0:00:02 > 0:00:05The streets we live in reveal the secret past
0:00:05 > 0:00:07beneath the skin of the present.
0:00:08 > 0:00:12Here is our kitchen, which was the operating theatre of the hospital.
0:00:12 > 0:00:15There were families that didn't have toilets.
0:00:15 > 0:00:19There was many a visit to the drains in the middle of the night.
0:00:19 > 0:00:24Our memories are rendered in the bricks and mortar that surround us.
0:00:24 > 0:00:27Just behind you there was where we all danced.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30Our streets chart momentous social change
0:00:30 > 0:00:31and the ebb and flow
0:00:31 > 0:00:34between enormous wealth and terrible poverty.
0:00:35 > 0:00:37Pretty grim, isn't it?
0:00:38 > 0:00:41Dirt, filth, stench everywhere.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44They reveal the changes that have shaped all our lives.
0:00:44 > 0:00:48And make the story of our streets the story of us all.
0:00:49 > 0:00:51It's a nice view, isn't it?
0:00:53 > 0:00:57Aberdeen, Granite City on the north-east coast of Scotland.
0:00:57 > 0:00:59Hub of the global oil industry.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04But long before oil arrived, fishing was king.
0:01:06 > 0:01:07Here you'll find the Fittie Squares,
0:01:07 > 0:01:10purpose-built enclave for fisher-folk.
0:01:10 > 0:01:13They're just a mile from the city centre, but a world apart.
0:01:15 > 0:01:17You were being taught at an early age
0:01:17 > 0:01:19that the demon drink was bad for you.
0:01:21 > 0:01:26Fittie was regarded as kind of a strange place, a closed community.
0:01:26 > 0:01:29This is our living room.
0:01:29 > 0:01:30It's like a boat.
0:01:30 > 0:01:33I don't see it like that but you do get comments like that.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38This is the story of how this traditional community
0:01:38 > 0:01:41was forced to adapt in the face of seismic change.
0:01:43 > 0:01:46These people have been sacrificed to oil interests.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02Down by Aberdeen harbour lies a narrow spit of land
0:02:02 > 0:02:04between the beach and the quayside.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10It's an unlikely place to find a community.
0:02:10 > 0:02:11But here you'll find three squares.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18They're at the heart of an old fishing village called Footdee,
0:02:18 > 0:02:21better known to the locals as Fittie.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24The squares are designed with the houses looking inward,
0:02:24 > 0:02:27making for an unusual sense of intimacy.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31If you're sat on a bench outside your front door you're probably
0:02:31 > 0:02:35only a couple of metres from the person next door
0:02:35 > 0:02:37sat on their bench outside their front door.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40So, you get to know people a lot more that way.
0:02:41 > 0:02:46And you tend to know what's going on at all times for a lot of people.
0:02:47 > 0:02:49The squares fill a tiny footprint.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51There are 80 dwellings here,
0:02:51 > 0:02:55crammed into an area less than 200 by 100 metres.
0:02:57 > 0:03:00They're a unique remnant of Aberdeen's past.
0:03:00 > 0:03:04They're surrounded by industry and yet they feel like a separate world.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07A quieter, quainter, more eccentric place.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12We were kind of like a little bubble
0:03:12 > 0:03:15that's existing in this kind of oil mad city.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21These days, many people in the squares are incomers.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24White collar professionals from all over Britain.
0:03:26 > 0:03:30But for generations Fittie was made up of the same group of families
0:03:30 > 0:03:33who lived together, worked together and intermarried.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43In South Square, number 13 belonged to Robertina Baxter
0:03:43 > 0:03:45and her daughter Ruby.
0:03:49 > 0:03:53Ruby's daughter Norma Reid grew up here in the '50s,
0:03:53 > 0:03:55surrounded by her relatives.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00This is the one my Uncle John lived in.
0:04:02 > 0:04:03He was a Baxter.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09The one at the end is still my Uncle Henry's.
0:04:12 > 0:04:14This was my granny's house.
0:04:14 > 0:04:19It still is in the family, but it's my cousin Ian has that house now.
0:04:20 > 0:04:22That was my granny's shed.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28It was really pretty. She loved her garden.
0:04:28 > 0:04:30She'd be turning in her grave if she saw it now.
0:04:34 > 0:04:40There was a few families that were quite strong in the village.
0:04:41 > 0:04:46Most people can say, "I'm related to a Baxter."
0:04:46 > 0:04:50And if you go back a few generations, you find that they're all related.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54I think maybe fisher-folk are like that
0:04:54 > 0:04:58because my understanding is that they married their own kind.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02They didn't marry outwith their own kind.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07In Norma's day, over half of residents worked
0:05:07 > 0:05:09directly or indirectly in the fishing industry.
0:05:11 > 0:05:13My Uncle Jim, who was a fisherman,
0:05:13 > 0:05:17his boat sometimes landed just round there and he would come round with
0:05:17 > 0:05:22a fry of fish and Granny would be distributing it within the family.
0:05:27 > 0:05:29Before the oil was discovered,
0:05:29 > 0:05:33you could have crossed the harbour just standing on the boats.
0:05:33 > 0:05:35You would never have got your feet wet.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43While the men went to sea for weeks at a time, the women worked at home
0:05:43 > 0:05:48shelling thousands of mussels to use for bait and braiding fishing nets.
0:05:53 > 0:05:54For these hard-working people,
0:05:54 > 0:05:57the squares were a practical live-work space.
0:05:58 > 0:06:01This bit wasn't as nice to look at here
0:06:01 > 0:06:04cos there was no grass.
0:06:04 > 0:06:06It was all black earth.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09And you would see maybe creels
0:06:09 > 0:06:15and different pieces of fisherman's equipment.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18You'd have boats and that lying about.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24And this here was Mr Stout.
0:06:24 > 0:06:25He used his washing line
0:06:25 > 0:06:30but mostly he was noted for hanging his fish on the line.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33Pegged all the fish up and dried them.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37Didn't look very hygienic with all the flies buzzing around.
0:06:37 > 0:06:41But that was the way they would have cured their fish.
0:06:50 > 0:06:52But now the fishermen have left Fittie,
0:06:52 > 0:06:56the squares have become a historical curiosity.
0:06:56 > 0:06:58From late spring through the summer months,
0:06:58 > 0:07:01they fill up with tourists from all nations.
0:07:02 > 0:07:07- Why did you come here today? - Just to visit and see.
0:07:07 > 0:07:11This contains the old Scotland houses and everything.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14So we just wanted to see how it looks like.
0:07:14 > 0:07:18Just a small village on the seashore which has lots of artistic things,
0:07:18 > 0:07:21so we just wanted to explore it.
0:07:21 > 0:07:25It's a more authentic area here in Aberdeen.
0:07:25 > 0:07:29Local people, and maybe how it used to be before.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34A lot of the tourists come around and say, "Is this a holiday village?
0:07:34 > 0:07:36"Do people just live here in the holidays?"
0:07:36 > 0:07:38Or, "Who lives in the sheds?"
0:07:39 > 0:07:42On a weekend it's nonstop.
0:07:42 > 0:07:46Busloads from Spain and Italy to Germans.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49You name it. They come round in their droves.
0:07:51 > 0:07:53Which can be irritating.
0:07:55 > 0:07:59Sometimes you get a whole coach load, so you get 30 or 40 people.
