Firth of Forth

Firth of Forth from Edinburgh Castle
The Forth Bridges across the Firth
The Forth Bridge (photograph 1972)
Satellite photo of the Firth and the surrounding area
Map of the Firth
The Fife-Edinburgh 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 Lothian to the south. It was 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.

Many towns line the shores, as well as the petrochemical complexes at Grangemouth, commercial docks at Leith, former oil rig construction yards at Methil, the ship-breaking facility at Inverkeithing and the naval dockyard at Rosyth, along with numerous other industrial areas, including the Forth Bridgehead area, encompassing Rosyth, Inverkeithing and the southern edge of Dunfermline, Burntisland, Kirkcaldy, Bo'ness and Leven.

The Kincardine Bridge, the Forth Road Bridge and the Forth Bridge carry traffic across the firth. A fourth 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] Queensferry Crossing, another new road bridge, alongside the Forth Road Bridge, is expected to open in 2016.[2]

From 1964 to 1982, a tunnel existed under the Firth of Forth, dug by coal miners to link the Kinneil colliery on the south side of the Forth with the Valleyfield colliery on the north side. The shafts leading into the tunnel were filled and capped with concrete when the tunnel was closed, and it is believed to have filled with water or collapsed in places.[3]

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 percent.[4] It was estimated the service would decrease congestion for commuters on the Forth road and rail bridges by carrying about 870,000 passengers each year.[5] Despite the initial success, the project was cancelled in December, 2011.

The inner firth, located between the Kincardine and Forth bridges, has lost about half of its former intertidal area as a result of land reclaimation, partly for agriculture, but mainly for industry and the large ash lagoons built to deposit spoil from the coal-fired Longannet Power Station near Kincardine. Historic villages line the Fife shoreline; Limekilns, Charlestown and Culross, established in the 6th century, where Saint Kentigern was born.

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

The youngest person to swim across the Firth of Forth was 13-year-old Joseph Feeney, who accomplished the feat in 1933.

In 2008, a controversial bid to allow oil transfer between ships in the firth was refused by Forth Ports. SPT Marine Services had asked permission to transfer 7.8 million tonnes of crude oil per year between tankers, but the proposals were met with determined opposition from conservation groups.[6]

Firth of Forth islands

Main article: Islands of the Forth

Settlements on the shoreline

Places of interest

References

  1. ↑ BBC news report, 1 October 2008
  2. ↑ "New Forth bridge: Queensferry Crossing wins naming contest". BBC News. 26 June 2013.
  3. ↑ Fraser MacDonald, "Scotland's secret tunnel under the Forth", The Guardian, 30 April 2014.
  4. ↑ "Kirkcaldy-Edinburgh hovercraft trial". The Scottish Executive. 13 July 2007. Retrieved 10 January 2010.
  5. ↑ "Plans lodged for Forth hovercraft". Edinburgh Evening News. 7 January 2010. Retrieved 10 January 2010.
  6. ↑ "Forth oil transfer plan ruled out". BBC News Online. 1 February 2008. Retrieved 1 February 2008.

External links

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Forth.

Coordinates: 56°10′N 2°45′W / 56.167°N 2.750°W / 56.167; -2.750

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, May 06, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.