Continuing the series of posts charting the history of Aithernie House (now the Old Manor Hotel), we pick up when Aithernie was leased to Margaret Paxton to run as a children's home. The spacious building with its broad southern outlook across the Forth was ideally suited to Miss Paxton's purpose, with its four public rooms (all facing south), ten bedrooms, three bathrooms, electric light, modern central heating and a wash house with laundry. The large gardens were another reason for Miss Paxton choosing the property. The children would spend a lot of time outside in the fresh air and sunshine, as the image from the brochure for the home, shown above, illustrates.

In December 1936, Margaret had written to Sir David Russell to say that she was "very anxious to start a children's home in Largo" as "there is no place in Fife to which necessitous children may be sent and there is a very great need for such a home". The venture seems to have done well until the outbreak of war brought the pressures of food rationing, the need to meet blackout requirements and air raid precautions, staffing shortages and financial issues. The health of Miss Paxton was also a concern. 

Early in 1943 the home had to close for a six-month period. This had come about because Margaret had suffered a breakdown, having had do the cooking and attend the children at night, on top of her usual role as superintendent, due to ongoing staff shortages. By 1944, Miss Paxton's health was still not good and staffing issues were serious. In 1945. it was noted that several valuable subscribers had been lost by death and that staffing difficulties persisted. The following year, 1946, after nine years of operation, the home had to close for good. During its existence, Fife Children's Home had cared for between 500 and 600 children between the ages of 2 and 10 years. ​

During the decade that Aithernie had operated as a children's home, over in Leven, a new hotel had become established. A new company had been formed to equip and run the former Braeside House (shown on the map above) as a hotel. The Leven Beach Hotel opened in 1937 with all mod cons, including hot and cold running water, central heating radiators and electric lighting. The 24-room venue also featured a sun porch, oak panelled hall, tartan carpet, a grill-room restaurant and a garage at the rear to accommodate 16 cars.

Such was the success of Leven's Beach Hotel, that the company behind it - Beach Hotel (Leven) Limited - sought to open a sister venue. Aithernie House fitted the bill in terms of both its size and facilities, as well as its views over Largo Bay. The company bought Aithernie and received its hotel licence for in November 1947 (see below from 1 November Fife News).
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As the notice below from the 7 July 1948 Leven Mail shows, the Lundin Links Beach Hotel opened on Saturday 10th July 1948, offering lunch, afternoon tea and dinner. So began the building's new life as a hotel, which continues to this day, almost eighty years later.

Soon the new hotel had expanded its offering to include dancing, weddings, parties and other social functions (see 4 November 1950 Fife Free Press above). Christmas dinner also became a regular fixture. The advert below dates to 1958.

Dinner dances became a regular Saturday night event and many local clubs and organisations held their social nights in the hotel. Both the Leven and the Lundin Links Beach Hotel were a popular choice for wedding receptions and Golden Weddings alike. The full page feature above for both the Leven and the Lundin Links Beach Hotel dates to the late 1960s and was part of the 'All About Fife' Summer Guide. 

Over the decades that the building operated as the Beach Hotel there were of course improvements and the facilities kept up with the time. The notice above from the 9 October 1974 advises of a short closure for redecoration. ​The advert below appeared in the 25 June 1976 Fife Free Press. By this time, the days of the Beach Hotel, Lundin Links were numbered. A change of name and style was just around the corner. More on that to follow.
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The previous post covered the history of Aithernie House up to 1921 census. Later that same year, the house was sold to paper manufacturer David Russell (pictured above). He had been born at nearby Silverburn in 1872. His father, also David Russell (1831-92), had bought Silverburn in 1854 and began a flax processing operation. He later went on to set up Largo Oil and Cake Mill and also branched out into papermaking, with a partnership in the mills at Rothes and Auchmuty with his Tullis relations.

