“CALLER HERRIN”

Evening Star, Issue 19802, 28 February 1928, Page 13

“CALLER HERRIN ”

THE HOME OF THE EDINBURGH FISHWIVES NEWHAVEN AND GRAHTOH Wha’ll buy my caller herrin’ They’re bonnie fish and halesome farin’. Buy my caller herrin’ New drawn frae the Forth. When ye arc sleeping on your pillows, Dreamt ye ought o’ our puir fellows Darkling as they face the billows A’ to fill our woven willows. Wha’ll buy my caller herrin’ ’They’re no brought here without brave darin Buy my caller herrin’ Ye little ken their worth. Wha’ll buy my caller herrin’. O’ you may ca’ them vulgar farin’. Wives and mithers niaist despairin’ Ca’ them lives o’ men. Edinburgh is the Athens of the North, Leith its Pirams. The ports of Newhavon and Granton are the counter parts of its lesser harbors, Zea and Mnnychia. If you take the Churchill and Granton circular drive tram from Waverley Station, you are at this point in sight of Calton Hill crowned with a group of columns which are a reproduction of part of the Parthenon, thus recalling the chief feature of the Acropolis of Athens. Here, too, on a rock above a tangle of gorse and broom is a replica of the beautiful choragic monument of Lysicrates. Imbued in this atmosphere of Ancient Greece, as you are borne down the broad avenue of Leith Walk, the walls of the houses o neither side will suggest the walls which connected Athens and Pirteus. Nor is the parallel forced, for, in fact, this thoroughfare follows the line of the fortification built by David Leslie in defence of Edinburgh against ' Cromwell in the year 1650. ' Not far from the Dock Gates of Leith, at the end of Constitution street, you are reminded by a life-like statue of the Scottish bard, Robert Burns, that Scotsmen, too, have climbed the slopes of Mount Parnassus and drunk of the waters of the Castalian spring. From the Burns statue you bear away westwards, and once past the docks, soon emerge on to an open esplanade known as Annfield, whence you will see spread out before you to the north the silver Firth of Forth. A short distance further, about a mile and a-quarter west of Leith, and you are in tho fishing village of Newhaven. HAVEN NO LONGER NEW. Nowhaven belies the first part of its najne, for though still a haven, it is no longer new. It was, in fact, at tho beginning of the sixteenth century that James IV., who mot his death gloriously on the battlefield of Flodden, constructed hero a port and a dockyard. Earlier still, in the fifteenth century, there was in tho hamlet a chapel dedicated to the virgin Mary. Some nuns of tliis sacred edifice still exist. But what of Nowhaven of to-day P (merged as it is in Greater Edinburgh). To-day it is at heart a fishing village, pure and simple, quaint and unconventional, and tho village reflects the character of the fisher folk who inhabit it. These fisher folk some would have it are of Danish origin. _ Jutland is suggested as their whilom home. Others would trace their ancestry back to Dutch or Flemish stock. Certain ii is that they are racially separate from their neighbors, and for many generations they have lived at Newhaven as a colony apart, seldom marrying outside their own community. Tlfey are very tenacious of their old customs. BLOOD OE THE VIKINGS. . The hardy daring of the men gives color to the suggestion that the blood of Vikings flows in their veins. The seen? of their activities is the herring fisheries off the coast of Scotland. For a picture of tho lifo they lead, the curious may refer to Charles Reado’s novel, ‘Christie Johnstone.’ By a perusal of this attractive book, or better still, by actually sampling the life of the fishermen by a voyage in a fishing boat, they will learn to appreciate the excellence of the advice of that breezy character, Dr Aberford therein delineated, “Fish the herring! (that beats deer-stalking), Run your nose into adventures at sea; . Live on ten pence and earn it, ’ when seeking clunge and relaxation from the life of our great cities. The men of Newhaven are famous for their “dredging song,” which distinguishes them from other fishermen of the Firth. Many are also engaged as pilots. The introduction of the steam trawler of recent years has wrought many changes in their manner of life, but the hardihood of this raco of men is unimpaired. Good luck to them, and every time they shoot their stout herring nets, may they fill many boxes with their catch. THE FISHWIVES. The women of Newhaven are bettor known to the people of Edinburgh than their menfolk, tor while tho latter spend much of their time at sea, on the former devolves tho task of finding a market for the fish caught. They have a reputation for keenness in driving a bargain, and Sir Walter Scott is said to have had in mind the women of Newhaven in the 1 Antiquary,’ where ho describes so humorously how the fishwives got the better of Monksbarn in a deal of fish. They are a familiar sight all over the capital carrying their creels heavy with fish, caller'herrin’, baddies, whitings, and may he oysters, on their backs supported partly, by a band which runs across the forehead. Their dress is as picturesque as their countenances are buxom. Over one petticoat is worn another kilted and gathered up towards the front, and their jackets are of bright colors, red and yellow. Their cry, “ A ca-aller owoo! ” resounds with its mellow musical note through the busy thoroughfares. EXTERNAL STAIRS, After this brief introduction to its inhabitants, let us visit the village itself. The primitive low red-roofed houses ’ of the fishermen are of two stories, and the stairs leading to the upper story are on the outside of the houses. A curious stone is to be seen in the wall of the Main street, near the harbor. It is dated 1588, and on it are carved naval devices and the Scottish emblem, tho thistle.