0:07:59 > 0:08:03Some will be a German party or a Spanish party.
0:08:06 > 0:08:07If they don't have a guide, then it's easy
0:08:07 > 0:08:10because you can tease them, you know?
0:08:11 > 0:08:15"Not fishing today?" I say, "No, day off. We never fish on the Sabbath."
0:08:19 > 0:08:22Sometimes we dress up and we mend our nets.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32The history of the squares begins in the early 1800s,
0:08:32 > 0:08:35when Fittie was just a cluster of hovels
0:08:35 > 0:08:36near the mouth of the River Dee,
0:08:36 > 0:08:38set apart from the town.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46They may well have stayed there if the city hadn't realised
0:08:46 > 0:08:49that the village was in the middle of some prime real estate.
0:08:53 > 0:08:58The old village of Fittie has been there since the 12th century.
0:08:58 > 0:09:00There was a little community there
0:09:00 > 0:09:03separate from Aberdeen proper. And...
0:09:04 > 0:09:07..it's described as being very insalubrious.
0:09:07 > 0:09:11There were piles of rotting fish and all sorts of stuff.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14The houses were ancient and basically clapped out.
0:09:14 > 0:09:18So the council decided, "We'll condemn this place,"
0:09:18 > 0:09:22but I suspect, as always, the real reason was they were wanting
0:09:22 > 0:09:25rid of it so that they could develop this area.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28Get rid of these houses and put them down at the point where
0:09:28 > 0:09:32they were as far out of the way as they could possibly be.
0:09:32 > 0:09:34The next place is Norway.
0:09:34 > 0:09:38You can't really get any further out of Aberdeen than this point.
0:09:39 > 0:09:43The city chose a sandy site just south of the existing village
0:09:43 > 0:09:46and commissioned architect John Smith to come up with
0:09:46 > 0:09:50a scheme for 56 houses which he called Fish Town.
0:09:54 > 0:09:57He drew out a radical design of two equal squares.
0:10:01 > 0:10:05The idea of the square, based on the classical Roman forum,
0:10:05 > 0:10:07was much in vogue at the time,
0:10:07 > 0:10:10but was usually reserved for more rarefied architectural schemes.
0:10:11 > 0:10:14The concept was really for gracious living
0:10:14 > 0:10:18and the square was meant to be a grassed amenity area
0:10:18 > 0:10:21that you could wander about on a Sunday afternoon
0:10:21 > 0:10:23or something of the sort.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26And it was a communal garden really rather than anything else.
0:10:26 > 0:10:31This was a workplace, which makes it even more interesting.
0:10:31 > 0:10:36It's unusual for fishing houses because most fishing communities,
0:10:36 > 0:10:40like this one at Torry at the other side of the river,
0:10:40 > 0:10:42is made up of rows of houses.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45A row of house, a lane, a row of house, a lane.
0:10:45 > 0:10:47And this is right up the coast.
0:10:47 > 0:10:52Right around the north-east, so to have a square was a new idea.
0:10:52 > 0:10:55And they were in fact the first council houses in Aberdeen
0:10:55 > 0:10:57paid for by the council.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00The layout may have been elegant
0:11:00 > 0:11:03but the houses were built for practicality.
0:11:03 > 0:11:06They were based on a traditional but and ben design.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10Two rooms, the but's on the left-hand side,
0:11:10 > 0:11:11the ben is on the right,
0:11:11 > 0:11:14but ben the hoose is going through the house.
0:11:14 > 0:11:18And they had clay floors, very primitive clay floors.
0:11:19 > 0:11:23Simple house for simple people.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30The squares were officially named North and South Square.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33And the fisher-folk from the old village,
0:11:33 > 0:11:35along with a few families from Torry, moved in.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48Oil geologist and mum-to-be Natalie Farrell
0:11:48 > 0:11:51lives in one of the tiny but and ben houses.
0:11:52 > 0:11:54Come in.
0:11:59 > 0:12:00This is the living room.
0:12:02 > 0:12:06It's quite small, but it fits me and my husband.
0:12:06 > 0:12:07And then this is the kitchen.
0:12:09 > 0:12:11Which is also quite small.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14We have a microwave cooker because we can't fit a real cooker in.
0:12:14 > 0:12:15And then...
0:12:16 > 0:12:17..through here.
0:12:19 > 0:12:20We have a bathroom in the middle.
0:12:22 > 0:12:24Which miraculously has a bath.
0:12:26 > 0:12:29There's no upstairs. We've just got a little loft.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33But we do have a really good-sized bedroom.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41This is where the baby will sleep. We've got enough room there.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44All the books are going to have to move.
0:12:44 > 0:12:48So they're going to move and be replaced by all this baby stuff.
0:12:48 > 0:12:54Muslins and all sorts, and nappies, and things like that.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57My cello can only stay in here because it can't go in the shed.
0:12:57 > 0:13:01I should have given up and started playing the violin instead.
0:13:01 > 0:13:03But when I get back to writing my PhD,
0:13:03 > 0:13:06at least I can put the baby to sleep and write so we'll fit in.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11The only problem is, when the baby's crying at night
0:13:11 > 0:13:13and one of us wants to get some peace,
0:13:13 > 0:13:15there's not really anywhere you can go and take it.
0:13:15 > 0:13:17I think one of us will have to go out into the village
0:13:17 > 0:13:19and walk around with the pram.
0:13:21 > 0:13:23Natalie's problem isn't a new one.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27Her cottage was once lived in by a family of five.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30And the pressure on housing was even worse in the 19th century.
0:13:30 > 0:13:35The fishing fleet grew nine-fold in the square's first 60 years.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38And as a result, houses were packed full.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41Two families to each but and ben cottage.
0:13:44 > 0:13:46To alleviate the overcrowding,
0:13:46 > 0:13:51in 1837 the council built seven new houses across South Square,
0:13:51 > 0:13:52named Middle Row.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59Another house was added to the entrance to South Square.
0:13:59 > 0:14:01And in North Square, a school.
0:14:04 > 0:14:06But with such a rapidly expanding population,
0:14:06 > 0:14:08these additions still weren't enough.
0:14:11 > 0:14:15In 1855, the city paid for another row of houses,
0:14:15 > 0:14:16creating Pilot's Square.
0:14:21 > 0:14:24These were two-storey houses of better quality
0:14:24 > 0:14:25than the but and bens.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28They were intended for the pilots of Fittie,
0:14:28 > 0:14:31boatmen who guided vessels in and out of the harbour.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38The original 56 houses had now become 80.
0:14:38 > 0:14:40But space was still at a premium.
0:14:41 > 0:14:45To make the most of it, the fisher families began to improvise,
0:14:45 > 0:14:48filling the common ground in the middle of the square
0:14:48 > 0:14:50with sheds made of driftwood.
0:14:50 > 0:14:56They preserved the wood with tar and I had a cousin who, a schoolboy,
0:14:56 > 0:15:02and in the summer he would earn money by tarring these sheds.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05And his nickname was Tarry Biler.
0:15:06 > 0:15:12And he would do lots of these old sheds.
0:15:12 > 0:15:15I couldn't imagine that being allowed now.
0:15:15 > 0:15:19Going up a step ladder with this boiling tar
0:15:19 > 0:15:22and brushing the roof and the planks.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25Yeah, I don't think they'd be allowed to do that now.