David Russell the younger was the third son. While eldest brother George went into farming, David followed their father into papermaking. Tullis Russell would become one of Scotland's largest paper manufacturers, a major new plant having been built between 1910 and 1912. David married Deborah Alison Blyth (known as Alison) in 1912. They settled in Rothes House -  the mill-owners house at Rothes Mill - on the banks of the River Leven at Markinch. Rothes House is shown on the map below from that era, in the lower right hand corner. The couple had their first three children while living there: Catherine (1913), David (1915) and John (1918).

​David Russell had been a philanthropist in many ways during his life and one example was in connection with Aithernie House after the family had moved out. Aithernie was leased to Margaret Paxton of nearby Homelands to run as a children's home. The first of its kind in Scotland, the home provided accommodation for young children whose parents could not look after them.  The children who came to live there spent as much time as possible outdoors in the grounds, even often eating meals outside.  The photograph of the house above dates to that time. David was knighted in 1946 in the New Year's Honours List for his many public services. Sir David Russell died on 12 May 1956 in the house he was born in at Silverburn. ​
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The last of the original residents of Aithernie House, Miss Mary Dalyell Haymes, died in 1898. The house became the  property of the teenage Miss Mary Lillias Rigg, daughter of James Home Rigg (who was the cousin of Mary Haymes). Miss Rigg did not live in the house and, when she was 21, Aithernie was offered for sale (see 1 July 1903 Fife Herald below).

On this occasion the house did not sell. Eventually, the following year Aithernie House was sold to George James ​Lumsden (1865-1953) of Freuchie, pictured above. The sale was reported in the local Largo news in the 25 June 1904 Fife News below. George was the second son of Thomas Lumsden of the long established linen weaving firm of Walter Lumsden and Son. In 1860, Thomas Lumsden had set about building the 160-loom power loom factory - the Eden Valley Linen Works in Freuchie.

After training at the Mulheim Technical Weaving School near Cologne, George Lumsden and his brother John took the works over from their father. The pair eventually introduced new machinery and expanded the business. On 4 June 1891, George married Eveline Blanche Clayton in London. They went on to have three daughters - Eveline (1893), Muriel (1894) and Enid (1901).  
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​A couple of years after purchasing the house, the Lumsden family added a substantial extension to Aithernie, to the east (seen to the right of the aerial image above). This east wing was designed by designed by Sir Robert Lorimer in 1906. Being added more than forty years after the original house was built, the architectural style was slightly different. The rooflines feature Lorimer's trademark curved, sweeping profiles - as opposed to the sharper angles of the original Victorian wing.

While resident in Lundin Links, George Lumsden began a long association with the Boy Scout movement. He was Chairman of the Committee that formed the troop of Scouts at Lundin Links. This coincided with the building of the Montrave Hall, very close to Aithernie House on Leven Road. The piece above covers the opening of the new hall (30 July 1910 Fife News), where George Lumsden presided over the occasion. Below is an advert for an evening's entertainment in the recently opened hall only days later in aid of the Lundin Links Boy Scouts (3 August 1910 Leven Advertiser).
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In fact the Largo Scouts comprised two patrols based in Lundin Links and a further two patrols at Upper Largo. The latter met in the former Largo Field Naturalists' Museum (originally the old schoolhouse on North Feus). The contents of the old museum were relocated into the rear of the new Montrave Hall. The 13 July 1910 Leven Advertiser below describes the key individuals involved in the establishment of the movement in Largo. George Lumsden went on to become Scouts County Commissioner and ultimately he was awarded the Silver Wolf - the highest scouting award - in 1938.
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Aithernie House (also spelled Athernie House) was the original name of the Old Manor Hotel, built in 1864 for the Misses Rigg of Tarvit. A mansion house with extensive grounds of approximately five acres, the main features of the property are annotated on the map below.

1. Aithernie House
2. Aithernie Lodge
3. Outhouses and Laundry (pictured below)
4. Stables
5. Gardens with Glasshouses
6. Steps connecting terraces of the garden 

The property was entered via the driveway adjacent to the Lodge where the gardener Andrew Arnott lived with his family. Between the outhouses and stable was a courtyard. The outhouses included a washing house and laundry, as well as specific storage spaces for coals, for lamps, for boots and for brushes and tools.

