The West End of West End of Pittenweem Harbour
Pittenweem is a village in Fife on the east coast of Scotland. The name derives from Pictish and Scottish Gaelic. "Pit-" represents Pictish pett 'place, portion of land', and "-enweem" is Gaelic na h-Uaimh, 'of the Cave' in Gaelic, so "The place of the cave". The name is rendered Baile na h-Uaimh in modern Gaelic, with baile, 'town, settlement', substituted for the Pictish prefix. The cave in question is St Fillan's cave (see below), although there are many indentations along the rocky shore. The village has a population of around 1 500 people. Pittenweem is a Royal Burgh, being awarded the status by King James V (1513-42) in 1541. Founded as a fishing village around a probably early Christian religious settlement, it grew along the shoreline from the west where the sheltered beaches provided safe places for fishermen to draw their boats up out of the water. In due course a breakwater was built extending out from one of the rocky skerries that jut out south-west into the Firth of Forth like fingers. This provided an ability to keep boats afloat rather than being beached, which allowed for larger boats. A new breakwater further to the east has been developed over the years into a deep, safe, harbour with a covered fish market. As the herring disappeared from local waters and the fishing fleet shrank, this harbour and attendant facilities led Pittenweem to become the main harbour for the fishermen of the East Neuk of Fife. The white houses with red roofs shown in the above picture "Pittenweem from the outer harbour wall" illustrate the classic East Neuk building style, influenced by trade with the Low Countries (Belgium and the Netherlands). The East Neuk offered natural trading ports for Dutch and Belgian captains as they sailed up past the East coast of England. These ships brought red pan-tiles as ballast and the locals soon found them to be excellent roofing material. It is just possible to make out the "crow step gable", where the gable ends rise in steps rather
Size: 3512px × 5288px
Location: Pittenweem, Fife. Scotland. United Kingdom.
Photo credit: © David Gowans / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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