0:15:29 > 0:15:33In the 1870s, Aberdeen Council, keen to cut costs,
0:15:33 > 0:15:36began a sell-off of the houses in the Fittie Squares,
0:15:36 > 0:15:40predating the right-to-buy scheme by over 100 years.
0:15:42 > 0:15:45Tenants were given the chance to buy their homes in instalments.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48Houses were auctioned off in numbered lots
0:15:48 > 0:15:51with their own sheds included in the title deeds.
0:15:53 > 0:15:58The deeds specified that new owners should rebuild their old tarry sheds
0:15:58 > 0:16:00in solid masonry within two years.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04Most people ignored this ruling, but a handful of sheds,
0:16:04 > 0:16:08like Natalie Farrell's in Middle Row, conformed to the pattern.
0:16:09 > 0:16:14This is a shed which I think, space-wise, is bigger than the house.
0:16:16 > 0:16:18Because it's got a downstairs...
0:16:18 > 0:16:20This is really embarrassing, it's so full of stuff.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23It has quite a big downstairs and it also has an upstairs
0:16:23 > 0:16:27so by area it is much bigger.
0:16:27 > 0:16:28But it's great having a shed.
0:16:33 > 0:16:37Once the sell-off was complete, the new owner-occupiers wasted no time
0:16:37 > 0:16:39in making the houses their own.
0:16:39 > 0:16:42They began to add new dormers and storeys.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47The squares, once uniform, took on an off-beat, individual character.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55You can see that was originally a but and ben.
0:16:55 > 0:16:57You can just see where the roof was.
0:17:00 > 0:17:03In 28 North Square, the owner built three extra floors
0:17:03 > 0:17:06to accommodate his growing family.
0:17:09 > 0:17:10That's an old one there.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13That's what we called in the village the Tower of Babylon.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19It's quite steep stairs. And it looks like it would be, you know?
0:17:21 > 0:17:23And in my granny's day it was a school.
0:17:23 > 0:17:25Children used to go to school there.
0:17:28 > 0:17:31Despite the various improvements and extensions,
0:17:31 > 0:17:34the Fittie Squares were far from luxurious.
0:17:34 > 0:17:36The water supply was erratic
0:17:36 > 0:17:39and cholera a regular visitor in the early days.
0:17:43 > 0:17:47Piped water was only brought to the squares in the mid-19th century.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50And the water pumps, known locally as the "wells",
0:17:50 > 0:17:52remained in use well into the 20th.
0:17:54 > 0:17:59Each square had its own "wells" and when you were a kid, you could,
0:17:59 > 0:18:03if you got sand in your feet, before you were allowed in the door
0:18:03 > 0:18:06you would turn on the water and clean your feet there.
0:18:06 > 0:18:10When we went to our house, there was no water, there was no running water.
0:18:10 > 0:18:16So you would get your water in big jugs from here.
0:18:16 > 0:18:19And they would brush down the gutters.
0:18:19 > 0:18:22You never had any weeds growing. It was pristine.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26The toilet facilities, too, remained basic.
0:18:28 > 0:18:32My granny, we shared her toilet. It was on the shed outside.
0:18:32 > 0:18:33It wasn't indoors.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36But there were families that didn't have toilets
0:18:36 > 0:18:39and you can use your imagination what they had to do.
0:18:39 > 0:18:42But there was many a visit to the drains in the middle of the night.
0:18:52 > 0:18:55Just a stone's throw from the squares were the shipyards.
0:18:55 > 0:18:58Hall's in Fittie, Hall Russell in York Place
0:18:58 > 0:19:01and John Lewis across the harbour in Torry.
0:19:03 > 0:19:05Albert Swinborn was a boy in the '20s
0:19:05 > 0:19:09and lived within earshot of Hall Russell's yard.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12HAMMERS CLANG
0:19:16 > 0:19:21In the quiet of the night, especially if they were working overtime,
0:19:21 > 0:19:27you heard the bomp, bomp, bomp, the riveters hammering together.
0:19:29 > 0:19:32It was teamwork, you know?
0:19:32 > 0:19:34The holder up, the two riveters.
0:19:36 > 0:19:41And the man that was heating the rivets would throw the rivet to him.
0:19:41 > 0:19:44And he used to catch it in this box
0:19:44 > 0:19:48and they used to flatten the rivets down.
0:19:48 > 0:19:49Marvellous.
0:19:50 > 0:19:55I used to say, if I throw this piece of metal into the water now
0:19:55 > 0:19:56what does it do?
0:19:56 > 0:20:04Sink to the bottom. How can all these big sheets of metal keep afloat?
0:20:04 > 0:20:08The weight should take them down to the bottom, but no.
0:20:11 > 0:20:12I could never understand that.
0:20:14 > 0:20:18The shipyards have left their mark on the Fittie Squares.
0:20:18 > 0:20:20They provided all manner of materials.
0:20:20 > 0:20:24Teak for people's front doors and paint for sheds and fences.
0:20:29 > 0:20:3388-year-old Betty Kay from North Square
0:20:33 > 0:20:36had many friends and neighbours who worked in the yards.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50What did people do? Did they used to take stuff, you mean?
0:20:52 > 0:20:54Lassie, if the hooses could only speak.
0:20:56 > 0:20:58They would tell you a lot of stories.
0:21:01 > 0:21:02Oh, my!
0:21:06 > 0:21:09When Margaret and Brian Wilkinson bought their house
0:21:09 > 0:21:13in North Square in 1998, they discovered a fascinating history.
0:21:17 > 0:21:19This is our living room.
0:21:23 > 0:21:25What was this like when you first moved in?
0:21:25 > 0:21:29This was all wood panelling. All wood panelling.
0:21:29 > 0:21:31I think a shelf was still up there.
0:21:31 > 0:21:34The laddie who did it worked in the ship yards
0:21:34 > 0:21:37and it was like a captain's cabin.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40Oak panelling, oak floors, really nice.
0:21:40 > 0:21:45Years and years and years ago the floors were made of sand.
0:21:45 > 0:21:46Can you believe that?
0:21:46 > 0:21:51I crack up if the kids come in with sand in their shoes.
0:21:51 > 0:21:56It's just unbelievable, the floor was made of sand.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59I think, "How did they put up with that years ago?"
0:21:59 > 0:22:01But that was life again, was it?
0:22:06 > 0:22:07This is my kitchen.
0:22:09 > 0:22:11And it wasn't like this before.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15The lady that had it had a bed in here
0:22:15 > 0:22:19because it was like a kitchen cum bedroom thing, I think.
0:22:21 > 0:22:26And this was their toilet. And there was a ladder here.
0:22:26 > 0:22:31Like a boat ladder that took us right up to the bedroom.
0:22:31 > 0:22:33This is our bedroom.
0:22:33 > 0:22:38And...you used to get up from downstairs,
0:22:38 > 0:22:41you came up, there was like a hatch here
0:22:41 > 0:22:44and it was in two parts. The old way, it was two parts.
0:22:44 > 0:22:47And the mum and dad slept at one side
0:22:47 > 0:22:50and the two sons slept at the other side.
0:22:50 > 0:22:54And this is our wardrobes.
0:22:54 > 0:22:58- Wilkie designed this. This is our wardrobes.- Clever.- Very.
