If you have ever wondered what the view through the viaduct at Lower Largo looked like 150 years ago, take a close look at the photograph above. This is one view of a scale model of Largo Mill, created by John Band in April 2021.  A series of different perspectives of the model are shown in the photographs below.

The model itself will be on display as an installation in the foyer of the Largo Library and Community Hub on Crescent Road, Lundin Links during Largo Arts Week. Display boards with photographs and detailed information about the mill will accompany the model. Arts Week runs 17-25 July 2021.

Below is an aerial view which clearly shows the layout of the buildings on the site. The Mill Cottage is set back, elevated beside the dam. Harbour Wynd runs up the right hand side of the scene. In the centre-ground from left to right are the gasworks/forge (partly obscured by trees); the main mill (centre with many windows); the steam engine house (to the immediate right of main mill); and the oil refining house / office (formerly the spinning mill flax heckling house (angled on the left). In the foreground is the viaduct, with the track visible. The Keil Burn runs through one of the arches and a ford can be made out just above the line of the viaduct. The ford is shown in greater detail further below.

Note the many tiny details within the model, such as the mill's bell tower, flights of steps, barrels and small bridges over the sluices. The landscaping features are also incredibly detailed. Best seen in full 3-D and up close but if you can't make it along to the installation at the library this summer I hope that these photos provide a sense of the huge amount of work that has gone into producing this showpiece. If you would like to learn more about the history of the site and read further details on its buildings and infrastructure, take a look at this series of in-depth posts (content created by John Band):

lundinlinks.weebly.com/blog/largo-mill-in-depth-part-1
lundinlinks.weebly.com/blog/largo-mill-in-depth-part-2
lundinlinks.weebly.com/blog/largo-mill-in-depth-part-3
lundinlinks.weebly.com/blog/largo-mill-in-depth-part-4

Reading the content of the above posts in conjunction with viewing these images of the model should transport you right back to circa 1870.

The portrait above has been shared by a blog reader hoping that someone may recognise the face or have some information to help identify the subject. The portrait hung for many years in the family home of Mary Gillies Rodger (who had strong connections to Lundin Mill and Largo). She referred to gentleman in the painting as "the sea captain". Note the sea in the background with a ship visible to the right on the horizon (detail shown below). 

The clothing and appearance of the gentleman should indicate an approximate date for the portrait. He is clean shaven with prominent sideburns – so before the trend for beards that started with the Crimean War in the 1850s. There could be a connection to the Rodgers of Lundin Mill.  Any ideas welcome!

​The previous blog post traced the life story of Lundin Mill tailor James Gulland. Now attention turns to his second wife Emma. Born Emma Louisa Trimmer in Barnet Middlesex in 1869, daughter of a blacksmith who died while she was still a child. She was working as a domestic servant when she met James Gulland. They married in 1897 and had a daughter, Louisa May, in 1903. Emma was widowed in 1914 when James died suddenly. The small advert above appeared in The Scotsman newspaper eight days after James death, which occurred on 10 July. Ten days after the 18 July advert appeared, the First World War broke out.

And so, Mrs Gulland had to alter her plans. She kept the business on and ran it herself. So, James Gulland's tailor shop became Mrs Gulland's draper and outfitter (still renting the shop from John Somerville the grocer). At the time, the shop was the most westerly of the row on Leven Road and its gable end appeared as seen in the image below. Openings for cupboards and fireplaces could be seen - waiting over many years for further development. Finally, in 1923, it was Emma Gulland who had plans drawn up for new shops and houses to extend and complete the row of existing shops. Plans were revised a few times over the next few years before being executed in 1926.

The new extension to the block was owned in its entirety by Mrs Gulland. It housed, from east to west, her new draper shop, tea-rooms run by her daughter Louisa and the Commercial Bank of Scotland. All can be seen in the postcard view at the top of this post. The original tailor/draper shop (in the part of the row owned by John Somerville) became the British Linen Bank. Mrs Gulland named the dwelling above her new shop '​Jamesville' after late husband. James' daughter Rose from his first marriage had married George Kilgour, an Australian chemist, in 1918 and settled in Middlesex.
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The notice above from 18 June 1927 Leven Advertiser is an early advert for the new premises of Mrs Gulland, with a footnote mention to the 'comfortable tearoom adjoining'. Below is a later 1930s advert for the same but with slightly different descriptions, including 'a splendid selection of golf hose'. A separate advert from the same era is further below for Lundie Tea Rooms, which was run by Louisa. Cakes were delivered daily from Stuart's Electric Bakery in Buckhaven. Louisa herself was responsibly for the other 'choice confections' and speciality celebration cakes.

