Quarry Docks and Cockle Mill
The riverside track, carved into the hillside, likely dates back to the late 18th century. Across the river, docks once served Craigie Quarry, located about half a mile upstream. Remnants of the tramline that connected the quarry to the wharves can still be seen, including a row of holes in the cliff near Fairafar Mill, where the tramway was constructed over the river.
The main surviving building, now converted into housing, originally served as the mill’s office block. The mill itself once stood on the grassy area in front of it, with the mill lade running beneath. The lade began at a now-ruined dam further upstream and emerged from an arch still visible in the downstream dock. Sea-going boats were hauled to this wharf at high tide.
Nearby, walls of old storehouses and workers’ cottages—known as “Caddell’s Row” and still occupied today—remain as part of the historical landscape. The manager’s house, perched above the mill, completes the picture of an 18th-century industrial complex.
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