparing the shape of the reef to old-style

skep A beehive is an enclosed structure which houses honey bees, subgenus ''Honey bee, Apis.'' Honey bees live in the beehive, raising their young and producing honey as part of their seasonal cycle. Though the word ''beehive'' is used to describe th ...

beehives. According to legend, the alternative name Bell Rock derives from a 14th-century attempt by the

Abbot of Arbroath The Abbot of Arbroath or Abbot of Aberbrothok (and later Commendator) was the head of the Tironensians, Tironensian Benedictines, Benedictine monastic community of Arbroath Abbey, Angus, Scotland, founded under the patronage of King William I of ...

to install a warning bell on the reef; the bell was removed by a Dutch pirate who perished a year later on the rocks, a story that is immortalised in "

The Inchcape Rock "The Inchcape Rock" is a ballad written by English poet Robert Southey. Published in 1802, it tells the story of a 14th-century attempt by the Abbot of Arbroath ("Aberbrothock") to install a warning bell on Inchcape, a notorious sandstone reef ab ...

" (1802), a poem by

Robert Southey Robert Southey (; 12 August 1774 – 21 March 1843) was an English poet of the Romantic poetry, Romantic school, and Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate from 1813 until his death. Like the other Lake Poets, William Wordsworth an ...

. The main hazard the reef presents to shipping is that only a relatively small proportion of it is above water, but a large section of the surrounding area is extremely shallow and dangerous. HMS Argyll ran aground there in 1915. The rock was featured in a one-hour episode of the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's ''

Seven Wonders of the Industrial World ''Seven Wonders of the Industrial World'' is a 7-part British docudrama television miniseries that originally aired from to on BBC and was later released on DVD. The programme examines seven engineering feats that occurred since the Industria ...

'', which told the story of the Bell Rock Lighthouse's construction. Work began in 1807 and was largely completed by 1810.

Geology

Inchcape is formed of the

Old Red Sandstone Old Red Sandstone, abbreviated ORS, is an assemblage of rocks in the North Atlantic region largely of Devonian age. It extends in the east across Great Britain, Ireland and Norway, and in the west along the eastern seaboard of North America. It ...

exposed in the nearby coastal areas, and of which

Arbroath Abbey Arbroath Abbey, in the Scottish town of Arbroath, was founded in 1178 by William I of Scotland, King William the Lion for a group of Tironensian Benedictine monks from Kelso Abbey. It was consecration, consecrated in 1197 with a dedication to th ...

is built. The main body of the rock is about long and wide, but the south-western part extends for another or so.

Robert Stevenson Robert, Rob, or Bob Stevenson may refer to: * Robert Stevenson (civil engineer) (1772–1850), Scottish lighthouse engineer * Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894), Scottish writer ("Treasure Island"), grandson of lighthouse engineer Robert Stevenso ...

, the engineer who designed and built the lighthouse on the rock, estimated that the "greatest length, therefore, of the Bell Rock, which may be said to be dangerous to shipping, is about 1427 feet (435m), and its greatest breadth is about 300 feet (91.4m)."

References

{{reflist, refs= {{citation , last=Grant , first=Alison , title=Gaelic Place-names: Eilean and Innis , date=November 2012 , magazine=The Bottle Imp , issue=12 , url=http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/ScotLit/ASLS/SWE/TBI/TBIIssue12/Eilean.pdf , publisher=Association for Scottish Literary Studies , issn=1754-1514 , access-date=16 October 2013 , archive-date=4 March 2016 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304023208/http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/ScotLit/ASLS/SWE/TBI/TBIIssue12/Eilean.pdf , url-status=dead {{citation , title=Bell Rock Lighthouse, contribution= The Origins of the Rock: A treacherous Reef ... , publisher=Bellrock.org.uk , url=http://www.bellrock.org.uk/lighthouse/lighthouse_rock.htm , access-date=16 October 2013

External links

Bell Rock website

Islands of the North Sea Skerries of Scotland Landforms of Angus, Scotland Reefs of Scotland

Geology

See also

References

External links