Firth of Forth

The Firth of Forth from Calton Hill

The Forth Bridges cross the Firth

Satellite photo of the Firth and the surrounding area

Map of the Firth

The Edinburgh-Fife hovercraft service

The Ro-Pax ferry Blue Star 1 passing under the Forth Bridge in the Firth, en route from Rosyth to Zeebrugge.

The Firth of Forth (Scottish Gaelic: Linne Foirthe) is the estuary or firth of Scotland's River Forth, where it flows into the North Sea, between Fife to the north, and West Lothian, the City of Edinburgh and East Lothian to the south. Known as Bodotria in Roman times.

Geography and economy

Geologically, the Firth of Forth is a fjord, formed by the Forth Glacier in the last glacial period.

The river is tidal as far inland as Stirling, but generally it is considered that the inland extent of the firth ends at the Kincardine Bridge.

There are a number of towns which line the shores, as well as the petrochemical complexes at Grangemouth, the commercial docks at Leith, oilrig former construction yards at Methil, the ship-breaking facility at Inverkeithing and the naval dockyard at Rosyth, with numerous other industrial areas including the Forth Bridgehead area, Burntisland, Kirkcaldy, Bo'ness and Leven.

The Kincardine Bridge and the famous Forth Road Bridge and Forth Bridge carry traffic across the Firth. A third crossing, located next to the Kincardine Bridge, opened in 2008. On 1 October 2008 it was announced that the new bridge would be called the "Clackmannanshire Bridge".^[1]

In July 2007, a hovercraft passenger service completed a two week trial between Portobello, Edinburgh and Kirkcaldy, Fife. The trial of the service (marketed as "Forthfast") was hailed as a major operational success, with an average passenger load of 85%.^[2] If a permanent service comes into operation, it could cut congestion for commuters on the Forth road and rail bridges by carrying about 870,000 passengers a year.^[3]

The inner Firth, i.e. between the Kincardine and Forth bridges, has lost about half of its former intertidal area as a result of land being reclaimed, partly for agriculture, but mainly for industry and the large ash lagoons built to deposit the spoil from the coal fired Longannet Power Station near Kincardine.

The Firth is important for nature conservation and a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The Firth of Forth Islands SPA (Special Protection Area) is host to over 90,000 breeding seabirds every year. There is a bird observatory on the Isle of May.

In 2008, a controversial bid to allow oil transfer between ships in the firth was refused by Forth Ports. A company named SPT Marine Services had asked permission to transfer 7.8 million tonnes of crude oil per year between tankers. The proposals had met with determined opposition from conservation groups.^[4]

Firth of Forth islands

• Bass Rock
• Craigleith
• Cramond
• Eyebroughy
• Fidra
• Inchcolm
• Inchgarvie
• Inchkeith
• Inchmickery with Cow and Calf
• The Lamb
• Isle of May

Settlements on the shoreline

• North Shore
  • Aberdour, Anstruther
  • Buckhaven, Burntisland
  • Cellardyke, Crail
  • Culross
  • Dalgety Bay, Dysart
  • Earlsferry, East Wemyss, Elie
  • Inverkeithing
  • Kincardine, Kinghorn, Kirkcaldy
  • Leven, Lower Largo
  • Methil
  • North Queensferry
  • Pittenweem
  • Rosyth
  • St Monans

• South Shore
  • Aberlady, Athelstaneford
  • Blackness, Bo'ness
  • Cockenzie, Cramond
  • Dirleton, Dunbar, Dunglass
  • Edinburgh
  • Fisherrow
  • Grangemouth, Granton, Gullane
  • Inveresk
  • Leith, Longniddry
  • Musselburgh
  • North Berwick
  • Port Edgar, Portobello, Port Seton
  • Prestonpans
  • South Queensferry
  • Whitekirk

Places of interest

• Aberlady Bay, Archerfield Links
• Barns Ness Lighthouse, Belhaven, Berwick Law, Blackness Castle
• Cockenzie Power Station, Culross
• Dalmeny House, Dirleton Castle
• Fa'side Castle
• Gullane Bents
• Hopetoun House, Hopetoun Monument
• John Muir Country Park, John Muir Way
• Longniddry Bents
• Musselburgh Racecourse
• North Berwick Golf Club
• Prestongrange Industrial Heritage Museum, Preston Tower
• Ravenscraig Castle
• Scottish Fisheries Museum, Scottish Seabird Centre
• Seton Sands
• St. Filan's Cave
• St. Monans Windmill
• Tantallon Castle, Torness Nuclear Power Station
• Waterston House

• John Muir Way
• Yellowcraigs

Trivia

• In the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, a copy of both the Forth Road bridge and the Forth Rail Bridge appear. They are referred to as the "Garver Bridge" (Forth Road Bridge) and the "Kincaid Bridge" (Forth Rail bridge). The Kincaid Bridge, like its counterpart, carries rail traffic. The placement of the bridges is a reference made by Edinburgh-based Rockstar North, one of the game's developers.

• The title of the song Firth of Fifth by progressive rock group Genesis is a pun on the name of the estuary.

• Scooter has a song titled Firth of Forth, a b-side of the I'm Your Pusher single.

• The Firth of Forth is mentioned in Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck in a rejected version of the original script of episode 1 and was the cause for a McDuck not being declared the king because of a lisp. He had to proclaim the birth of Scotland including the girth of all earth north of the Firth of Forth. ^[5]

References

External links

• Isle of May bird observatory
• Forthfast experimental hovercraft service, 16-28 July 2007
• Inchcolm Virtual Tour Take a virtual tour around some of the Inchcolm's military defences