34 C O N T E X T 1 2 8 : M A R C H 2 0 1 3 established practice in the Low Countries, of building up the gable wall to a level higher than the roof slope to provide added protection,was adopted – so much so over time that Naismith inBuildings of the Scottish Countryside notes that ‘The stone skew is normal in Scotland’. This vulnerability to wind lift even resulted in the Low Countries in the production of left-hand and right-hand versions to enable roofs to have the overlaps on the leeward side of the tile. Where fire or storm damage was not an issue, thatch remained the common roofing material well into 19th century. Pantiles have even on occasion been used as the sub-stratum to a thatched roof instead of turf. A raised skew would have provided similar added protection for a thatched roof as for a pantiled one. This produced a distinctive new architectural element, particularly prominent where buildings presented their gable wall to the street, ripe for embellishment. If the topography and plot dimensions resulted in the long elevation being presented to the street, a central curvilinear gablet or ‘Dutch’ tympan gable was sometimes added as well. Customs records and correspondence confirm that pantiles were imported to this part of Scotland from Rotterdam in the last quarter of the 17th century. It is claimed that this was as ballast in boats from the Low Countries making the crossing for coal, salt and wool, but there is no evidence of this. There is evidence to suggest that they were a valuable commodity, carefully stored on board. As early as 1709 a consent was granted for digging clay for the manufacture of bricks and tiles, across the Forth from Fife, where the nearby town of Linlithgow was already importing pantiles. However, a significant contribution to the development of this characteristic style of roof was when in 1714 William Adam, mason, entrepreneur and later famous architect, started the first pantile works in Scotland, at Linktown of Abbotshall, Kirkcaldy, Fife. He had been forced to return home from his studies at university in the LowCountries to take over the family business on the death of his father. In addition to his academic studies he had studied the manufacture of bricks and pantiles and had no doubt been influenced by the houses he saw with shaped gables, built of brick and with pantiled roofs. Adam started the works in partnership with William Robertson of Gladney, his future father-in-law, and by 1716 was calling himself ‘Master of theTyle Manufactory in the Links of Kirkcaldy’. Gladney House, which he built in 1711, used imported pantiles. With its shaped A 16th century mural painting from the Merchant’s House at Kirkcaldy harbour Crowsteps and pantiles
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