After two decades as a successful entrepreneurial duo, on 12 December 1944, Louisa May Gulland died suddenly at her home Aldersyde, aged just 41. Her mother Emma, now aged 75, continued the long-established businesses (both the draper and the tearoom) for many more years. The adverts below date to the late 1950s, including the one that appeared in the Leven Mail in 1958 to thank all her customers for supporting her 50 years in business, noting that her successors would be Mr and Mrs Menzies. Emma Gulland died on 21 May 1959, aged 90, at Aldersyde. 45 years after the death of her husband and having left a permanent mark on the village where she conducted business over so many decades.
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​James Gulland was born in Lundin Mill on 11 February 1863 to Janet Adam. Attending the birth was midwife Margaret Bethune, who recorded the event in her register. It was unmarried Janet's first child and the following year John Gulland was recognised legally as the father. James was brought up with the Adam family and In his teens he started work as an apprentice tailor. There were several tailors established in Largo at the time and quite a few young lads were engaged as apprentices.

James stuck with the profession and at the time of the 1891 census was living and working in St Andrews as a journeyman tailor. It was there that he met Elizabeth May Harding, who he married on 3 January 1894. They were married at Largo Place by Rev. William Pulford of Largo Baptist Church. Later that year, on 18 October, they had a daughter, Rose Adele Gulland. However, the following year Elizabeth died suddenly (reported below in the St Andrews Citizen of 9 Nov 1895) leaving James a widower with an infant child. 
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James returned to Lundin Mill, setting up as a tailor and clothier there. In 1896, his uncle, William Adam passed on a property jointly to James, and his own brother David Adam (a joiner). This was Millburnlea in the dip at Largo Road (see below the entry from the sasine register which describes the ground as "bounded on west by Highway and on north by Lundin Mill Burn").  The 1899 Valuation Roll further below shows the entries for James Gulland, Tailor, and David Adam, Joiner, (who let the shop part of his property to John Adam the house painter).

In 1897 James Gulland married his second wife, English-born Emma Louisa Trimmer. ​Rev. William Pulford once again officiated. On 26 July 1900, the Leven Advertiser (above) announced that Gulland was to move his tailor business from Millburnlea to a newly-built shop on Leven Road. The new shop was larger than his Largo Road shop and was situated "three doors west from Post Office" (in what is now the Premier Store). It was also next door (to the west) of Somerville's Grocer and John Somerville in fact owned both shops - renting one to Gulland. The original row of shops on Leven Road (briefly known as Gilmour Place) comprised Miss Bremner's Post Office, Douglas the butcher, Somerville the grocer and James Gulland, Tailor.

The 1901 census finds James and Emma, plus six-year-old Rose, living above the Leven Road shop. James Gulland was described as 'Tailor and Draper' and his wife Emma was 'Tailor's Wife and Shop Assistant (Drapery)'. This suggests that they were working in the shop as a team. The role of 'tailor' was a skilled one, involving making, altering and repairing clothes, while the role of 'draper' centres around selling clothes, cloth and haberdashery. Adverts for their shop show that they also sold fancy goods and postcards (in other words a range of items that would appeal to summer visitors). Their shop and upstairs home can be partially seen on the extreme right of the postcard image below (shortly after completion) to the right of Somerville's. In 1903, the Gullands' daughter Louisa May was born.
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The shop seemed to thrive over the years that followed in the growing village of Lundin Links. Above is an advert for the 1901 sale (7 March Leven Advertiser). ​Gulland continued to own Millburnlea and rented the shop there to fruiterer Peter Smith. Over the years, James Gulland was an active member of Largo Baptist Church, where he was a deacon and the Superintendent of the Sabbath School. He also was part of the 'Pleasant Sunday Afternoon' or P.S.A. Brotherhood attached to the Church. This movement originated in 1875 and spread throughout the country - its purpose to gather people together for spiritual objectives on Sunday afternoons. The Largo P.S.A. attracted attendances of up to 100 during the first decade of the last century and Mr Gulland was a regular speaker.
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The Durham Hall building started out as the Durham Female Industrial School, founded in 1859 by Mrs Dundas Durham of Largo House. The school provided girls with a curriculum that included both traditional education and training in domestic ‘industry’ (e.g. sewing, knitting and laundry). From the start the building was also used outside of school hours. For example, the Volunteer Force (established in Fife in 1860) held drills in the school and its grounds. When a company of the Boys’ Brigade was started in Largo in 1909, the Durham School was chosen as its meeting place. The Parish Council held meetings there and the Red Cross ran classes in first aid and home nursing.

