For our first post I thought I'd answer a question that lots of visitors have asked me over the years I've worked in North Berwick. The question being of course, "Are those whale bones on top of your volcano?"
Well, as anyone who has climbed the Law can tell you, they're not actual bone (that would not be particularly PC in this day and age). They are instead a fibre glass replica of real bones that stood on top of the Law from 1709. The replica set were carefully placed on the summit by helicopter but prior to that previous sets of real bone were dragged to the top by shire horses.
The next obvious question is, "Why whale bones?". Well, East Lothian actually has a strong connection to the now defunct British whaling industry. In fact, the family who industrialised whaling in Scotland, the Salvesens, live in the area. Their fleet and offices were based in Leith and you can still see evidence of this industry at Leith Basin where there's an old whaling harpoon and information boards.
Whilst its not known whether any whaling ships actually came from North Berwick, the original sets of whale bone came from whaling vessels returning to the area. Placing them on top of the Law made the hill even more iconic and continues to do so today. Which is why we chose to use them in our logo!
Just love this blog! So interesting. I had not realised the original whale bones had been put there so long ago!
I didn’t realise the original whale bones had been placed there so long ago and to be honest hadn’t really thought about the Herculean task of getting them up there in days gone by.
Very interesting. Loved the information about how seals use their whiskers. I would never have imagined they would us them for fishing. More information on this would be great 😊
when was the real bone replaced with the fake one?