Fittie

The picturesque old fishing village of Footdee (or Fittie) lies on the north bank of the River Dee, at the entrance to Aberdeen Harbour. The name derives from St. Fittick (or St. Fotin) rather than, as you might expects, the 'foot of the River Dee'. Although Footdee dates back at least to Mediaeval times, the present planned settlement was laid out on the instructions of Aberdeen Town Council in 1809 to rehouse fishermen and their families displaced by the development of Aberdeen Harbour. Originally the village consisted of 28 single-storey thatched cottages, built around North Square and South Square. Further cottages, known as Middle Row were added in 1837, dividing South Square. Pilot Square was built for harbour pilots and their families at the southern end of the development around 1855. The houses were sold to their tenants in the 1880s, resulting in higgledy-piggledy development around the four squares. A number of the original small cottages have been raised by one, two or even three storeys. The squares are filled with rows of outhouses (or 'tarry sheds') originally to store fishing nets but now mostly gentrified to form pretty summer houses with small gardens. In the centre of North Square, surrounded by a drying green, is the Footdee Mission Hall which dates from 1870 by William Smith (1817-90).

This is the view looking north from North Square towards the Ferris wheel further along Aberdeen beach, which itself stretches without interruption all the way to Newburgh on Ythan some 13 miles to the north.