The school did enrol both girls and boys for much of its existence and in 1911 the school underwent modernisation. A new chimney was built, a partition was added to divide the largest classroom, and a laundry room was created with washing tubs and a cooking range (these features are marked on the floor plan image further down the page). These works enabled new ‘practical instruction and continuation classes’ to take place covering laundry, cookery, dress-making, upholstery, woodwork, book-keeping and shorthand. 

​After a spell lying empty after the war, St David’s Parish Church bought the building in 1955. Tradesmen from the congregation worked to repair the roof, remove a wall to create the large hall and install an up-to-date kitchen. The architect-drawn floor plans show the layout before (above) and after (below) this work was carried out (source H.E.S.).

​Completed in August 1957, the renovated hall was formally dedicated the following month (see full report on that from 2 October 1957 Leven Mail below). In May 1958, a concert party took place to thank the men who had helped convert the former school. Around 150 people packed into the hall to be entertained by singing, monologues and music from the piano and oboe. Tea was then served and the evening was rounded off with a dance.

Over the years that followed, the hall was used for many activities including the Church Youth Club, Boys Brigade, Brownies and Guides, coffee mornings, jumble sales, meetings and as a polling station for elections. ​In the 1970s the hall was extended to provide further space. The new addition was named the Mackie Room after a church member who had left a bequest. This room originally had a flat roof (seen in the top black and white photograph) but this was changed to the present sloping roof in the 1990s - see far left part of the hall in the image below. This year, the Durham Hall will act as the hub for Largo Arts Week 2021 - for more on that see https://www.largoartsweek.com/.
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Over many decades, one of the notable activities that took place in the Crusoe Hall was the range of dance classes offered by Ida Ballingall's School of Dancing. Ida (pictured above in costume in her younger day) was born in 1930 to house painter Thomas Cunningham Ballingall and his wife Jessie Aitken Watson. Jessie was one of the daughters of local baker David Watson of Keilside Bakery (see photograph below from circa 1907).

Her interest in, and talent for, dancing led to a three year course at Madame Ada's School of Dancing in Edinburgh. This qualified Ida to become a teacher of dance herself. In 1954, the opening announcement for the Robinson Crusoe School of Dancing appeared in the Leven Mail (25 August, below). Now a Member of the British Ballet Organisation, Associate of the United Kingdom Alliance (of dance, founded in 1902) and Professional Teacher of Dancing, Ida was fully qualified to teach a wide range of classes, some of which are listed on the notice below. Further details of classes were available from Keilside Bakery, where Ida was now living with her widowed mother. The venue for the classes was of course the Robinson Crusoe Club Hall - a place so well known to Ida and her family. 

​Over time the Dance School also offered classes in other towns, including St Andrews and Leuchars. In addition to teaching dancing, Ida was a well-known all round entertainer - singing, acting, playing piano and the accordion, as well as dancing, all over Fife and beyond. Below is an advert for the 1955 Leven Warden's Party where she led a party of 20 artistes. She was an active member of the Leven Amateur Musical Association.

From the very beginning, the Robinson Crusoe School of Dancing put on regular shows, displays and award ceremonies - opportunities for pupils to showcase their skills and entertain their parents, friends and community. In 1955 a 'Showtime' dancing display was put on in the Montrave Hall with all funds raised going to the Fife Society for the Blind. Bright and colourful costumes were always an important part of these events - the result of many hours of hard work by the mothers and grandmothers of the performers. Many of the routines were set to classic tunes from theatre and cinema. Examples from my memory include those shown below - The Irish Washerwoman, Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah and The Wedding of the Painted Doll.  
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​The Wedding of the Painted Doll was brought to life in 1981, at the Centre in Leven, shown in the photograph below. Dance pupils took on roles such as the bride, groom, bridesmaid, preacher man, photographer and the toys (who were wedding guests). A newspaper clipping from this event is also shown below, as is a piece on presentation of awards. Exam success results from the Dance School were another regular feature in the local papers for many a decade.

