General view of Gyles House with view of the Gyles
F 2037
Description General view of Gyles House with view of the Gyles
Date 1889
Collection Papers of Erskine Beveridge, antiquarian, Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland
Catalogue Number F 2037
Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images
Copies SC 747801
Scope and Content The Gyles, Pittenweem, Fife Pittenweem, a picturesque fishing port on the east coast of Fife, developed round its medieval harbour. The town's prosperity in the 17th and 18th centuries, particularly through trade with the Low Countries, is reflected in the substantial dwelling houses that adjoin the harbour. This photograph of a 17th-century group, known collectively as The Gyles, was taken by Erskine Beveridge in 1889. Gyles House (right), a three-storeyed sea-captains' house dating from 1626, stands at right angles to the rest of the group (left), and looks back across the harbour. It is harled and pantiled, although the first few rows of the roof are slated. The slates continue over a stair wing (left) which has the main entrance to the house on the ground floor. To the right is a wall-head chimney-stack with a low storehouse door at the bottom. The distinctive red pantiles, roof-tiles curved to form an S-shaped section and fitted to overlap, added colour and vitality to otherwise plain buildings, and were a traditional roofing material in the East Neuk of Fife where the brick and tile works exploited local deposits of clay. The first few rows of a pantiled roof were often covered with the more costly slate, covering the vulnerable wall-head and giving additional protection against both wind and rain. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.
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