C O N T E X T 1 0 9 : M A Y 2 0 0 9 41 Matthew Price is a planner (built heritage) with Fife Council. Unknown in the UK outside Scotland and so named after its distinctive mono-pitch roof, examples can be found in parts of southern France and northern Spain. There the design may have given protection from the Mistral for the perching birds, but it would equally have provided a sunny aspect and protection from the north wind in Scotland. This is the dominant style in Fife, making up three quarters of all listed doocots. In contrast, Aberdeenshire has only four. There the tower type dominates.The 17th century saw a number of round tower doocots built. The Category A listed Leuchars Castle doocot is a particularly good example, but has major structural problems. As their economic obsolescence grew, doocots continued to be built for their decorative value as part of designed landscapes. Fife has several fine examples of octagonal tower doocots from the late 18th and early 19th century. Some of these are built in fine ashlar, with embellishments such as parapet finials. The doocot in the grounds of Category A listed Strathyrum House near St Andrews contains a carved stone proudly proclaiming ‘Repaired 1819’. The current owners continue to value and maintain it, but not all doocots are so fortunate. Although Fife contains Category A listed examples of each type of doocot, many of these are at risk. The majority of doocots, however, are Category B listed and it is these and those in Category C(S) which are at greatest risk. Their very design, with small floor plans, no windows, low doorways, nesting-box-lined walls and sometimes a surviving potence or revolving ladder in the centre, will frustrate most efforts to find an alternative use. Examples can be seen where the insertion of windows or extensions to increase the floor area have totally destroyed their special character. However, evolution of form and use has its precedence. In the past, windmills and even castle towers were altered to become doocots. In turn, doocots have been added to and adapted, to become grain silos, barns, residential accommodation and even climbing walls. The author visited all listed doocots in Fife in 200708. Seventy per cent of these were noted to be at risk, with 59 per cent in the critical or high-risk categories as defined by the Scottish Civic Trust. The inevitable consequence of neglect was all too evident as part of a process of obsolescence, abandonment, dilapidation, structural decay and eventual collapse. These statistics relate to listed examples. Fife contains many unlisted ruins and those that have been lost completely since listing. A survey in 1986 noted that seven had ‘vanished’ with no physical trace – only the names remaining: Blacanquhal, Corston, Latherisk, Orkie, Dron House, Blebo House and Kilduncan. In some cases they represented the last physical reminder of former historic estates. The processes of decay are graphically illustrated by a photograph (in Scottish Doocots by Tim Buxbaum, published in 1987) of the 18th century gothic Lundin Tower doocot, compared with one taken by Fife Council a few years earlier. Over the past two decades, the roof has been lost, the chimney heads have collapsed, major structural cracks have developed and a tree is growing within the building. It is now at risk, at a critical stage, requiring urgent intervention if it is to have any chance of being saved. A similar story can be seen in the case of Pitlair House doocot, illustrated in Central and North Fife: an illustrated survey of its landscape and architecture, published in 1965. The roof is now dilapidated, the door lost, structural cracks have developed and a rare extant wooden ladder will not survive much longer. So often finding funding is the most critical decider of whether a doocot survives or not. On the positive side, most doocots are of simple traditional construction, small in scale and stature. On the down side, their design and location can present real challenges. Small numbers have been saved over the years by individuals and local heritage trusts. A good recent example of this is Melville House doocot, restored in 2007/8 with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Recent applications for funding have been made by private owners under the Scottish Government Rural Development Plan (built and cultural heritage priorities). Cambo House doocot, in a later ornate octagonal tower style Lundin Tower doocot, in an unusual gothic chapel style
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