Old Photograph Harbour Cellardyke East Neuk Of Fife Scotland

Old photograph of cottages and people by the harbour in Cellardyke in the East Neuk Fife, Scotland. Cellardyke was formerly known as Nether Kilrenny, Scots for Lower Kilrenny, or Sillerdyke, and the harbour as Skinfast Haven, a name which can still be found on maps today. The harbour was built in the 16th century and was rebuilt between 1829 and 1831. The modern name of the fishing village is thought to have evolved from Sillerdykes, meaning silver walls, a reference to the sun glinting off fish scales encrusted on fishing nets left to dry in the sun on the dykes around the harbour. Cellardyke and Kilrenny were together a royal burgh from 1592, having been a burgh of regality since 1578. Fishing was a dangerous occupation, and over the years a number of boats from Cellardyke were lost. On the 6th of April 1826 a boat was lost. Seven of the crew perished and one survived. On the 28th of May 1844 a boat with eight crew members was lost. Two years later, on the 23rd of April 1846 a boat with seven crew was lost. On the 3rd of November 1848 a boat with eight crew was lost. The next loss occurred on the 10th of May 1865, when a boat with eight crew disappeared. In 1910 a boat from Pittenweem sank off Cellardyke with the loss of three lives. There was one survivor. In addition, on the 1st of July 1837 a boat from Cellardyke carrying people on an excursion to the Isle of May as part of a celebration for the start of the herring fishing foundered. Seventeen women and children lost their lives.



All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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