The Queen's Ferry

This was a ferry to cross the River Forth set up in the 11th Century by Queen Margaret to help travellers going to Dunfermline and St. Andrews. Margaret also built hostels at either side of the Forth for these pilgrims. The landing points of the ferry became the towns of South Queensferry (in West Lothian) and North Queensferry (in Fife).

However a regular ferry crossing wasn't set up until 1129, by David I, with the rights to control it bestowed to the monks at Dunfermline Abbey. The boats were operated by the ferrymen of North Queensferry who ran them for the monks. In 1589 James IV gave the rights to the ferry to his bride as a wedding present, along with the abbey and guest house (later to become the Royal Palace) in Dunfermline.

In 1745 all the ferry boats were destroyed by loyalists to stop the Jacobite army using them to reach Edinburgh.

In the early seventeenth century these rights were divided into sixteen parts which could be feud to individuals. This remained in operation until the eighteenth century. The service was heavily criticised and a more efficient crossing was required. Engineers in Edinburgh considered a tunnel and a survey took place in 1805. A bridge with a roadway suspended by chains was also proposed.

In 1807 a Board of Trustees was set up to examine the condition of the service. In 1809 a Bill was passed to give the control of the ferry to this Board. In 1811 the official ferries averaged 228 passengers a day - rising to 447 at busier times. By 1820 the ferry service was starting to lose money and a new boat was required - the Board commissioned the "Queen Margaret" in 1821, although the steam ship "Lady of the Lake" had been tried the previous year.

For a while there was a train ferry that ran between Granton (in Edinburgh) and Burntisland (in Fife). Originally this was for the passengers only, but later Thomas Bouch, who designed the ill fated rail bridge over the River Tay, designed a ferry, the Leviathon, that transported the train's carriages across the river.

The passenger service continued until 1964 when the Forth Road Bridge was opened.

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