Elie Rubies

 

There's a place, near the village of Elie, in the county of Fife, on the Firth of Forth where it meets the North Sea,  called Ruby Bay  where  rubies are to be found.  In colour they're blood red and clear.  Some people say they're garnets and not rubies.   I don't know, I'm no gemologist but rubies or garnets  they're  beautiful gemstones and fun to find.

 

"What's in a name? Can you imagine Ruby Bay being called Garnet Bay?

 

They're Elie Rubies, always have been and always will be.

  

Elie rubies are to be found in the fine gravel on the beaches that lay inshore from the black basalt rock formations that form the coastline from The Lady's Tower to the Elie Harbour.

 

At Elie there's a bay known as Ruby Bay. An old map that I have designates it's location as being the bay that is formed by the indentation of the land between the Elie lighthouse and the Elie Harbour.  To me and the locals of my era Ruby Bay is the gravel bay that's in front of the cave that's adjacent to the Lady's Tower.  This is where I've found my largest and best rubies.  The rubies are embedded in the solid volcanic rock that forms the shoreline.  Rubies become displaced from the rocks and arrive on the beach by the action of the weather and the stormy winter seas that pound and erode the coastline.

 

My method to find rubies is as follows: First get a small jar with a lid to put the rubies in, something soft to lie on and a pad to place on the gravel under your weight  supporting forearm.  Bright sunny days are the best for finding rubies as they glint in the sunshine.  Just above the summer high tide mark, lay flat on your stomach with your eyes about a foot or so above the gravel.  Set aside the larger stones that are on the surface.  Then very very slowly and with the finger tips brush the gravel in an arc from side to side. Each sweep will uncover a new layer of gravel.  Look at each sweep very carefully.  Wow! You've just found your first ruby.  From now on you're hooked.  I've spent many many great hours searching for rubies. Great is your smile when you get a big one. Some are tiny but some are large enough to be cut and set into a gold ring.  There may be a huge one waiting just for you. You just can't never tell.

 

If you should find such treasures and have them set into a ring,  what will be on your finger will be no jewelry store bought bauble but precious memories of memorable moments, locked in time in your mind's eye, forever.

 

Both my mother Katie and my father Tom were ruby gatherers. Tom and Katie had the first rubies that they collected  set into their engagement ring. Later they had others that they found set into a gold anniversary broach.  Now Katie's granddaughter, Heather, has a gold ring set with Ruby Bay rubies that she prizes greatly.

 

I knew of a house in Elie where in the entryway and as a conversation piece was a large chunk of rock that was mostly  solid ruby.  It must have been all of 20 pounds in weight.  I was told that it was found in the black rock at the Elie Harbour jetty when the foundation was excavated for the harbour wall.

 

Another place to find rubies is on the gravel beach of the bay, that's  to the left  as you go down the road that passes The Ship Inn on the way to the Elie Harbour, in front of what used to be the Coast Guard houses. 

 

When I was a small boy there was an elderly lady who showed up at Ruby Bay each summer.  Although she became a good friend of mine, I never did know her last name or where she lived.  She was always just Nell,  Ruby Nell.  She taught me the fine art of finding rubies.  Nell looked at each ruby she found like it brought back a memory. One of Nell's words of wisdom was to tell me to always bring a small clear glass jar as it's a great pleasure to see and admire the rubies you've found as you look for more. In the course of each summer Nell collected several small jars full of rubies.  Then one summer Nell never showed up.  

 

Another but less well known place to find rubies is in the black gravel at the west end of the Kincraig Cliffs that are to the west of Earlsferry.  The cliff rubies that I've found have a hint of purple.  The place I've found them there is near the out-of-place red granite boulder that must have been dropped there as the result of an ice-age glacier. 

 

Happy Hunting.