1869
A Justice of Peace Small Debt Court was held here on Wednesday—Provost Todd and William Murray, Esq., on the bench ; John Smith, Esq., being assessor. ……… the Court was principally taken by the objections urged in two of the five cases the instance of David Walls, merchant, Anstruther. In one of these the pursuer sued John Montedore, fisherman, Cellardyke, for the sum of 17s 4d, being account for alum, furnace fittings, &e., supplied in 1867. Mrs Montedore appeared and objected the account on the ground that she had paid several of the articles, as in the case of the alum. She admitted she had no receipt, but there were certain anomalies on the face of the account which she held prove the payment. The price of alum she said in 1867 was 1 ½d per lb., and not 1d, as charged by Mr Walls, who was thus giving her a benefit she could not understand, and besides this evident mistake the pursuer had rendered her accounts subsequently, without, however, these disputed articles being included. She produced receipts for these accounts, which had reference to transactions in I868. The defender himself also appeared in Court, and denied having receipted other items marked in the account. Mr Murray asked the pursuer to explain the irregularity in not including the articles now disputed in subsequent accounts, when Mr Walls stated in reply that he had reminded Mrs Montedore of them shortly after they had been got when she came to settle her account, but that she had then disputed having got them. He had then told her to investigate the matter, and had done the same himself, when he found that he was quite right. Mr Murray said that in the absence of any receipt the Court had no other course open than to leave the account to the oath of the pursuer. At the request of the defender Mr Walls was then sworn, and having deponed to the correctness of the various items, the account was allowed in foil, with expenses. On the decision being given against him, the defender at once paid the account in Court.
An important improvement is about to be made on Cellardyke harbour by the removal of some dangerous sunk rocks from the Fairway, at the instance of Captain Alexander Rodger of Glasgow, who on so many former occasions exerted himself for the good of his native town. Last year, through the same kindly interest, Mr Pottinger, boatbuilder, was employed, and not without success, in removing some formidable obstructions, but other rocks, familiarly known as the “inner and outer buss,” being all but submerged low water of spring tides, it was found impossible to reach them effectually without the aid of the diving apparatus. With this view Mr David Murray, the well-known merchant, communicated with an experienced diver in Greenock, who came through to Cellardyke about the beginning of the year, and personally examined the rocks, and their removal being found practicable. Captain Rodger made arrangements for this being done in June, and accordingly the diver with his assistant, arrived here on Thursday night to begin the work. The result of these operations will not fail to confer incalculable benefit on the fishermen of Cellardyke, as it will give free and safe access to their harbour, which is likely to be more than ever resorted to. is seldom that we find so much practical benevolence and public spirit exhibited as in the case of Captain Rodger.
1870
Alleged Theft of Timber – Last Friday, before Sheriff Bell, Joseph Walker and James Walker, fishermen, Cellardyke, were charged with stealing larch fir, measuring forty feet in length, from a plantation in the parish of Kingsbarns. From an explanation made by Mr Davidson, it appeared that they had been in the habit of using the wood in the plantation for great number of years back, and had never been interfered with. They were dismissed
New Free Church.- The handsome new hall or church in connection with the Free Church Mission in Cellardyke is now so well advanced in the joiner and plaster work that it is expected to be opened the 17th of next month or previous to the fishermen sailing for the herring fishing in the north. The south gable or street elevation of the new edifice is a fine specimen of early English architecture, and in its elevated and conspicuous situation it has the merit of being a great ornament to the town well as of supplying long felt want for the moral and religious instruction of the community. We understand that the subscriptions now amount to £213, which, with the £200, the purchase price by Messrs Sharp & Murray for the old hall, will raise the fund to within about of the cost of the new building, but it is hoped that local benevolence and the liberality of Christian friends will ere long remove all encumbrance.
1872
Boatbuilding.- lt is cheering to observe in the prevailing dullness of local trade, the activity of the boatbuilders, who, like the coopers, are straining every nerve anticipate the fast approaching “herring harvest” of Lammas. From Cellardyke to St Monance the carpenter’s hammer is ringing as merrily we have heard it for many long years, and in some cases, like their neighbours, ” the barrel weavers,” the men are working extra hours in order that the new boats contracted for may be launched by the given time. Mr William Jarvis of Anstruther, has already taken rank as one of the most successful boatbuilders on the coast of Scotland, but in his yard, in the others, the boats turned out this season, are all very much after the same type and size. The carvel boat, so popular in Buckhaven, is still a stranger in the East of Fife, but many skippers talk very favourably of this description of build, which only require a beginning some say to find general favour. It is curious, we may here remark, to observe the ever recurring changes which take place in the systems of fishing. About ten years ago our fisherman vied with each other in the size of their boats, and at one time it seemed as if the era of fishing smacks and luggers was actually at the door ; and some people, indeed, wiser than the rest of the world, went so far as to build a model craft—the princess of the fleet be—but of late years the big boats have gone out of repute, for the best of all reasons that they “would not pay,” and now-a-days the favourite boat is one that can be employed both for inshore and outshore fishing. We cannot better illustrate the particular class of boat best adapted to the opinions or tastes of our East of Fife fishermen than by giving the measurements of a very fine specimen now being built by Mr Alexander Cunningham of Cellardyke, whose ingenuity has done so to perfect our deep sea going boats. The new boat is 44 feet in length and 16 in breadth, and over 7 in depth, and will cost somewhere about £2 10s a foot. This boat is in all respects fair representative of her class, as she is being built for an enterprising young fisherman with a view to prosecute the herring fishing the coast f Suffolk, and in all probability will remain afloat all the year through, wherein, in fact, is the chief secret of profit-yielding fishing boat of the present day.
1873
CELLARDYKE. Numbering the Houses.—The Police Commissioners are about to take steps to have the houses numbered, so that every residence may be readily traced out and recognised in whatever part of our long and somewhat intricate streets it may situated. Dr Robert Chambers, in his interesting account of Buckhaven saw it in 1833, tells us that there were then 160 families in the village, but with only about a dozen surnames. ……… In Cellardyke, there is also curious singularity names. For instances, in the list of voters for last year there were seven James Watsons, six William and five David Watsons, and five James Smiths; but here the custom of the place is more kindly than the method referred to by Dr Chambers, as it is usual to add the wives’ name by way of distinction, though no little trouble, inconvenience, and, we may add, vexation, will be saved by the houses being numbered, as agreed to by the Police Commissioners.
1875
William Pattie, carter, Cellardyke, appeared the bar of the Burgh Court on Monday – all the Magistrates being on the bench – charged with the contravention of the sweeping 251st clause of the Lindsay Act, In so far that he had kept two or more pigs and a quantity of dung in the rear of his house in John Street after being warned, on the 17th ultimo, to remove the nuisance. The panel pleaded guilty to having the pigs in his back yard, bat denied the charge with regard to the dung, and also complained in strong terms of having been “singled out amongst many offenders for prosecution” The Magistrates sentenced him to the mitigated penalty 15s, or 15 days’ imprisonment and ordered him at the same time have the pigs removed by Saturday.