Inside the main house there was an Entrance Hall with parquet flooring, Drawing Room, Library, Dining Room, Music Room, West Bedroom, East Bedroom, additional bedrooms, North Box room, bathrooms, linen cupboard, Butler's Bedroom, Cloakroom, Kitchen, Scullery and Larder. In addition, there was a Lumber Room (a storage space for items not in use) and a Bird Room (which would either have been a dedicated space used for displaying and studying natural history collections of taxidermy birds, or an area dedicated to keeping live exotic and songbirds).
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The inventory of the house, recorded at the time of the death of Mary Haymes, further paints a picture of life at Aithernie House in Victorian times. There was, for example, a bust of the late father of the Misses Rigg - James Home Rigg. The ladies also possessed their late father's armchair, tea table, reading desk and Bible, suggesting that they placed great importance on his memory. There was a grandfather clock, many candlesticks, several writing tables, bookcases full of books, leather chairs, wicker chairs, drawings and photographs (including of the ladies themselves at different ages) and home made items such as a "needlework cushion" and "a teacloth sewn with carnations at the corners".

Music must have been important within the household. There was a piano, a harmonium, harmonium chair and "a black box of music". The ladies hosted many a soiree, including a particularly special celebration to mark the coming of age of their nephew James Home Rigg. The piece below from the 19 October 1876 Fife Herald describes the "rejoicings" that took place in the house, when "flags fluttered gaily in the breeze from several points of Athernie". The ladies "discoursed a few select pieces on the harmonium and pianoforte" and sang several songs and ballads. The evening was declared "the happiest night that had been spent under the rooftree of Athernie". 

There is also a sense that the house decor changed with the seasons, with mention of items such as the "square carpet that does down in the winter" and the "light summer curtains". The gardens too would have had a seasonal cycle and the household soon became involved in local horticultural events. ​In their first full year living in Largo Parish (1865) the MIsses Rigg attended the third annual Floral and Horticultural Fete put on by Largo Field Naturalist Society at Keil's Den.

By the 1868 annual show, the produce of Aithernie House was being exhibited at the event, along that of Largo House, Charleton Estate and Charles Jenner of Edinburgh (a friend of show organiser Charles Howie). One of the entries from Aithernie House was "an enormous melon" - a product of their glass houses (see 13 August 1868 Fife Journal below).

Mary Rigg died in 1883 aged 72 years, while Margaret Rigg died aged 80 in 1891. Their niece Mary Dalyell Haymes carried on living at Aithernie until her death on 23 June 1898 at the age of 53. For many years beforehand she "had to be wheeled in an invalid chair and suffered much physical pain". In her will Mary Haymes stated "I wish that the two carrying chairs and wheeling house chair also bath chair with India rubber tyres to be sent to General Ratcliffe for the use of the Inmates of the Midland Counties Incurable Home Leamington". 

It was fitting that the last surviving occupant of the original Aithernie House household - an "esteemed lady" who had followed the "noble example of her aunts". - continued to give to other even after her death. As 29 June 1898 reported at the time, Miss Haymes had...

"...long been identified with every Christian and charitable work in the Parish, and although for many years she had had to be wheeled in an invalid chair and suffered much physical pain, she was unremitting in her exertions both for the temporal comfort and spiritual welfare of the people, and seemed never to weary in her labour of love. For nearly 30 years she had personally conducted a mother's meeting, besides lending valuable aid in the formation and promotion of a mission Sabbath school in Lundin Mill.  She did much for the temperance cause, and was a member of the Lodge of Good Templars."

Still today, glimpses of the original Aithernie House can still be seen, both outside and inside the 162-year-old building.
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The circumstances which led to the building of Aithernie House (now the Old Manor Hotel) began with the death, at Tarvit House outside Cupar, of its proprietor James Home Rigg on 30 May 1862 at the age of 79 years. James had been predeceased by his wife and all but two of his many children. Indeed his only son, Patrick, had died the previous year aged 44. As the article below from the 5 June 1862 Fifeshire Journal explains, the estates of Tarvit and Downfield passed on to his grandson and namesake, six year old James Home Rigg. 