0:22:59 > 0:23:03Because a wardrobe you don't use the full length of it,
0:23:03 > 0:23:07so Wilkie said, "Right, we'll make it like this,"
0:23:07 > 0:23:11because we had no room for clothes, cupboards or whatever.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14That's how they came about and that's our bed.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17You know with a bed you can walk around and...
0:23:17 > 0:23:22I hate that bed but we can't do anything else.
0:23:22 > 0:23:24I tell everybody I've got a swimming pool
0:23:24 > 0:23:28and they go, "You've got a swimming pool, Margaret?" "Aye."
0:23:28 > 0:23:29"Margaret, that's brilliant."
0:23:29 > 0:23:32So I tell everybody that's my swimming pool.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36Lots of people say it's like a boat.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39I don't see it like that, but you do get comments like that.
0:23:41 > 0:23:43As well as transforming the house,
0:23:43 > 0:23:46the Wilkinson's have put their own individual stamp on the shed.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52Watch your head. As you probably know, the doors are quite low.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58This is what they now call a man shed.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01So when I'm wanting out of the house, I come in here, put my records on.
0:24:01 > 0:24:03I've got my record collection
0:24:03 > 0:24:06and if I want to work on the computer, I work on the computer.
0:24:08 > 0:24:11This is my gaff. She doesn't get to do nothing in here.
0:24:13 > 0:24:16I come in here, play Pink Floyd and sit in here for hours.
0:24:19 > 0:24:23We've got heaps of drink, my picture.
0:24:23 > 0:24:28- Your picture?- That's some spare wood so I thought I'd make a picture.
0:24:28 > 0:24:30That's what a tiger would look like in the dark.
0:24:30 > 0:24:33MUSIC: Breathe by Pink Floyd
0:24:38 > 0:24:41While today's sheds are leisure spaces
0:24:41 > 0:24:43reflecting their owner's personalities,
0:24:43 > 0:24:45they once had a practical use.
0:24:48 > 0:24:50Originally built to store fishing gear,
0:24:50 > 0:24:52they were later used to do the laundry.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57Every single Monday, the Fittie women would light
0:24:57 > 0:25:01the wood-fired boiler and spend all day doing the washing.
0:25:01 > 0:25:03This is where it all happened.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07You would put your sticks underneath there.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10You generally didn't need to buy anything like that
0:25:10 > 0:25:12because you'd get it off the beach.
0:25:12 > 0:25:14And you'd set fire to that
0:25:14 > 0:25:17and then you would obviously have this filled with water.
0:25:17 > 0:25:21You'd have your scrubbing board and your scrubbing brush.
0:25:21 > 0:25:23Also your big bar of soap.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26And you would proceed to wash your clothes.
0:25:26 > 0:25:27And it would bubble and boil
0:25:27 > 0:25:31and really get your washing pristine white.
0:25:31 > 0:25:33It was hard graft.
0:25:33 > 0:25:36But then they weren't so well off as we are today
0:25:36 > 0:25:38so they wouldn't have had a lot of clothes.
0:25:38 > 0:25:42They probably had to pry the long johns and that off the men
0:25:42 > 0:25:46when they come in from the sea and get them washed.
0:25:46 > 0:25:50And my mother said, when she was a child, she bathed in there.
0:25:50 > 0:25:53They would heat the water for them and then stick them in there
0:25:53 > 0:25:54and they would get washed.
0:25:57 > 0:25:59Wash day wasn't over
0:25:59 > 0:26:02until the laundry was hung out on the drying greens.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05This too was always done on a Monday.
0:26:09 > 0:26:13But artist Joyce Cairns, one of the first incomers to Fittie,
0:26:13 > 0:26:15wasn't afraid to bend these unwritten rules.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22This is me holding on to the drying green pole
0:26:22 > 0:26:25and I think a lot of things happen on the drying greens in Fittie.
0:26:25 > 0:26:26When I first came to the village,
0:26:26 > 0:26:29everybody had their washing out on a Monday.
0:26:29 > 0:26:34Apart from me, which would have it hanging outside the house.
0:26:34 > 0:26:35When did you do your washing?
0:26:35 > 0:26:37Whatever day suited me really.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40Sunday which would have been appalling
0:26:40 > 0:26:42because people didn't really do things on a Sunday.
0:26:46 > 0:26:48The Sabbath was respected in Fittie.
0:26:48 > 0:26:50And certain behaviour wasn't tolerated.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57I hung my washing out on a Sunday when I first moved here.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00And I didn't really... I think I might have hung it on the wrong line.
0:27:00 > 0:27:03It was a bit confusing. And I came home one day to find
0:27:03 > 0:27:06that my washing had all been posted back through the window.
0:27:10 > 0:27:15Religion played a big part in the lives of God-fearing Fittie folk.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18Most people attended the Mission Hall in North Square,
0:27:18 > 0:27:19known locally as the Schoolie.
0:27:24 > 0:27:27This part of the Schoolie is where we used to go
0:27:27 > 0:27:30- when it was the Rechabites.- What?
0:27:30 > 0:27:34The Rechabites was that you abstained from alcohol.
0:27:34 > 0:27:38We were only children but you were being taught at an early age
0:27:38 > 0:27:40that the demon drink was bad for you.
0:27:40 > 0:27:42And we went in there.
0:28:05 > 0:28:08You would start off your Sunday School with singing.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13And then you would break up into your little groups.
0:28:13 > 0:28:16And your Sunday School teacher would take you along.
0:28:16 > 0:28:20And she would tell you about the Bible.
0:28:22 > 0:28:24And they always had a sweetie to give you.
0:28:26 > 0:28:29My least favourite was the toffee rolls. I wasn't so keen on them.
0:28:36 > 0:28:38The highlight of the Mission Hall calendar
0:28:38 > 0:28:40was the annual Fittie picnic.
0:28:41 > 0:28:43Everybody went to the Fittie picnic.
0:28:45 > 0:28:49It was very, very important the children were turned out well.
0:28:50 > 0:28:54And the girls would have bows in their hair. They were gigantic.
0:28:54 > 0:28:56It was like having a hat on your head.
0:28:59 > 0:29:02Fittie people travelled out to the country
0:29:02 > 0:29:04for a whole day of good, clean fun.
0:29:07 > 0:29:12The boys would get their new shorts and their white shirts.
0:29:14 > 0:29:19"Don't you get yourself dirty. Don't you dare get yourself dirty."
0:29:22 > 0:29:26You got a tea and a bag of biscuits when you got out there.
0:29:28 > 0:29:32After that, you would be running, jumping, skipping.
0:29:32 > 0:29:34Auntie Sally stalls.
0:29:34 > 0:29:36Everything.
0:29:39 > 0:29:42That was our entertainment.
0:29:42 > 0:29:43It was just marvellous.
0:29:51 > 0:29:54With their distinct rituals and customs and the closeness
0:29:54 > 0:29:59of their family ties, the Fittie folk seemed like a breed apart,
0:29:59 > 0:30:03the squares as remote to outsiders as a desert island.
0:30:03 > 0:30:09Fittie was regarded as quite a strange place - a closed community.
0:30:11 > 0:30:13If you went through it, people would stare at you.
0:30:13 > 0:30:16It did have that kind of reputation.
0:30:17 > 0:30:20I never felt part of Aberdeen, really.
0:30:20 > 0:30:25I always felt that Fittie was separate.
0:30:25 > 0:30:27My dad lived here all his married life
0:30:27 > 0:30:30and always said he was an incomer.
