Ferry, rail, and road: The history

Crossing is the latest historic link between the north and south

It could have been written this morning – but instead, the passage was published almost 130 years ago ahead of the opening of the new bridge across the Firth of Forth.

“In these days of high pressure of living and working and eating and drinking at top speed, the saving of an hour or two for the thousands of struggling men every day is a point of the greatest importance, and every delay is fatal to enterprise,” wrote Wilhelm Wetholfen in Engineering Magazine in 1890. Wetholfen was assistant engineer on the Forth Bridge, which officially opened that year with the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, famously banging in the last rivet – which was plated in gold – to the bold new superstructure.

The Scotsman hailed a “brilliant” opening ceremony on a day of high winds, fast-moving clouds and “rampaging” white horses on the water.

The “sea rupture” of the Firth of Forth had finally been “annihilated,” the correspondent wrote.

Before 1890, travel between the eastern parts of Scotland had been at a minimum, according to Weltholfen, given the “unpleasant” sea crossings or the long rail journeys via Stirling or Alloa – where a bridge already crossed the Forth – that were required.

Trips of 18 miles as the crow flew could end in rail journeys measuring some 130 miles more, according to accounts.

But for centuries the obstacle of the vast estuary simply had to be overcome, whether it be on sailboat, paddle-steamer or hot air balloon, as was the case when adventurer Vicenzo Lunardi, in October 1785, took flight from George Heriot’s School and landed in a field near Ceres in Fife.

St Margaret, second wife of Malcolm III, had made frequent pious pilgrimages by boat between Edinburgh, Linlithgow and Dunfermline in the 1100s with a collection of harbours and the village of Queensferry springing up for her convenience.

The church later set up crossings to allow pilgrims from across the Continent to visit St Andrews and pay homage to the relics of Scotland’s patron saint.

Sailing from North Berwick to Earlsferry, more than 15,000 people made the trip in 1412 alone – with a handsome sum raised by the enterprise.

However, no doubt all who had made this crossing had yearned for something a little safer.

The first serious proposal for a crossing came in 1805 from a group of noblemen who planned to build a double tunnel under the water.

Nothing materialised and a plan for a chain bridge emerged in 1818.

Wetholfen was stinging of