Fittie – or Footdee to give it its Sunday name – is as unique as it is charming.
A fishing village built on a spit of land it is an ancient community, first mentioned as far back as 1398, but today lies in the shadows of giant silos around Aberdeen Harbour.
The Fittie we know today dates back to the early 1800s when its regimented squares built around a communal green were created to rehouse the city’s fishing community. It still retains that authentic feel today with an atmosphere like no other community in the Granite City. Join us as we look at Fittie over the years.
One of the earliest images of Footdee, taken in 1859, this photo shows homes at Waterside, which later made way for a shipyard.
As recently as 1965, residents of Fittie depended on outside taps, like this one at North Square, sitting beside an open drain.
Children play football between the washing poles at Footdee Mission Hall in 1963, underlying the rich sense of community in Fittie.
Fittie’s fishermen’s houses had been renovated by 1975, as can be seen in this atmospheric photo, with morning sunlight slanting across South Square, as a couple of early shoppers stop for a chat.
Fittie as seen from the air in 1975 in a photo that gives a real sense of how the community is bound by the mouth of the harbour on one side and the expanse of the beach and sea beyond on the other.