A very ancient fish-like smell pervades this part of the village. There is also a more modern portion where are villas for those who visit Newhaven as a- watering place in the summer time. Then there are the inns whore the celebrated fish dinners of Newhaven are served. At the Peacock Hotel one may enjoy such a dinner of half a dozen courses.

The small harbor itself is in keeping with the requirements of a fishing village affording anchorage to the fleet of fishing boats. These fishing craft are nowadays provided with auxiliary motor power. Hard by the harbor is the fish market where piles of hundreds of boxes of fish may be seen. PORT OF GRANTON.

Linked up with Newhaven by the well-built suburb of Trinity is the port of Granton. Here it was that the Bari of Hertford disembarked Ins troops at the time of the invasion of 1544. From his base at Granton he harried Leith and set fire to the old city of Edinburgh. Its wooden houses, which covered the slope down from the Castle to Holyrood, burned for

three days. The Castle, however, proved impregnable. The admirable harbor with its pier was built entirely at the expense of the fifth Duka of Buccleuch, and cost £150,000. The pnblic-spiritedness which inspired this act of generosity may well bo a subject for reflection for those who are disposed to carp at the capitalistic system on which our . prosperity has been built. The main pier is 1.700 feet long and 80 to 160 feet broad Vessels can approach it at any state of the tide, and breakwaters to east and west shelter the large harbor effectually from rough weather. The pier was opened on June 28, 1838, the day of the Coronation of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. The Victoria jetty commemorates the event. Before the construction of the Forth Bridge the harbor enjoyed much importance. The ferry, which was a link in the main line to the North, and plied to and fro between Granton and Burnt Island, was capable of carrying a train of thirty or forty loaded trucks, which were run on to three parallel lines of rails on board the steamer. A similar ferryboat once crossed Lake Baikal as a link in the Trans-Siberian railway. But as the latter was superseded by the many-tunnelled railway round the south end of the lake, so, as a ditect link with the north, Granton has now been eclipsed by the Forth Bridge, but a steam. ferry still plies for the convenience of passengers and motor cars The railway station is on the pier. The harbor has still a busy appearance. for many steam trawlers and other vessels put in here. At the extremity of the pier is a lighthouse, casting its beams of light across tne Firth by night. Granton is the headquarters of the Roval Forth Yacht Club. Further west in the direction of Cramond are the beautiful wooded grounds of Caroline Park. Between Newhaven and Granton for part of the distance one can follow a path which runs with the foreshore, and enjoy the superb view of the Pifeshire hills, away across the_ expanse of the broad water of the Firth, where all kinds of vessels dance upon the waves.

But as we stop to admire the violet haze on the hills and the blue water ruffled by a light breeze, hero comes a fishwife with her creel. Como buy my bonny caller herrin’, Six a penny caller from the sea. Cheap enough, one would think, but only the other day at Fleetwood boxes of average 380 herrings fetched but 5s each. Next time you hear the cry of the Newhaven fishwife hawking her fish, you will think of the small port of Newhaveu, down by the Firth, and perhaps wish to visit.it, and “run your nose into ” the romance and adventure of the herring fisheries.—AVilraot P. M. Russell, in the 1 Weekly Scotsman.’