News > Little Houses Scheme stages 50th birthday celebrations at Kellie Castle
Little Houses Scheme stages 50th birthday celebrations at Kellie Castle
25/06/2010
This year marks the 50th Anniversary of the National Trust for Scotland’s Little Houses Improvement Scheme.
To help celebrate the half-century the National Trust for Scotland has published a map (Little Houses A Touring Map of Fife) charting Fife’s special role in the scheme while the Trust’s splendid Kellie Castle near Pittenweem will host a fascinating historical exhibition on the Little Houses and the involvement of famous local resident Hew Lorimer who died in 1993.
The little houses were the work of stonemasons and craftsmen who ‘borrowed’ European architectural features and made them part of Scottish design. This was what produced the white harling and the now so familiar red pantiles.
For centuries the houses were home or place of work to merchants, artisans and fishermen and were at the heart of many of Fife’s fishing and rural communities and economies. Faced with the increasing powers of housing legislation which had been passed to demolish unfit housing and slums, many of the burghs where the little houses were created were in imminent danger of being cleared and lost forever.
After early beginnings in Culross and Dunkeld the Little Houses Improvement Scheme started in 1960 with the initial aim to make the houses habitable and provide competitive rents for local people. A ‘revolving fund’ was set up and followed the straightforward pattern of buying, restoring and then selling on each property so that the funds from the sale could be used on the next project.
Hew Lorimer son of renowned architect Sir Robert Lorimer was a pioneering figure and helped set the Little Houses Scheme on the road to success in Fife. An architectural sculptor, he lived at Kellie Castle.
The exhibition ‘Hew Lorimer and the Little Houses of Fife’ has been created for the National Trust for Scotland at Kellie by Sarah Heaton who is currently studying for a Masters degree in Museum and Gallery Studies at St Andrews University.
NTS Property Manager Roger Brown praised Miss Heaton’s outstanding contribution to the Little Houses Scheme anniversary “We are delighted that Sarah has used her skills in this field to create an exhibition which we are confident will bring many people to Kellie Castle in the month of July. The National Trust for Scotland very much hopes that the experience Sarah has gained will assist in her future career in the Heritage sector.”
The exhibition runs from July 1 – August 2. The castle’s opening hours are 1300 – 1700 Sunday, Monday, and Thursday - Saturday (closed Tuesday and Wednesday). Entrance is free.
For further information, please contact Kellie Castle on 0844 493 2184.
The little houses were the work of stonemasons and craftsmen who ‘borrowed’ European architectural features and made them part of Scottish design. This was what produced the white harling and the now so familiar red pantiles.
For centuries the houses were home or place of work to merchants, artisans and fishermen and were at the heart of many of Fife’s fishing and rural communities and economies. Faced with the increasing powers of housing legislation which had been passed to demolish unfit housing and slums, many of the burghs where the little houses were created were in imminent danger of being cleared and lost forever.
After early beginnings in Culross and Dunkeld the Little Houses Improvement Scheme started in 1960 with the initial aim to make the houses habitable and provide competitive rents for local people. A ‘revolving fund’ was set up and followed the straightforward pattern of buying, restoring and then selling on each property so that the funds from the sale could be used on the next project.
Hew Lorimer son of renowned architect Sir Robert Lorimer was a pioneering figure and helped set the Little Houses Scheme on the road to success in Fife. An architectural sculptor, he lived at Kellie Castle.
The exhibition ‘Hew Lorimer and the Little Houses of Fife’ has been created for the National Trust for Scotland at Kellie by Sarah Heaton who is currently studying for a Masters degree in Museum and Gallery Studies at St Andrews University.
NTS Property Manager Roger Brown praised Miss Heaton’s outstanding contribution to the Little Houses Scheme anniversary “We are delighted that Sarah has used her skills in this field to create an exhibition which we are confident will bring many people to Kellie Castle in the month of July. The National Trust for Scotland very much hopes that the experience Sarah has gained will assist in her future career in the Heritage sector.”
The exhibition runs from July 1 – August 2. The castle’s opening hours are 1300 – 1700 Sunday, Monday, and Thursday - Saturday (closed Tuesday and Wednesday). Entrance is free.
For further information, please contact Kellie Castle on 0844 493 2184.