Also in 1981, Ida sat an important exam herself - to gain her Fellowship with the United Kingdom Alliance of Professional Teachers of Dancing - an award she had long dreamed of achieving (see photo below from the East Fife Mail). Around the same time, she became a life member of both the UK Alliance and the British Ballet Organisation (in recognition for 25 years' service to the teaching of dance). In 1985, Ida and some of her pupils had a key role in the celebrations for the centenary of the unveiling of the Robinson Crusoe statue - appearing on the 'Weir's Way' television programme. 

​Ida Ballingall inspired many pupils to go onto a career in dance themselves, both as teachers and as professional dancers. She kept in touch with many of them and hugely enjoyed hearing about their achievements and their travels around the world. Alongside her long teaching career, Ida entertained at many functions and weddings with her dance band. She also continued to travel around Scotland as an examiner into the early 2000s. Ida's life was filled with music and dance until she sadly passed away in 2010, aged 80. She will long be fondly remembered by the hundreds of young people that she taught to dance and those that she entertained over many decades.

The Robinson Crusoe Social Club evolved from the earlier 'Lundin Links and District Community Social Club' in 1946. The name change coincided with the club taking over the former Good Templar Hall (or Temperance Hall) on Mill Wynd, Lundin Links (pictured above). The hall had been built in 1886 for the Robinson Crusoe Lodge of the Independent Order of Good Templars. Membership of the local I.O.G.T. Lodge had dwindled by the Second World War and ownership of the hall passed to the Grand Lodge of Scotland before coming into the ownership of the social club. 
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After a quarter century at its original location, the social club made the move into the temperance hall, giving them a much larger space for their varied activities. They changed their name in the process, to the Robsinson Crusoe Social Club, in tribute to the former Robinson Crusoe Lodge of the I.O.G.T.. The advert below for a Sale of Work (11 Feb 1948) shows that the hall on Mill Wynd was still initially known as the 'Club House' before becoming more commonly referred to as the Crusoe Hall. At this particular sale is was stated that the club had grown from eleven members in 1946 to over over eighty within a year and another fifty new members since then. The main object of the club was "the social welfare of the community" and membership was open to all "irrespective of age, sex, religion or politics".
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Below is the notice of the 1947 Children's Christmas Party (10 December Leven Mail) - the first one in the Crusoe Hall. Two weeks later the paper reported that the hall was filled to overflowing with more than 270 children. After music and games, tea and cakes were provided and "Santa Claus, taking time off from his arduous duties, then handed each child an orange and a gift from the beautifully lit and decorated Xmas tree".
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The Robinson Crusoe Social Club was wound up in 2015 and a bench has been placed on Emsdorf Road (close to the two club houses but in a more prominent location) in memory of the Club that was such a feature of the local community over many decades. If you have memories of the club, Christmas parties, whist drives, etc - please do comment and share your stories.
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The above artwork depicting the Old Manor Hotel appeared as part of an advert for hotel receptionist placed in the East Fife Mail of 24 April 1996 (below). This and the following other local references were found recently in newspapers used to wrap up a set of crockery. When unpacking a box untouched for a couple of decades, it was an unexpected pleasure to be able to leaf through some old pages of the local paper.
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​April brought the opening matches of the local bowling clubs and below is the photo taken of the Lundin Links club's first game. Do you recognise anyone in the photograph?

