33 High Street, Aberdour, Inverkeithing and Dalgety Bay, Fife

Description

Group of 3 buildings compromising of 18th, 19th and 20th century buildings; No 33 to NW street corner elevation, Nos 27/31 adjacent left at NW street elevation and No 29 to rear at SE. No 33; Early 20th century, 2-storey, 3-bay curved (former butcher's) shop built on corner site. Raised stucco panels with recessed decorative geometric designs flanking bays at ground and 1st floor, raised margins at 1st floor and eaves course. Nos 27/31 dated 1731; 2-storey, 2-bay gable end house to NW street elevation divided into shop at ground (No 31) and flat to 1st floor (No 27). Painted render to ground with harling to 1st floor to principal elevation of Nos 27, 31 and 33. Later covered court between advanced gables of Nos 31 and 25 with covered stair leading to No 27. No 29; Earlier 19th century 2-storey, 3-bay square-plan house with single storey outshot to SE elevation attached to rear of Nos 27/31. Random rubble to SW and SE elevations with long and short droved ashlar at window openings and quoins, rendered to NE elevation.

HIGH STREET (NW) ELEVATION: No 33; symmetrical elevation, central recessed tiled entrance, doorpiece with pulvinated frieze. Flanking large shop windows with ventilators set within shopfront; projecting moulded cornice with dentil block surmounting fascia. 1st floor windows at eaves set above openings below. 1st floor decorative panels, eaves course and margins form rectangular recessed panels flanking windows; square block decorative detailing within. Nos 27/31; door to left, shop window to right, windows set to left and right at 1st floor of gable end, date stone inscribed 'I.A.M.B 1731' centred at gable head. Small door set flush to left return with projecting extension at 1st floor forming small covered court, door to stair to far left.

REAR (SE) ELEVATION: No 29; ground floor window to left with 1st floor window above, plain gable of single storey outshot to right. Left return; ground floor door to left, window to right, 2 equally spaced windows at 1st floor. Right return; modern lean-to at ground floor, 1st floor window to far right. Nos 27/31; ground floor window with 1st floor window above.

No 33; decorative early 20th century wrought-iron half-gates to shop entrance, 2-leaf timber door with large full-length glass panels, decorative scalloped detailing to bottom. Bipartite plate glass window to left, tripartite plate glass window to right. 12-pane casement windows to 1st floor. Slightly overhanging eaves with brackets, curved pitched slate roof; coped skew to SE elevation; rendered coped stacks to W and NE elevations, replacement circular cans. Nos 31/27; timber panelled door with upper glazed panes, bipartite plate glass to shop window, timber plate glass sash and case windows. Pitched roof, modern red pantiles to advanced gable, ashlar coped skew, coped ashlar gable apex stack. Pitched grey slate roof set behind advanced gable at Nos 31/27; rendered gable apex stack to SW, mutual brick shared gable apex stack to NE, circular clay cans. No 29; timber boarded doors, 12-pane timber sash and case windows, at both house and outshot; pitched roof, red clay pantiles, ashlar coped skews with squat ashlar gable apex stack, missing cans, (2002) to SE elevation.

INTERIOR: No 33 (former butcher's shop); original early 20th century white and cream tiles to walls and window insets running to near ceiling height with stylised ART NOUVEAU flower motifs and bands of green tiles. Opening with sliding timber doors leading to 31 High Street. Sliding meat hooks suspended by metal rail attached to ceiling running along full extent of NW range. Cornice to ceiling. Small circular stair opening to ceiling, cast-iron spiral staircase missing, (2002). Bare, unplastered brick to store room at 1st floor, exposed rafters to curved roof. No 31; (continuation of butcher's shop) tiled in similar fashion as No 33 (no flower decorated tiles). No 29; stone winder stair rising from ground to 1st floor. Large room to ground, sink built into recess at window to NE. Large room to 1st floor; later 19th century tiled fireplace centred to SE elevation, flanking press to left with timber panelled door, timber panelled shutters to windows, plain cornice.

COURTYARD: to rear of No's 31 and 33. Low rubble, rubble coped walls and remains of highstone wall incorporated into 2 Shore Road. BEE BOLES in NE wall, 18th or early 19th century, repaired Ian McCrone circa 2004, run of 6 boles with stone slab divides and continous chamfered course above. WELL below window to rear of No. 29, circular stonelined hole in ground. TROUGH to SW, roughly rectangular stone basin set in ground.

Statement of Interest

NOTES: Before being rebuilt at the start of the 20th century, 33 High Street bore a strong resemblance to its neighbour No 31 High Street, being a gable fronted house with a central chimney, the main elevation curved round the street corner. At some point during the beginning of the 20th century the shop passed into the hands of the Niven family, who ran a butchers and poulterers from the premises. The Nivens rebuilt the shop in the early 20th century in a very stylish and modern manner. The careful detailing includes the half-height wrought-iron gates, the use of stuccowork to the main elevation and the stylised tiles within. It is of interest to note that the 1st floor store above the shop was used to pluck poultry. The shop remained in the hands of the Niven family as the local village butchers till the early 1990s. The relationship between No 33 and No 27/31 is uncertain, it is probable that the 2 properties came under the same ownership at the time No 33 was rebuilt in the early 20th century. No 29 is reached from a small door at the NE street elevation, a passageway runs SE through No 31 to the rear where the door to No 29 is located, the passageway branches off to the right and leads to a door which provides access to the rear of No 31 and to the courtyard surrounding No 29. To the SE elevation of No 29 abutting the wall are the remains of a well, to the SW of the courtyard is a stone trough, also to the SW are the remnants of a high stone wall which has now been incorporated into the wall of No 2 Shore road. It is thus probable that the area around No 29 was a steading of some kind holding animals, it could have been an area in which animals were kept whilst waiting to be slaughtered, there carcasses being moved to the butchers shop.

External Links

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