Description

Begun by Thomas Brown, builder, 1877. 2-storey and attic paired (excepting No 1) 2-bay terraced tenements purpose-built for local fishing community with single and 2-storey freestanding fishing gear storage to rear terminating in corner shop at N (No 35). Coursed tooled sandstone to street elevation, rubble to rear and sides, excepting N elevation of No 35 which has squared and snecked tooled sandstone. Rectangular piended stair projections to rear, margined window and door openings, polygonal piended dormers, pairs of houses stepped at roofline. Some minor alterations and additions.

E (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: to left, No 1, 3-bay 2-storey and attic terraced house, to right 10 paired 2-storey and attic terraced tenements, to far right corner shop with chamfered margins. Slight variations to the properties, especially window openings, including bipartite ground floor window to No 6.

Variety of glazing, some 12-pane and 4-pane (those to No 35 with horns) timber sash and case windows, some modern. Modern rooflights. Grey slates. Large gable end stacks and ridge stacks at division of paired tenements. Various door types, some timber 4-panel, some modern, simple rectangular fanlights above.

INTERIOR: No 3, modernised.

ANCILLARY BUILDINGS: to W, 2-storey 2-bay predominantly terraced rubble-built fishing gear storage sheds forming courtyard with tenements, some with forestairs to W elevation. Few loft hatches to E elevation extant, that to No 3 remains. Variety of glazing, some 6-pane fixed lights. Some simple timber boarded doors. Some ridge stacks remain. Broadly, pantiles to S, slates to N.

BOUNDARY WALLS: low rubble walls to E elevation with predominantly flat coping. High dividing walls forming sides of rear courtyards of properties.

Statement of Interest

See also list description for nos 10-38 Rodger Street running parallel opposite.

These tenements are remarkable for their coherent design and uniform development formed for the specific needs of the Cellardyke fishing community. A revival of the fishing industry had created a shortage of housing stock which these buildings hoped to redress. The standard of construction and design at Rodger Street was considerably superior to earlier forms of housing and took on board previous smaller schemes at Ellice Street (by George Rae of St Andrews) and West and East Forth Streets. Crew members who contributed both labour and fishing gear earned twice as much as those only supplying labour and the large amount of gear storage offered at Rodger Street is evidence of the market the builder wished to attract.

No 1 Roger Street was built as a self-contained house, but the rest of the street was constructed as two-family tenements, with access through a doored close leading from front to back and an internal rear stairway. This arrangement has changed over the years, some tenements housing more than two families, and the majority now unobtrusively altered to house just one. As two-family tenements it was usual for the owner to occupy the slightly more spacious upper floor and to rent out the lower floor to provide additional income.

The walled areas to the front of the tenements allowed for the temporary setting down of nets. In contrast to the traditional style of fisher houses with a forestair, where the nets were stored below and living accommodation was above, the Rodger Street buildings had a garret or attic area for for the repair and storage of fishing equipment. Fixed external rear hoists were used for the nets, but sliding dormer beams were more common. It is not known if any of these survive now, although one was extant at No 4 in 1986.

In addition to this, the houses were provided with net and gear storage in the form of detached sheds to the rear of the properties. With high walls on either side the sheds form a small courtyard. Water pumps provided a convenient source of water. Beyond the sheds are generous gardens. The courtyard area would have been entirely concerned with fishing. The shed to No 1 is single storey, however, the remainder are two-storey, comprising probably a lavatory, coal store and washhouse downstairs, with an upstairs loft for gear storage. Some of the loft hatches remain, notably that at No 3.

Thomas Brown took up three feus on the West side of Rodger Street and it is likely that he was still involved along with Alexander Wallace, builder, and Robert Williamson, a Pittenweem plasterer and builder, in the completion of the rest of the side of the street. The majority were completed by 1883.

No 6 was damaged by bombing during the Second World War, hence the bipartite ground floor window. With its chamfered margins it seems likely that the corner shop at No 35 was completed as part of the building scheme on the opposite side of Rodger Street led by Robert Williamson.

Rodger Street is named after the renowned Cellardyke-born captain and shipowner, Alexander Rodger (1801-1877). In 1866 the annual tea race from China to London was won by a hair's breadth by the Taeping, owned by Captain Rodger and crewed by men from Cellardyke. It narrowly beat the Ariel, crewed by Anstruther men. Captain Rodger subscribed to harbour improvements in Cellardyke in 1868 and gave money to assist the poor each winter.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17803700

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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