Architect Campbell Douglas (1828-1910), pictured above, was selected to design their home. Douglas was the son of a church minister who had left the Established Church at the Disruption to join the newly formed Free Church (a denomination in which the Misses Rigg and Miss Haymes were also active). At the time, his architectural practice was almost exclusively employed in the design of churches and large houses.

The contractors who turned the architectural plans into reality were largely drawn from the Cupar area. The builder was John Honeyman, a builder with half a century of experience who was responsible for many of Cupar's principal buildings, as well as several mansion houses in the district. He was also the lessee of a large quarry at Cupar Muir. Painting work was carried out by longstanding Cupar firm Sharp and Duncan. The joinery (or wright work) was done by Thomas Foulis Ballingall of Leven, who had a property in Lundin Links very close to Aithernie House. Inspector of the works was William Younger of Ceres - an experienced wright who had worked with John Honeyman on previous projects, including the new church at Springfield. Aithernie House's extensive grounds were laid out by Alexander Thomson, the gardener from Tarvit House.

When Aithernie House was close to completion in the summer of 1864, a dinner was held within it for the contractors involved. Taking place just prior to the three ladies moving in, the occasion was described in the 23 July 1864 Dundee Advertiser (below). The 21 July Fifeshire Journal also reported on the event, describing how the drawing room and library were opened for the reception of the guests and "a hospitable table was spread".

The assembled company reportedly did justice to the "most excellent repast". It was also noted that a special toast was raised to the "aged housekeeper, who had been with the family upwards of half-a-century". This was Kemback-born Anne Rintoul, who would die four years later at Aithernie, aged 85 years. The Fifeshire Journal declared the "new mansion-house of Athernie" a "structure of great beauty and chasteness".
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The map below shows the entire grounds of Aithernie House, including its Lodge House (to the left on the roadside) and its offices and stables (on the top right), as well as the extensive terraced grounds running down towards Lundin Links station, which had opened seven years earlier in 1857. The elevated situation of the main house took advantage of the panoramic views across Largo Bay.  In the next post - life at Aithernie House once the Misses Rigg and Miss Haymes had moved in.​
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As many will know, this year marks the 350th anniversary of the birth of Alexander Selkirk (the Largo-born inspiration for Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe). A whole series of events have already taken place over the summer to celebrate this milestone and more are planned for the remainder of the year. Recent events have included a screening of the film Castaway, a storytelling session, a performance of the musical 'Robinson' by the Ukrainian Amateur Theatre, a 'Selkirk Island Discs' evening, a sail-by from historic fishing vessel The Reaper along with a flotilla of accompanying boats and the launch of the new book 'Alexander Selkirk, Fiction's First Celebrity' by Ronnie Graham.

There was also a fantastic nine-day long exhibition, put together by Largo Heritage Group, hosted in the Aurrie Mor (former Largo St David's Church). The exhibition showcased details of the life of Alexander Selkirk, Largo during his lifetime, the Selkirk family artefacts that survive, the fictional character of Robinson Crusoe and an insight into the island of Juan Fernandez (now known as Robinson Crusoe Island) where Selkirk spent a solitary four years and four months between 1704 and 1709. Books, quizzes and challenges, dressing up, signed copies of the new book by Ronnie Graham all added to the event which was richly illustrated with paintings, photos, maps, artefacts and vintage props borrowed from the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther.
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The Selkirk Exhibition also explored the past celebrations of Selkirk's life - including the 1976 festivities at the time of the 300th anniversary, the opening of Selkirk's Birthplace Museum in 1985 and the twinning celebrations in 2004 where the Largo villages were officially twinned with Robinson Crusoe Island. 
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To follow on from the previous post about Massney Braes, the map below from 1853 clearly shows a significant area of "whinstone" on the shore to the west of the braes. This rocky outcrop, also seen in the photograph above, provided a ready supply of dense, hard-wearing stone, which proved to be ideal for in the construction of houses and other buildings in local area during the nineteenth century.

