Fishing Boats In The Harbour On Visit To Pittenweem East Neuk Of Fife Scotland

Tour Scotland Winter 4K travel video of fishing boats, home from the sea, in the harbour, during the festive season holidays, on visit to Pittenweem in the East Neuk of Fife. I was raised in the East Neuk, just along the coast in Cellardyke. The earliest harbour, Boat Haven, was little more than a tidal jetty at the end of Mid Shore. The first record of Pittenweem as a port is in 1228. The present harbour is medieval in origin. A stone pier, the East Pier, was built around 1600; a West pier, now the centre pier, was built in 1724 and the south pier in the 19th century. Pittenweem was created a burgh of regality in 1452; a burgh of barony in 1526; and a royal burgh in 1541. In 1540 the local Priory derived revenue from the poor fisher folk living in the burgh however until the middle of the 19th century general trade was more important. Herring had been fished on the Forth from medieval times, and from the 17th century there was off shore great line fishing for white fish; with herring fishing in the Autumn and Spring. The industry was particularly vulnerable with fish periodically becoming scarce. In 1845 a considerable trade was carried on in herring fishing and curing, and white fishing. Fife fishermen, including those based at Pittenweem, were major players in the success of the Scottish herring fishery which, by the late 19th century was the world’s biggest. Barrels of herrings were even transported by rail into deepest Russia, forming, with potatoes, the staple diet of the peasantry. Pittenweem suffered in the 18th century from overcrowding and the various associated public health problems of the day. An outbreak of cholera in 1866 was supposedly the result of pig sties contaminating the wells and piped water was made available by 1874. In the relative boom times of the 19th century the south harbour pier was built. The railway was important in the development of Pittenweem. From 1863 Pittenweem had its own railway station on the Thornton and Anstruther section of the North British railway. The station closed in 1965, one of many closures following the Beeching Report. The railway was important for transporting fish catches. Packed in ice they could be transported to markets as far as London. It also made it possible to send damaged nets home for mending. By the latter part of the 19th century women played a major part in the herring industry. They were employed in the curing yards as gutters and packers. In addition to using steamers, the advent of the railway allowed larger numbers of these fishwives and fisher lasses to follow the fishing fleet each year. Today Pittenweem is Fife’s only working fishing harbour with regular commercial fish auctions. All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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