Seacliff House

Seacliff House is a now derelict building that forms part of the Seacliff Estate along with Seacliff Beach. It sits in a strategic position above the beach, at the mouth of the Firth of Forth and even in ruin you can tell it was a spectacular building in its day.

A house was built there in 1790 by Robert Colt, though this house no longer survives, as in 1841 the new owner, George Sligo employed Scottish Architect David Bryce to build a new house in the Scots Baronial style. It seems the original vision was an even grander affair than was built, but the end result was still impressive.

Sligo only lived there for a few years before it was bought by John Watson Laidlay in 1854. Laidlay lived there for 31 years until 1885 with his family. While John Watson Laidlay was well known for his love of the orient, living and working in the east as an indigo planter and silk maker for a number of years prior to moving to Seacliff, his brother, Johnny Laidlay, was also well known as an amateur golfer. Johnny was a two-time winner of the British Amateur Championship and a runner up in the British Open of 1893. He is also credited with inventing the overlapping grip which is used by around 90% of golfers to this day.

Sadly the house was gutted by a fire in 1907, which killed the owner and builder of the harbour on the beach, Andrew Laidlay. This was the end of the house as a residence, as even though plans were drawn up by the Architect Robert Lorimer in 1911 for its restoration, they never got off the drawing board.

The exterior shell does survive to this day and you can still see its gables, turrets and bartizans (battlemented parapets / overhanging corner turrets). The house, however, is on private land so you will have to make do with views from the beach and the access road which is partly accessible to the public.

During WWI, the outbuildings were purchased by the Royal Navy who established a top-secret research base there, known as HMS Scottish Seacliff. It was primarily used as a location to train people in navigation and U-Boat defence.

The land on which the Seacliff Estate lies is now owned by the Dale family, who farm much of the land to this day. They too have a famous ancestor, namely Robert Louis Stephenson, author of Treasure Island and Kidnapped among others. The nearby island of Fidra, in the Firth of Forth, is rumoured to have been one of the inspirations for Treasure Island.