0:30:30 > 0:30:34If the original folk are speaking, they'll say,
0:30:34 > 0:30:36"Oh, they're nae Fittie.
0:30:36 > 0:30:38"They dinnae really ken fit Fittie's aboot."
0:30:38 > 0:30:41- Can you understand me there? - SHE LAUGHS
0:30:41 > 0:30:44But that's what they would say, "They're nae Fittie."
0:30:44 > 0:30:50So you identify this place with the people that have been here
0:30:50 > 0:30:52since it was built.
0:30:56 > 0:31:02There was an old saying, "Stane 'im, Jock. He disnae belang tae Fittie."
0:31:05 > 0:31:07OFF CAMERA: And what does that mean?
0:31:07 > 0:31:09Well, he's an outsider.
0:31:11 > 0:31:14So outsiders weren't very welcome at the time.
0:31:16 > 0:31:19"Stane 'im," that's throw stones at him
0:31:19 > 0:31:21and get him out of the area altogether.
0:31:29 > 0:31:32But the old ways could not survive forever.
0:31:32 > 0:31:37There was soon to be a dramatic shift in Fittie's fortunes.
0:31:37 > 0:31:42In 1969, oil was discovered 130 miles offshore in the North Sea.
0:31:48 > 0:31:49Over the next few years,
0:31:49 > 0:31:54new rigs and onshore facilities sprung up at dizzying speed,
0:31:54 > 0:31:57as Aberdeen became aware just how much oil was out there.
0:32:00 > 0:32:04'By this summer, there will be 15 rigs in the British sector,
0:32:04 > 0:32:07'and by 1980, there should be over 50 committed.'
0:32:11 > 0:32:14Foreign workers and their families, particularly Americans,
0:32:14 > 0:32:16began to arrive in the city.
0:32:19 > 0:32:21Mr Pillop, how are you?
0:32:21 > 0:32:23Didn't see you standing there.
0:32:24 > 0:32:25Good morning, ladies.
0:32:25 > 0:32:30Welcome to the second meeting of the Women's Petroleum Club Of Scotland.
0:32:31 > 0:32:34Every other voice you heard was American.
0:32:34 > 0:32:37If you went into town, you heard the Americans.
0:32:37 > 0:32:39There was lots of them.
0:32:39 > 0:32:41Lots of them.
0:32:41 > 0:32:43But then, they had the know-how -
0:32:43 > 0:32:46it was just a very young industry here.
0:32:46 > 0:32:49Obviously they ate different food from us, and you started to see
0:32:49 > 0:32:56things like peppers and courgettes and aubergines.
0:32:56 > 0:32:59"What's that?!" said I, when I first saw them!
0:33:01 > 0:33:03The pace of change was so rapid
0:33:03 > 0:33:06that Aberdeen's infrastructure struggled to cope.
0:33:06 > 0:33:09If it was going to have its share of the promised oil wealth,
0:33:09 > 0:33:12the city would have to improve facilities at the harbour.
0:33:14 > 0:33:17The city began a huge building programme.
0:33:19 > 0:33:24Giant oil silos were put up on the quayside next to the Fittie squares.
0:33:25 > 0:33:28But when Shell UK put in a request for new wharf space,
0:33:28 > 0:33:32it was clear that there was no room for them in the harbour.
0:33:32 > 0:33:33Something had to give.
0:33:35 > 0:33:40Planners turned their attention to Fittie and her sister village Torry.
0:33:40 > 0:33:42Both communities overlooked the harbour
0:33:42 > 0:33:45and sat squarely in the way of development.
0:33:47 > 0:33:51There was a worry - which fishing village would go?
0:33:51 > 0:33:56It was a toss-up between Fittie and Old Torry,
0:33:56 > 0:34:01and obviously Fittie was close to the harbour and so was Old Torry.
0:34:06 > 0:34:08The two fishing villages had had a friendly rivalry
0:34:08 > 0:34:11since the squares were built in 1809.
0:34:12 > 0:34:16Torry had been absorbed into the wider sprawl of Aberdeen,
0:34:16 > 0:34:19and the original village on the edge of the harbour
0:34:19 > 0:34:20was now known as Old Torry.
0:34:26 > 0:34:27Its architecture was a mix of
0:34:27 > 0:34:30traditional but and ben fishermen's cottages
0:34:30 > 0:34:33and tenement housing built in the late-19th century.
0:34:35 > 0:34:40Lorena Essen and her husband Sandy were both brought up in Old Torry,
0:34:40 > 0:34:43and remember a tight-knit fishing community,
0:34:43 > 0:34:45where families had lived for generations.
0:34:47 > 0:34:50I was actually born in the same house as my mother.
0:34:50 > 0:34:52My mother was born there in 1917,
0:34:52 > 0:34:55and I was born in 1946.
0:34:55 > 0:34:58Exactly the same house as her.
0:34:58 > 0:35:01Great community spirit in Torry.
0:35:01 > 0:35:03Everybody helped everybody,
0:35:03 > 0:35:06and if you got a fry of fish, you took out of it what you wanted
0:35:06 > 0:35:08and you passed it to your neighbours.
0:35:08 > 0:35:10That was how it was in these days.
0:35:13 > 0:35:17At first, neither Fittie or Old Torry had cause
0:35:17 > 0:35:19to think their village was under threat.
0:35:19 > 0:35:21Residents of both places
0:35:21 > 0:35:25were offered council improvement grants in 1970.
0:35:25 > 0:35:28They began to update their houses with new kitchens and bathrooms.
0:35:33 > 0:35:36But then, in 1971, the council suddenly gave
0:35:36 > 0:35:40the 350 residents of Old Torry notice to quit.
0:35:43 > 0:35:47Their village, they were told, had been earmarked for demolition.
0:35:49 > 0:35:52John Smith, the lord provost, was left to explain why.
0:35:55 > 0:36:00The announcement of the commercial discovery of oil was not made
0:36:00 > 0:36:02until earlier this year.
0:36:02 > 0:36:05Prior to that time, it was in the council's mind to develop
0:36:05 > 0:36:10in an interesting and imaginative way, the old village of Torry.
0:36:10 > 0:36:12The oil interest was certainly considered to be
0:36:12 > 0:36:14the primary factor at this time.
0:36:14 > 0:36:17My information is that most residents in the area
0:36:17 > 0:36:19welcome the town council's decision.
0:36:19 > 0:36:22They haven't considered us in the least bit.
0:36:22 > 0:36:25There's not one member of the town council has been near us.
0:36:25 > 0:36:28I think they've been very shabby with us all.
0:36:30 > 0:36:31Despite the residents' objections,
0:36:31 > 0:36:33the council were unlikely to be swayed.
0:36:35 > 0:36:38Global oil giants Shell, already leasing a plot nearby,
0:36:38 > 0:36:41had already threatened to leave Aberdeen
0:36:41 > 0:36:44if the land at Old Torry was not made available to them.
0:36:45 > 0:36:47There was a great hue and cry about it,
0:36:47 > 0:36:51but of course, it was just pointless, because the oil wanted the property
0:36:51 > 0:36:54and they were going to have it.
0:36:54 > 0:36:57Councillor Frank McGee voiced the frustrations of Old Torry.
0:36:59 > 0:37:02I think that the council has betrayed the people of Torry.