The term 'whin' has long been used in Scotland to describe any hard dark rock. There are competing theories which attempt to explain the origin of the word. One relates to the abundance of gorse bushes close to certain areas of whinstone - as these bushes were also known locally as ‘whin’ bushes. in fact, the phrase "benty, tussocky and ripe with whin" was the famous historical description used to describe the rugged, natural terrain of Lundin Golf Course in its very early days. 'Whin' in that case referred to gorse.
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An example of a dwelling built from Massney Braes whinstone is Bourtree Brae House on Crescent Road, pictured above. This house was written about in the 1868 book entitled "Villa and Cottage Architecture: Select Examples of Country and Suburban Residences Recently Erected" published by Blackie & Son, which states:

"The external walls are two feet thick, and built of whinstone rubble. obtained by breaking up the boulders strewn along the shore of the firth".

The book goes on to note that, in contrast, the architectural details of the house (sills, lintels, wall corners, etc) were made of freestone from Grange Quarry at Burntisland. The hard whinstone was difficult to dress into shaped blocks and so a different stone that was easier to work was used for the finer detail. The warm, dark brown stone found on the beach close to the Lundin Golf Club certainly appears a close match to the house façade and in this example, the material had very little distance to travel from source to final destination.​

Stone was still being taken from this stretch of beach by stone masons decades later. In 1880, legal action was taken to stop Thomas Tivendale, mason, from "taking stone for building purposes from the seashore opposite Mr Macrae's property". Mr Macrae was Colin George Macrae W.S. of Drum Lodge. 

In the absence of a clear origin of the name 'Massney' in relation to the Braes, I often wonder whether it might derive from the word 'mason' as the brae was used by the stone masons of days gone by to move building materials off the beach. Opinions welcome on this idea - or evidence of an alternative meaning to the name. 

Massney Braes has long been known as a beauty spot. Its location between the former Lundin Links train station and Largo Harbour saw an influx of beach-going day trippers and summer visitors after the railway opened in 1857. Beach huts sprung up along this stretch of coast and in the 1930s the site was the focus of a series of improvements to enhance the experience of the many visitors that continued to flock there. In more recent decades, Massney Braes has also been known as the site of Pictish burials. In 1965 a Pictish cemetery was uncovered following winter storms. These days Fife Council describes the area as follows:
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"A semi-natural stretch of greenspace located along the coast. A woodland strip occupies the elevated north side, while coastal grassland and scrub slope down to the shore. A main pathway leads east and west through the site from the main entrance on Drummochy Road, and more informal paths run through the grassland, forming part of the Fife Coastal Path".
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However, there is another important aspect to the history of Massney Braes. During the 18th and 19th centuries this small location was an intensely industrialised site, featuring coal pits, a saltworks and a coastal quarry. A map has recently been made publicly available dated 1853 and labelled Mineral Plan for Lundin and Aithernie, which can be viewed in full here. This plan produced by mining engineer David Landale highlights coal workings labelled Aithernie, Pilmuir, Lundin and Drummochy, as well as locations of additional bores and trial pits.

Note that this plan was produced the year after the Standard Life Assurance Company purchased the Lundin and Aithernie estates). An extract of the map, showing the Massney Braes area, is shown below, next to a present day aerial view. At the top of the map lies Fir Park and the villages of Lundin Mill and Emsdorf. To the far right there is Largo Harbour and Pier along with the buildings of Drummochy. To the left of those buildings, the coastline runs west past the former salt works panhouse (the rectangle located below the letter P.) towards what is now Lundin Golf Links.

The eight black lines running from the coast represent seams of the Drummochy coalfield, while the letters​ in black (R, P and Q) represent bores and the letters in purple (A, B, C, D and E) represent trial pits. Just above those annotations are a series of small circles marked as 'Old Pits'. The latter likely date back to the days of the saltworks when the coal required to fire the salt pans had to be situated very close by in order to make such a venture viable.

