The Old Boathouse, Woodhaven Pier

The Old Boathouse is in fact a misnomer. This building was never a boathouse but instead originally was the packhouse for the St Fort Estate. The pier here at Woodhaven belonged to St Fort and the packhouse was where goods going on board ships as cargo would be weighed and measured, and the necessary dues charged.

From 1875 for over 100 years the building was the joinery workshop first for William Buist, then his grandson Willie Rankine, and finally his great-grandson Sandy Rankine. Like many other joiners Sandy also served as the local undertaker and the workshop here often doubled as the morgue, as bodies awaited their final fitting in beautiful hand-made coffins. For that reason local children steered a wide berth round the workshop.

During World War II the workshop was taken over by the Norwegians based here at the pier and Willie Rankine became a close friend of the Norwegians, maintaining strong links for years after the war, links that are still maintained today. After Sandy’s retirement in 1990s the building was converted to a house and has been operating for many years as a B and B.