Another Springtime event was the Fife Point to Point at Balcormo. The advert below let readers know that it was coming up the following weekend. Traditionally held annually at Balcormo Mains (since 1910), the event has origins dating back to 1892, originally taking place at Bruntshiels Farm near Ceres. Lately there has been another chance of venue, which you can read more about here: https://balcormoraces.org/

​Finally, an other advert - this time for the Crusoe Hotel. Part of a full page feature on the 'High Tea Trail' around the East of Fife, the advert highlights high teas and bar meals - with "flambe and seafood a speciality"!
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Tucked in behind Church Place in Upper Largo, Broomfield Buildings (now Broomfield Gardens) was built circa 1895 by Broomfield the joiner. Containing four flatted dwellings, the building can be seen in the above aerial photograph to the right of the Church (with the grey roof and white walls). Below shows the other side of the building from ground level. The garden area associated with the flats can be accessed from a vennel at 10 Church Place. The vennel can also be seen on  the map further below.

Joiner Peter Broomfield was the son of a farmer, born in 1836 in Fala, Midlothian. As a young man, he had been one of the Light Brigade in the Crimean War, having enlisted in the famous cavalry regiment in his teens. He was wounded in the campaign and was invalided home. Later, Peter spent time working as a joiner in Edinburgh before moving to Upper Largo around 1873, with his wife Elizabeth Hogg and their three youngest children (none of whom survived childhood). The couple went on to have further children - Margaret in later in 1874, Agnew in 1876 and Christina in 1878. In 1878, Peter received the contract for the construction of Kirkton of Largo School which was completed the following year. Agnew followed his father into the joinery business. Elizabeth died in 1893 and Peter in 1898 (just a few years after the construction of the buildings named after him).

The family, who lived on South Feus, continued to own Broomfield Buildings for many years. At the time of the 1901 census, the tenants of the four flats were: a retired gardener and family; a postman and family (son of John E. Miller the cork cutter); a plumber and his family; and a retired lighthouse keeper (with his wife and two grandchildren). Some of these tenants (and others later) sublet their homes for the summer to visitors. Over the years, both births and deaths occurred in the buildings. One life that ended at Broomfield Gardens was that of William Mackie, a gardener at Largo House. He died in 1924 (see 16 September Leven Advertiser below) after becoming ill at work.
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The property was eventually sold by the Broomfield family. Below is a For Sale notice that appeared in the Leven Advertiser on 27 October 1936. Another more recent For Sale advert (26 Nov 1987 Courier) is further below. Agnew Broomfield, who was President of Largo Curling Club on more than one occasion, Vice-President of Largo Bowling Club and member of the Parish Council, died aged 89 in 1965.
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By 1871 John Miller was established as a cork cutter in Upper Largo, now with 7 children, 4 of whom were born in Largo. A decade later and he was still described as a 'cork top manufacturer' and had one further child. At some point, the Millers became involved with the Independent Order of Good Templars' Robinson Crusoe Lodge. John held various offices and appeared often in the newspaper archives as attending various meetings and events in connection with the movement. It's interesting that a bottle top maker, with connections to the brewing industry, went on to live by "total abstinence enforced by a life-long pledge, and the absolute prohibition of the manufacture, importation and sale of intoxicating drinks as beverages". The above programme for the local lodge from the "Good Templar Guide: North-East Fife District 1898-1904" notes John E. Miller as the Secretary at the time and shows that he and his wife were responsible for a number of the functions listed.

By 1891, John's occupation had evolved slightly to 'wood top manufacturer'. This was likely partly due to a general trend away from the use of cork to other materials for bottle closures but may also indicate that he wanted to cater for temperance drinks rather than alcohol. Below are images of a cork top (left) and a wood top (right). By this time, fellow cork cutter Edward Johnston had become bankrupt and had left Largo. John survived the changing fortunes of his trade but supplemented his income by having three boarders living in his household. Ten years later, aged 70, John Miller continued to host three boarders and was described as a 'wood top maker'. 
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John Edmonson Miller died on 19th June 1905 at Law Cottage, Upper Largo - his death registered by son James, who lived very close by at Broomfield's Buildings. As far as I can tell, this ended many decades of bottle top making in the Parish. Modern innovation had by then changed practices completely. Ebonite or Vulcanite screw stoppers (patented in 1880) were advertised as superior to corks due to the ease of opening by hand (no need for a corkscrew), robustness (won't break like a cork could), airtightness (contents won't go flat) and reusability (if used many times were a fraction of the cost of cork). India rubber was heated in a process called 'vulcanisation' to create a mouldable, durable material that was used for bottle stoppers for decades. The adverts below show these stoppers, which fitted into an internal screw thread in the bottle neck, in detail.