0:37:02 > 0:37:06Betrayed them! They gave their word and they've broken it.
0:37:06 > 0:37:09There can be no doubt at all that these people,
0:37:09 > 0:37:12no matter how poor and humble they may be,
0:37:12 > 0:37:14have been sacrificed to oil interests.
0:37:18 > 0:37:22In March 1974, the bulldozers moved in,
0:37:22 > 0:37:24and Old Torry was razed to the ground.
0:37:28 > 0:37:32Its people were dispersed to other parts of the city.
0:37:32 > 0:37:35Now the harbour expansion could go ahead,
0:37:35 > 0:37:37and for the time being at least, Fittie was safe.
0:37:40 > 0:37:44But for the people of the squares, it was a hollow victory.
0:37:45 > 0:37:49It was a relief to the folks in Fittie
0:37:49 > 0:37:53that our village wasn't chosen.
0:37:53 > 0:38:01But I can understand how it must have been for the other side,
0:38:01 > 0:38:02for the fisher-folk in Torry.
0:38:02 > 0:38:05Cos they just destroyed a community.
0:38:09 > 0:38:14Old Torry was like this, and there was a rivalry,
0:38:14 > 0:38:18but to lose that heritage...
0:38:18 > 0:38:21They can't build it back.
0:38:21 > 0:38:22It's...
0:38:24 > 0:38:26..hard.
0:38:28 > 0:38:31Supposing, in terms of the thousands
0:38:31 > 0:38:35and millions of oil that people are conjuring up,
0:38:35 > 0:38:38supposing they say, "We want Fittie."
0:38:39 > 0:38:41Will they take that too?
0:38:56 > 0:39:00The oil industry grew and grew, creating a booming job market.
0:39:02 > 0:39:06Local fishermen like Brian Wilkinson found themselves in demand.
0:39:09 > 0:39:12We was in the pubs and they used to come in and ask us,
0:39:12 > 0:39:14"Come and work for us."
0:39:14 > 0:39:17We were fishermen, "Bugger off, we're fishermen.
0:39:17 > 0:39:20"We don't want work in the oil."
0:39:20 > 0:39:23Ten years later, we crawled in at the doors to get the job.
0:39:29 > 0:39:32And as more and more workers arrived in the city,
0:39:32 > 0:39:34the demand for housing grew.
0:39:36 > 0:39:38House prices crept ever higher.
0:39:39 > 0:39:41'With the oil boom drawing people
0:39:41 > 0:39:43'from all over the world to Aberdeen, like a magnet,
0:39:43 > 0:39:45'house prices in Aberdeen are
0:39:45 > 0:39:47'basically double the national average.
0:39:47 > 0:39:52'London apart, it's the most expensive place to live in Britain.
0:39:52 > 0:39:55'Getting onto even the bottom of the housing ladder
0:39:55 > 0:39:56'is well-nigh impossible.'
0:39:56 > 0:40:00Brand-new housing estates sprung up throughout the city,
0:40:00 > 0:40:02but supply couldn't keep up with demand.
0:40:04 > 0:40:08Property prices were sky-high in most places, but not in Fittie.
0:40:10 > 0:40:13It was cheek-by-jowl with the oil boats and the shipyards.
0:40:13 > 0:40:16The demolition of Torry and the harbour development,
0:40:16 > 0:40:18had left it adrift in a sea of industry.
0:40:19 > 0:40:22Its housing stock was mostly un-modernised.
0:40:28 > 0:40:32It was into this down-at-heel village that artist Joyce Cairns
0:40:32 > 0:40:34first came in the late '70s.
0:40:36 > 0:40:39She chanced upon a house for sale next to the squares,
0:40:39 > 0:40:41at number 5 New Pier Road.
0:40:47 > 0:40:50It was 1979, and I saw this house and I said,
0:40:50 > 0:40:53"God, look at that house, it's for sale. Isn't it amazing?"
0:40:53 > 0:40:58It had dark purple woodwork and it looked quite menacing.
0:41:01 > 0:41:03And I just had to have that house.
0:41:03 > 0:41:05It was magical.
0:41:05 > 0:41:08Number 5 had previously been Fittie's corner shop,
0:41:08 > 0:41:10owned and run by Jimmy Leaper.
0:41:12 > 0:41:17That house, till the day I die, will always be Jimmy Leaper's.
0:41:17 > 0:41:21It doesn't matter how many folk live in there, that's Jimmy Leaper's.
0:41:21 > 0:41:25And if you speak to anybody that's from Fittie
0:41:25 > 0:41:27and you mention that house,
0:41:27 > 0:41:29they will say the same thing.
0:41:29 > 0:41:31When Joyce arrived,
0:41:31 > 0:41:33the shop had closed down and fallen into disrepair.
0:41:37 > 0:41:42Jimmy Leaper owned this shop many years before I came on the scene.
0:41:44 > 0:41:48Coming into here, into the shop, there was these beads,
0:41:48 > 0:41:50like little bead curtains.
0:41:50 > 0:41:55And in the shop, there was a counter that came across here.
0:41:57 > 0:41:59It was riddled with woodworm, totally,
0:41:59 > 0:42:03they'd enjoyed the counter so much, it had just exploded.
0:42:03 > 0:42:05But the floorboards, they hadn't eaten them,
0:42:05 > 0:42:08though they'd eaten the ones upstairs.
0:42:08 > 0:42:13The floor coming in was worn almost to holes in it,
0:42:13 > 0:42:16because of the traffic that had come in and out.
0:42:17 > 0:42:19He sold everything,
0:42:19 > 0:42:23from balls of string to cheese.
0:42:23 > 0:42:26It was like a time-warp, to get this house,
0:42:26 > 0:42:28and that's what thrilled me about it.
0:42:28 > 0:42:32Nobody had done horrible things to it in the '60s.
0:42:32 > 0:42:34It was just as it was.
0:42:36 > 0:42:40The shop wasn't the only Fittie landmark to get a makeover.
0:42:40 > 0:42:44The old Customs House building, just south of Pilot Square,
0:42:44 > 0:42:47had been accommodation for the harbour boatmen.
0:42:47 > 0:42:49It had lain empty for years,
0:42:49 > 0:42:52when it was spotted by French chef Didier Dejean.
0:42:53 > 0:42:57He converted it into a restaurant, the Silver Darling,
0:42:57 > 0:43:00and brought international cuisine to Fittie.
0:43:03 > 0:43:06This building was just an empty shell.
0:43:06 > 0:43:09No electricity, no water downstairs.
0:43:09 > 0:43:12I was just here, just the wall, practically.
0:43:15 > 0:43:18It was the first business opening here.
0:43:18 > 0:43:22It was such a quiet corner of the city.
0:43:22 > 0:43:26- OFF CAMERA:- Did you have to work hard to make friends?- Yes.
0:43:26 > 0:43:28HE LAUGHS Yes.
0:43:28 > 0:43:34Yeah, it took about a year to...for a few of them to speak to me.
0:43:34 > 0:43:36But now, it's fine.
0:43:36 > 0:43:40I've been here for 28 years now, you know.
0:43:40 > 0:43:42So they know me.
0:43:54 > 0:43:58In the beginning of the '80s, nobody ate oyster.
0:43:58 > 0:44:02Mussels - nobody knew what was mussels.
