This sign is situated next to an old abandoned But n' Ben, (cottage), and tells the story of what its existence would have been like in the 19th century when it was occupied by one Hairy Nicholl. The text reads as follows:
'Pendicles (smallholdings) were sited along main tracks on marginal and waste ground between farms and leased to sub-tenants who practised a kind of subsistence farming combined with part-time employment which could itself be farmwork.
These small portions of land did not enable the occupier to keep horses sufficient for the cultivation of his land.
It was usual for a man to have one horse and two cows on his pendicle but more often a horse was shared between several pendicles. So a tradition of mutual help developed as families supplied essential casual labour and skills to the local farmers and to each other.
Fuel, a precious commodity used mainly for cooking, had to be fetched from near and far. Stocks of dress heather, whins and broom kindled a fire of peat, which had been cut from the peat banks at Downiemuir later, assisted by friends and neighbours, each family's peat supply was carted home and stacked for winter fires.
In areas accessible to small ports, coal imported from Fife arrived on wooden puffer boats. Nearby, at Westhaven, during the hours of low tide, coal merchants drove their horse and cart alongside. Coal was then transferred through a hole in the boat's hull to the stationary carts.
Water, for drinking and cooking, was fetched daily from the nearby King's Well.
Washing of clothes and blankets each Monday took place at Crombie Burn or it was trampled then rinsed in the separate large wooden tubs filled with soft rainwater which had gradually accumulated in a large barrel. The washing was then laid on the grass or the whins to dry.
Hairy Nicholl's father lived on and worked this pendicle during the early 1800s. The buildings and landscape differed greatly. Others like him toiled and sweated using simple tools to reclaim patches of moorland which one day might yield profit sufficient to support themselves.
Monikie Parish records reveal he died a pauper in 1851 and was buried in a paupers grave at Monikie.
By 1858 Hairy Nicholl was the tenant, partly employed at Fallaws and Gairum Farms where from October of one year to March of the next, he cultivated the sour, stony terrain using a two horse swing plough. Ploughmen were held in great esteem and every farm worker was expected to know the basis of horse grooming.
Throughout his life during and after the Victorian Age, Hairy witnessed many improvements in farming methods. Numerous pendicles were absorbed into large farms or incorporated into newly created water catchment sites. Others disappeared totally as railways and roads were developed.
As their ties to the land disappeared, local people made a living in other ways. Some worked in the nearby quarries, others building railways, while a few developed new skills to meet the demands of mechanisation. Hairy Nicholl spent the remainder of his working life as a roadmap living nearby at Fallaws.
Biggins were built of local stone, held together with clay mortar and roofed with Carmyllie grey slate which replaced the thatched roofs once made from broom, heather and straw. This But n' Ben with its small windows of four panes and a fireplace at each gable end typifies the uniform appearance of modern 19th century rural cottages: no longer did the cattle live under the same roof or share the same entrance as their owner.
Often the pig's crae, a low-roofed stone hut, was attached at the end of the cottage. Along with hens, cats, dogs and goat, the pig survived on a range of household refuse from tattle-peelings to the dishwater.
Kail, cabbage, some potatoes and turnips were grown and livestock grazed on a few acres.
Beyond, drystane dykes and hedges 'Enclosed' the farmer's field crops of barley, oats, wheat, potatoes and turnips, keeping them safe from herds of cattle and sheep, who all prospered in the rotational system.
The surrounding landscape has been re-shaped by many generations of farming folk.
Winter ploughing, the making of tilth in spring to give seeds a good bed, harvesting hay, grain and root crops and preparing these for fodor and for sale meant families worked long, hard days in extremes of weather.'
Along with the text, there are also drawings of life at the pendicle. The marker is on part of the Discovery Trail at Crombie Country Park and is situated in the vicinity of the old cottage. There are also old farming implements scattered around the area.