Pittenweem Parish Church and Tolbooth Steeple is an ecclesiastical and municipal complex in the High Street,

Pittenweem Pittenweem ( ) is a fishing village and civil parish in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 1,747. Etymology The name derives from Pictish and Scottish Gaelic. "Pit-" represents Pictish ''pett'' 'pl ...

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

, Scotland. The structure, which is used as the local parish church, is a Category A

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

History

The site was first occupied by the priory church of

Pittenweem Priory Pittenweem Priory was an Augustinian priory located in the village of Pittenweem, Fife, Scotland. History The 6th century religious recluse St Monan is believed to have lived at a monastery at Pittenweem before leaving to take up residence in a ...

which dated back to the 12th century. After Pittenween became a

Royal burgh A royal burgh () was a type of Scottish burgh which had been founded by, or subsequently granted, a royal charter. Although abolished by law in 1975, the term is still used by many former royal burghs. Most royal burghs were either created by ...

in 1541, the new burgh leaders decided to commission a

tolbooth A tolbooth or town house was the main municipal building of a Scottish burgh, from medieval times until the 19th century. The tolbooth usually provided a council meeting chamber, a court house and a jail. The tolbooth was one of three essen ...

on a site to the immediate west of the priory church. The new tolbooth was designed in the Scottish medieval style, built in

harled Harling is a rough-cast wall finish consisting of lime and aggregate, known for its rough texture. Many castles and other buildings in Scotland and Ulster have walls finished with harling. It is also used on contemporary buildings, where it pr ...

rubble Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionar ...

with

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

dressings and was completed in 1588. The design of the tolbooth involved a four-stage tower facing down the High Street; there was a doorway in the first stage and irregularly placed narrow windows in the other three stages. A fifth stage, built in

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

stone, with a

corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the s ...

led and

balustraded A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its con ...

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). Whe ...

and a

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...

was added in 1630. Access to the upper floors was attained by way of a circular stair turret which was erected at the north east corner of the tower. Internally, the principal rooms were the

barrel vault A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...

ed prison cell on the ground floor of the tower and the council chamber on the first floor. A bell, which was cast at Jurgen Putensen's foundry in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, was installed in the tolbooth in 1663. In 1704, five local women were accused of taking part in the bewitching of a teenage boy, Patrick Morton, and were incarcerated and tortured in the tolbooth. One of the accused, Janet Cornfoot, confessed after being beaten by the local Presbyterian Minister, Patrick Cowper, then escaped and was promptly caught and

crushed Crushed may refer to: * "Crushed" (''Ms. Marvel''), a 2022 episode of the American television series ''Ms. Marvel'' * "Crushed" (Roland Lee Gift song) a 2009 single by Roland Lee Gift * "Crushed" (''The Suite Life of Zack & Cody'' episode), an ...

to death by a lynch mob. A new

weather vane A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , m ...

was added in 1739 and a clock, designed and manufactured by a local clockmaker, John Smith, was installed in the fifth stage of the tolbooth in 1773. The main section of the church was rebuilt to a design by a local architect, James Brown, in 1882. The layout of the church was orientated from southwest to northeast with a northwest transept of three-bays facing onto Marygate. The central bay of the northwest transept featured an arched doorway on the ground floor with a tri-partite

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...

ed window on the first floor surmounted by an

oculus Oculus (a term from Latin ''oculus'', meaning 'eye'), may refer to the following Architecture * Oculus (architecture), a circular opening in the centre of a dome or in a wall Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Oculus'' (film), a 2013 American ...

and a gable; the outer bays of the transept were fenestrated by bi-partite mullioned windows surmounted by smaller oculi and lower gables. After the tolbooth became unsuitable for use as a municipal building, a new town hall was erected in Session Street in 1940, and the tower subsequently became an integral part of the parish church. In July 2021, the Royal Burgh of Pittenweem and District Community Council, having secured ecclesiastical listed building consent as well as funding by

Historic Environment Scotland Historic Environment Scotland (HES) ( gd, Àrainneachd Eachdraidheil Alba) is an executive non-departmental public body responsible for investigating, caring for and promoting Scotland's historic environment. HES was formed in 2015 from the mer ...

, initiated a programme of restoration works on the tower.

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1588 City chambers and town halls in Scotland Category A listed buildings in Fife Parish Church and Tolbooth Steeple

History

See also

References