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The Creel Loaders in Dunbar, a sandstone sculpture of two fishermen lifting a creel onto a fishwife's back.
Lothian

The Creel Loaders

A sandstone sculpture on Victoria Street in Dunbar of two fishermen loading a creel onto a fishwife's back, honouring the women of the herring trade.

Welcome

On Victoria Street, a few steps from Dunbar's harbour, stands a sculpture in honour of the people who made the town's living from the sea, and above all of its women.

The Creel Loaders shows two fishermen heaving a loaded creel onto the back of a fishwife, carved in sandstone by Gardner Molloy, a stonemason and sculptor from Port Seton.

In the days of the herring boom, while the men went to sea, the women baited the lines, and when the catch came in they carried it off to sell, in the town and much further afield, reputedly as far as Lauder over the Lammermuir Hills by the Old Herring Road. The figures are big and strong, six feet of solid stone, to show how hard that life was.

At their feet sit two carved cats, a nod to the Cat's Row, as this spot was once known. Gardner Molloy also carved the John Muir Stone that marks the start of the John Muir Way on the High Street.

Round the cornerThe Creel, DunbarThe restaurant by the harbour.1 min by roadSee itThe Creel Restaurant lit up on a wet street corner at night
Before you go

In the street, there at any time.

Where
Victoria Street, Dunbar, EH42 1HR.
Artist
Gardner Molloy.
Height
Six feet.
Where it is

On Victoria Street by the harbour in Dunbar, EH42 1HR.

Close byDunbar harbour.
  1. Dunbar CastleDunbar CastleThe castle ruins by the harbour.Under a mile1 min by road
  2. John Muir's Birthplace on Dunbar High Street, a white-harled house with flowers by the open door.John Muir's BirthplaceThe house on Dunbar's High Street where John Muir, the Scot who helped create America's national parks, was born in 1838, now a free museum.Under a mile1 min by road
  3. Dunbar BatteryDunbar BatteryThe old gun battery on Lamer Island.Under a mile1 min by road
  4. Dunbar High Street under a blue sky, the white Town House with its tower and spire among the old buildings.Dunbar Town House Museum & GalleryDunbar's 16th-century tolbooth on the High Street, with its witch's hat tower, now a free museum and gallery of the town's history.Under a mile1 min by road
  5. Railed path leads from grassy clifftop down to a rocky shorelineDunbar High StreetIt’s worth having a look along the High Street in Dunbar to grab a souvenir in one of the many wee gift shops.Under a mile1 min by road
Directions
The Creel Restaurant lit up on a wet street corner at nightRestaurantsThe Creel, DunbarA step away
White clubhouse with red tiled roof beside a links golf courseAttractionsDunbar Golf Course0.9 miles
Metal footbridge crosses a tidal creek on a wide sandy beachAttractionsBelhaven Bridge1.2 miles
Waves breaking on a sandy beach under a blue sky with scattered cloudsWalksDunbar Clifftop Path to Belhaven Bay1.3 miles
Grassy dunes overlook a curving sandy beach with Bass Rock offshoreAttractionsTyninghame Links3.3 miles over the water
Stone dovecot with conical tiled roof and outside stair, set in grassAttractionsPreston Mill7.9 miles
Ruined stone castle with wooden staircase leading to an arched doorwayAttractionsHailes Castle8.4 miles
Grassy headland overlooking a rocky shoreline and calm coastal watersAttractionsBerwickshire Coastal Path8.6 miles
A landscape view of the Blue Cabin at the foot of the brae, lamps lit by its red door and boats drawn up on the grass.CockburnspathBlue Cabin by the SeaSleeps 4 · 8.7 miles
Stay nearby

Places to stay near the statue, and when each is next free.

A landscape view of the Blue Cabin at the foot of the brae, lamps lit by its red door and boats drawn up on the grass.Blue Cabin by the Sea
  • Sleeps 4
  • In Cockburnspath
  • 8 miles from the Creel Loaders
Check datesA stone cottage with red pantiled roofs and a gabled dormer sits behind a gravel courtyard, an apple tree in the foreground.Maybell Cottage
  • Sleeps 2
  • In Lothian
  • 17 miles from the Creel Loaders
Check datesAn orange leather sofa draped with a sheepskin faces a stone fireplace beneath a timber ceiling, a staircase rising behind.The Old Stable
  • Sleeps 2
  • In Lothian
  • 17 miles from the Creel Loaders
Free 18–20 OctThe Crow’s Nest, FifeThe Crow’s Nest
  • Sleeps 5
  • In Lothian
  • 17 miles from the Creel Loaders
Free 2–4 NovPlaces to stayEvery stay in LothianAll our places to stay nearby, to search by date and by who is coming.See them all
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