C O N T E X T 1 2 8 : M A R C H 2 0 1 3 35 gables it would have had a consciously Dutch aspect. At first pantiles were used mostly on prestige buildings. As the works became established and techniques improved, the price fell. It was still a luxury item and most roofs remained thatch or turf. Tiles continued to be shipped from Holland and Flanders. Some of the affluent burgh towns could support their own brick and tile works. The inland county town of Cupar, for example, had a seam of suitable clay by its river, but it had to import coal. From its first brick and tile kiln in 1764 producing small quantities of tiles, by 1811 it was producing 150,000. Pantiles need a relatively even surface to be laid on, so they must have sawn or evenly split timbers for at least the tile battens. At first it was only economic to lay them on prestige buildings. Even where there was a supply of suitable timber fromwater-powered sawmills, it was still expensive until the advent of steam mills. Transport costs had initially restricted the market. At first roads were poor or non-existent. It was easier to transport by sea and supply the east-coast towns. To make pantiles, in addition to water, fuel was needed close to the right alluvial clay. This was present as coal along the south-east coast of Fife. The clays produced the characteristic red pantile and an unusual, distinctive blue-grey variation. Over time, aided by improvements in roads after theTurnpike Acts (1780-1800), the market grew steadily. The start of the 19th century saw the benefits of steam power, and the industrial and agricultural revolutions increased demand. The GeneralView of the Agriculture of the County of Fife drawn up by the Board of Agriculture and Improvement, published in 1800, noted that: ‘Brick and tyle are manufactured at Cupar, Kirkaldy, and Leven. About 750,000 are made annually; and the duty is about £300.’ Incidentally, there is no recommendation in this document regarding the use of clay ‘tiles’, as clay drainage pipes were know, as a method of improving the land. It was not until the mid-19th century,withThomas Scragg’s patented extrusion method of machine-making clay pipes, that they became cheap enough to be widely used. Similar technical improvements helped the manufacture of pantiles move away from the previously laborious hand production.The east of Scotland, and particularly Fife, led this agricultural revolution and saw extensive land drainage and new building. Climate also helped to concentrate the use of pantiles and create a recognisable style. On the western side of the country, heavier rainfall and access to slates saw pantiles used less than on the dryer east coast. Further helped by the removal of the Brick andTileTax of 1784, use peaked in the first decades of the 19th century. Just as with the extensive re-introduction of the stepped gable in post-second-world-war rebuilding in Belgium, pantiles were reintroduced in Fife as elsewhere, sometimes, at least initially, not without controversy. Early projects were SailorsWalk, Kirkcaldy in the 1950s; Rossend Castle, Burntisland in 1975; and from the 1960s on the many other buildings re-roofed in Fife as part of the NationalTrust for Scotland’s Little Houses Scheme. There are also many new buildings in Fife which continue this tradition. Now they are so much accepted as part of the local vernacular style that there is even the risk of their inappropriate over-use, with the stepped gable, in pastiche modern developments. Bibliography Uyttenhove P (1997) Conservation and reconstruction in Belgium: the continental experience, Context 55, September Bell J (2005) Broomlees TileWorks, Elie and Earlsferry History Society Pride G L (1996) Dictionary of Scottish Building, Rutland Press Naismith R J (1987) Buildings of the Scottish Countryside,Victor Gollanez Howard D (editor) (1989)William Adam: architectural heritage, Journal of the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland, Edinburgh University Press Emerton G (2000) The Pattern of Scottish Roofing, Historic Scotland Research Report Historic Scotland, Rural Buildings of the Lothians, Guide for Practitioners 1 Historic Scotland (1995) The Repair of Historic Buildings in Scotland Historic Scotland (2010) Building Scotland (chapter on pantiles) Bennett F and Pinion A (1935, reprinted 2000) Roof Slating andTiling, Donhead Publishing Glossary crowstep Stepped ends on top of stone gable taking the place of a sloping cope on a skew. skewThe raking top of a gable projecting above the roof surface. gablet A small gable used as a decorative feature. tympanA small gablet centred on a front elevation Matthew Price is a planner with Fife Council. A crowstepped thatched house in Falkland
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