0:44:02 > 0:44:05Then, the oil arrived,
0:44:05 > 0:44:13and restaurants started to buy all those forbidden
0:44:13 > 0:44:16fish, or shellfish.
0:44:21 > 0:44:25Like Didier, Joyce found her arrival in the village caused quite a stir.
0:44:27 > 0:44:32I think they thought it was a commune that was moving into 5 New Pier Road,
0:44:32 > 0:44:34and of course the curtains were twitching all the time,
0:44:34 > 0:44:36as you can imagine.
0:44:36 > 0:44:40Cos there was very few incomers at that time.
0:44:40 > 0:44:43It was more closed, there weren't parties.
0:44:43 > 0:44:46I know that some people do not want to be part of that,
0:44:46 > 0:44:49it's just not part of their culture, they don't think
0:44:49 > 0:44:54that sitting outside and drinking is such a thing that you would do.
0:44:54 > 0:44:57They come out and they sit and drink and...
0:44:57 > 0:45:00Oh, no, couldn't be doing with that.
0:45:00 > 0:45:04It's all right having a drink, but not every other day.
0:45:04 > 0:45:06Bleurgh!
0:45:11 > 0:45:13Meanwhile, the fishing industry,
0:45:13 > 0:45:16once the lifeblood of the squares, was in crisis.
0:45:18 > 0:45:21Trawlerman Brian Wilkinson saw at first-hand
0:45:21 > 0:45:23the industry's rapid decline.
0:45:24 > 0:45:29Up to 1980, there was over 200 ships here,
0:45:29 > 0:45:33which went from all over the place -
0:45:33 > 0:45:36North Sea, Faroe and Iceland.
0:45:38 > 0:45:42And it started to deteriorate very rapidly.
0:45:42 > 0:45:47Quotas, restrictions and diminishing fish stocks all took their toll.
0:45:47 > 0:45:51Fishermen across the UK were leaving the industry in their droves.
0:45:54 > 0:45:59I was mate on an Aberdeen fishing boat,
0:45:59 > 0:46:02and the boat was being scrapped.
0:46:02 > 0:46:06That was about 1980.
0:46:06 > 0:46:08And I was getting my fishing gear off the boat,
0:46:08 > 0:46:11and I slung it down and I thought, "Well, that's it."
0:46:11 > 0:46:16I had three kids, wife, and I had to make a decision.
0:46:16 > 0:46:18And I thought, "Right, I'll go offshore."
0:46:18 > 0:46:23In the oil industry, my mate's certificate allowed me
0:46:23 > 0:46:26to go offshore as a rigger.
0:46:27 > 0:46:29But, for Fittie, a way of life
0:46:29 > 0:46:34which had defined the village for centuries was slipping away.
0:46:34 > 0:46:36I loved it when I was trawling.
0:46:36 > 0:46:39People say, "What do you see in it?"
0:46:39 > 0:46:41I just loved it - the lifestyle.
0:46:44 > 0:46:47You lived, drunk, fought, ate,
0:46:47 > 0:46:49everything, and we were pretty close.
0:46:53 > 0:46:58It was good comradeship and I've never met it anywhere else.
0:47:03 > 0:47:07The shipbuilding industry had fared no better than fishing.
0:47:07 > 0:47:09Across '70s and '80s Britain,
0:47:09 > 0:47:12the picture was one of foreign competition,
0:47:12 > 0:47:15industrial strife and declining orders.
0:47:19 > 0:47:25Of Aberdeen's five big yards, only Hall Russell, in Fittie, held on.
0:47:25 > 0:47:27But in 1992, it too closed.
0:47:33 > 0:47:36Now Hall Russell's old wharf space is filled with oil vessels.
0:47:40 > 0:47:42All the traditional industries
0:47:42 > 0:47:45which had tied the Fittie families to the squares have gone.
0:47:50 > 0:47:53Thelma Cooper, who's lived in North Square for 60 years,
0:47:53 > 0:47:57has seen many of her neighbours move into a globalised oil industry.
0:47:59 > 0:48:04They're all going to different places, and the oil takes them
0:48:04 > 0:48:08to different jobs and things like that.
0:48:08 > 0:48:13Some of them, their husbands went to America for the oil.
0:48:13 > 0:48:17Well, they've sold their houses and went there and stayed there.
0:48:21 > 0:48:25Now, the majority of people from the old Fittie families have died
0:48:25 > 0:48:29or moved away, their houses sold off.
0:48:29 > 0:48:31There's not so many.
0:48:31 > 0:48:37I think there's only about 16, 17 people stays here,
0:48:37 > 0:48:41originally born and brought up here.
0:48:42 > 0:48:46Meanwhile, at the local pub, the Fittie Bar, the newcomers
0:48:46 > 0:48:50are celebrating the arrival of the village's newest resident.
0:48:50 > 0:48:52Your next-door neighbour.
0:48:52 > 0:48:55Natalie Farrell and her husband Dave
0:48:55 > 0:48:58have a five-week-old baby girl, Katrina.
0:48:58 > 0:49:00The girls at the antenatal classes,
0:49:00 > 0:49:03their worries were about having a support network.
0:49:03 > 0:49:08I don't really have that worry because I know so many people here
0:49:08 > 0:49:11will support me in different ways - there's people my mum's age,
0:49:11 > 0:49:13and then people my age.
0:49:15 > 0:49:17I just wanted to say thank you very much.
0:49:17 > 0:49:20Thank you for all your support when I was pregnant,
0:49:20 > 0:49:24and thank you so much for all the presents,
0:49:24 > 0:49:28especially buckets and spades and clothes for playing on the beach.
0:49:28 > 0:49:32She's a very lucky baby to be born in Fittie
0:49:32 > 0:49:34and have so many nice people.
0:49:36 > 0:49:37Thank you very much.
0:49:37 > 0:49:39THEY CLAP
0:49:48 > 0:49:51Dave and Natalie would love to put down more permanent roots
0:49:51 > 0:49:53amongst their friends in Fittie -
0:49:53 > 0:49:58they're rapidly outgrowing their tiny rented cottage in Middle Row.
0:49:58 > 0:49:59All good.
0:49:59 > 0:50:03We're going to have to move in about six months, I'd say.
0:50:03 > 0:50:07If we spend another winter here, that could get quite claustrophobic.
0:50:07 > 0:50:11I think we're at a stage where we'd like to buy a house
0:50:11 > 0:50:14as we'd like a bit more security.
0:50:14 > 0:50:17But they don't come up so often in Fittie.
0:50:21 > 0:50:25But a house has come up for sale, next door to Thelma.
0:50:25 > 0:50:295 North Square is on the market, five years after the death
0:50:29 > 0:50:34of its owner, George Walker, who came from an old Fittie family.
0:50:34 > 0:50:37George, he worked with my husband.
0:50:37 > 0:50:39He was his mate in the boatmen.
0:50:41 > 0:50:43We all went to Ayrshire a holiday.
0:50:46 > 0:50:49Well, there are two public rooms - this is the sitting room,
0:50:49 > 0:50:51across there is the dining room.
0:50:51 > 0:50:57Upstairs you have two bedrooms, and downstairs, toilet and shower-room.
0:50:59 > 0:51:01And that really is about it.
0:51:01 > 0:51:03There's not a hell of a lot to it.
0:51:04 > 0:51:06The house is totally un-modernised,
0:51:06 > 0:51:11but it's on the market for offers over £250,000...
0:51:11 > 0:51:1670,000 more than the average two-bedroom house in Aberdeen.
0:51:16 > 0:51:19It could be used for a variety of purposes.
0:51:21 > 0:51:22It could be a holiday let,
0:51:22 > 0:51:26or it could be somebody's place that they live in the city
0:51:26 > 0:51:30and pop down here for a bit of leisure and recreation
0:51:30 > 0:51:32at the weekend. That's possible as well.
0:51:35 > 0:51:38Because it doesn't come up every day of the week,
0:51:38 > 0:51:43that can result in the price running away with itself a wee bit.
0:51:44 > 0:51:46Thelma has seen it all before.
0:51:51 > 0:51:56Down here, it's always higher, but the houses sell well.
0:51:56 > 0:52:00We know the property's not worth that, but they get the price.
0:52:02 > 0:52:04Even the small ones, the but and bens,
0:52:04 > 0:52:06they're going for a lot of money.
0:52:08 > 0:52:11Sadly for Natalie and Dave, number five is out of reach.
0:52:12 > 0:52:17We looked at it, trying to do the maths - it's a lot of money for us
0:52:17 > 0:52:19at this stage. So...
0:52:19 > 0:52:21Especially with me not having a job.
0:52:21 > 0:52:23I've still got to finish my PhD, so...
0:52:23 > 0:52:27We might have to move out of Fittie by then, but...
0:52:27 > 0:52:29- OFF CAMERA: - How do you feel about that?
0:52:29 > 0:52:31Oh, really sad.
0:52:31 > 0:52:34- Yeah, we like it here.- Yeah.
0:52:36 > 0:52:39The future of the Fittie squares may change again,
0:52:39 > 0:52:43as even some of the incomers struggle to afford the house prices.
0:52:48 > 0:52:52These days, more and more of the old but and ben cottages
0:52:52 > 0:52:55are being made over into smart contemporary spaces.
0:52:58 > 0:53:01You can see we've got some windows in the roof
0:53:01 > 0:53:03which let in a lot of natural light.
0:53:06 > 0:53:09This would have originally been loft space,
0:53:09 > 0:53:12but they opened up this side of it.
0:53:12 > 0:53:14It's all done in stainless steel,
0:53:14 > 0:53:17giving it that modern feeling as well.
0:53:19 > 0:53:22People will joke with me cos I'm tall, they'll say,
0:53:22 > 0:53:24"How do you fit in those small houses?"
0:53:24 > 0:53:27Actually, there's a lot of space when you get inside.
0:53:27 > 0:53:30By them taking out the roof, it's opened it up a lot.
0:53:30 > 0:53:33And by having the kitchenette and the dining area
0:53:33 > 0:53:36and the living room all open-plan, it makes the most of your space.
0:53:38 > 0:53:41Sometimes, if we're lucky, we can see dolphins as well.
0:53:43 > 0:53:45Local dolphins like to come out and give us a show,
0:53:45 > 0:53:49so we joke that it's just like being in Florida at Sea World.
0:53:59 > 0:54:02And old Fittie's traditional fry of fish
0:54:02 > 0:54:06is a far cry from the fine dining of new Fittie.
0:54:06 > 0:54:10We put the cabbage and pancetta inside and make a ball.
0:54:10 > 0:54:14And then serve it like this with monkfish in red wine.
0:54:14 > 0:54:16With mushrooms.
0:54:23 > 0:54:26But whilst modernity has arrived in Fittie,
0:54:26 > 0:54:28some things don't change.
0:54:28 > 0:54:31What attracts so many newcomers to the squares
0:54:31 > 0:54:35is their old-fashioned sense of community.
0:54:35 > 0:54:38They're a peaceful refuge in a fast-moving city.
0:54:39 > 0:54:42People are brought together by the closeness of the houses
0:54:42 > 0:54:45and the shared spaces.
0:54:45 > 0:54:47There's a neighbourliness here
0:54:47 > 0:54:50that's vanished from many other towns and cities.
0:54:50 > 0:54:53There are a lot of people who would want something traditional
0:54:53 > 0:54:56and would like to be part of the community.
0:54:56 > 0:54:58And that's what you get if you do come here,
0:54:58 > 0:55:02if you want to be part of a community.
0:55:02 > 0:55:05People just drop in, you don't have to formally say,
0:55:05 > 0:55:06"Oh, we're doing a dinner party."
0:55:06 > 0:55:09People just... Things happen just by chance,
0:55:09 > 0:55:12and I think that's the nicest thing that can be in your life.
0:55:13 > 0:55:16You don't need to feel lonely in Fittie,
0:55:16 > 0:55:19there's always something going on.
0:55:20 > 0:55:25It tends to attract quite interesting, quirky kinds of people.
0:55:25 > 0:55:28Unlike me, I'm perfectly normal, of course!
0:55:28 > 0:55:30The rest are all quirky!
0:55:30 > 0:55:32So it means you've got an interesting place,
0:55:32 > 0:55:36interesting people - a recipe for delight and happiness.
0:55:46 > 0:55:48As for the older Fittie folk,
0:55:48 > 0:55:50who knew the squares in the heyday of fishing,
0:55:50 > 0:55:54they're all too aware that the future does not belong to them.
0:55:56 > 0:55:59Their homes are gradually falling into new hands.
0:56:02 > 0:56:05No sentiment when the house is given up.
0:56:05 > 0:56:10The skip comes to the back door and everything gets tipped into it.
0:56:12 > 0:56:14Just a way of life.
0:56:14 > 0:56:17I'm the last of the Kays,
0:56:17 > 0:56:19so when I go it's sold.
0:56:24 > 0:56:26- OFF CAMERA:- You'd better hang on, Betty,
0:56:26 > 0:56:28cos you're the last of the Fittie folk.
0:56:28 > 0:56:30SHE LAUGHS
0:56:30 > 0:56:32That's true.
0:56:32 > 0:56:34There's nae much of us left. No.
0:56:47 > 0:56:49As for Norma Reid,
0:56:49 > 0:56:52although she visits the squares every week
0:56:52 > 0:56:54to care for her elderly mother,
0:56:54 > 0:56:56she now lives away from Fittie,
0:56:56 > 0:56:58seven miles west of Aberdeen.
0:57:01 > 0:57:04Fittie, for me, is up here and in here.
0:57:04 > 0:57:07And the Fittie that we have now is not the same place.
0:57:07 > 0:57:12It's very nice and the new people that come in love it.
0:57:12 > 0:57:16But, for me, Fittie was more than just the houses -
0:57:16 > 0:57:19it was the people that lived there.
0:57:21 > 0:57:27I don't know if I could feel quite as at home now...
0:57:29 > 0:57:30..as I did as a child.
0:57:31 > 0:57:35As you get older and your memories get stronger of the past,
0:57:35 > 0:57:38I think I might be disappointed.
0:57:40 > 0:57:45So I think I like to remember it as it was.
0:57:45 > 0:57:46Yeah.
0:58:03 > 0:58:06If you want to learn more about social change
0:58:06 > 0:58:08and issues such as poverty, class and housing,
0:58:08 > 0:58:11the Open University has produced a free publication.
0:58:11 > 0:58:13Go to bbc.co.uk/ourstreets
0:58:13 > 0:58:16and follow the links to the Open University,
0:58:16 > 0:58:18or call 0845 271 0018.