Marked on the aerial view above are:

1. Area of Whinstone rock
2. Vicinity of the coal seams
3. Site of old pits
4. Former salt panhouse site

Back in 1898, evidence of these old pits was unearthed following a storm. As the Fife News of 22 October 1898 reported below "along the coast line in many places coal seams cropped out on the shore. Old residenters recall the existence of an "in-going eye" used before the days of pit shafts - still working in suitable circumstances - for winning the coal to the west of Mr Horne's workshop" (the workshop being in the former salt panhouse). The entrance to this old mine had fallen in some years before and now another similar one had opened up. 

An "ingoing eye" (often spelled "ingaun ee") is a Scottish mining term for the mouth of a drift mine or an adit. It refers to the horizontal entrance driven directly into a hillside or coal seam outcropping at the surface, which contrasts with a traditional vertical mine shaft. These were typically in places such as valleys or coastlines where erosion had exposed the coal veins. The diagram below from Coal Mining in Scotland by E.D. Hyde illustrates this system. Coal or shale type material can still be picked up along the shore at Massney Braes today (see samples below).

The previous post covered the promotion of Largo to visitors in the 1980s, when the focus was on maritime heritage of the wider East Neuk of Fife. A decade later, the style of local visitor guides had evolved but the Largo villages were still set in the context of the East Neuk its heritage. By 1995 the emphasis on Alexander Selkirk had strengthened with a new Robinson Crusoe exhibition within the Crusoe Hotel.

As the page below from the guide explains, hotel proprietor Bob Jurgensen had felt that Selkirk was not celebrated sufficiently. He set about creating a tourist information point and exhibition to tell The Selkirk Story (as a sail shaped sign outside the hotel proclaimed) inside the recently-completed hotel extension.

With input from Fife Enterprise and MKW Design Partnership, six interpretation panels were created relating to the life of Selkirk. The panels were illustrated with images of the island, his sea chest and cup, a ship, Daniel Defoe and William Dampier, who rescued Selkirk on 2 February 1709. The room as a whole was intended to have "the atmosphere of the galley in which he sailed", even including a hatch where "you may view his desert island". 
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The Selkirk Room exhibition remained within the Crusoe Hotel for nearly three decades before the latest renovations which began in 2021. The space is now a private dining room. Below is a selection of adverts for local businesses from the 1995 visitor guide. Interestingly, the advert for the Crusoe Hotel highlights that the venue had recently appeared on TV's Wish You Were Here! There is also a programme of events for the Largo Festival '95. Attractions included art exhibitions, a plant sale, treasure hunts, barbecue, quizzes, music, vintage cars and a variety of sports events.

Did you know that this year marks 350 years since the birth of Alexander Selkirk?  To join in the celebrations, please see here for details of events taking place locally later this month.

The previous post looked at Largo's place within the East Neuk and how this was reinforced in the 1980s and 1990s when tourism-related marketing of the East Neuk embraced Lundin Links, Lower Largo and Upper Largo. The front and back pamphlet covers shown above date from 1988. This was was one in a series of leaflets promoting each of the main destinations along the coast. Each had specific local scenes and attractions depicted on the front cover but the same East Neuk advert on the back cover - offering an invitation to "discover the unique living history of this lovely part of the ancient Kingdom of Fife". Largo's front cover included the Robinson Crusoe statue, Largo Law, a golfer and the Crusoe Hotel.
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Behind the marketing push sat a training initiative aimed at tourism related businesses. Under this East Neuk Maritime Project Training Initiative there was assistance at hand to develop skills around customer care, marketing, book-keeping and more. 

The content of the leaflets above included a bit of local history, suggested walking routes, photographs of the area, a list of facilities, street maps and notably many advertisements for local businesses. Many of the businesses across the Largo villages advertised in the area's 1988 local guide. Most are now gone. A selection are shown below, which I hope will bring back some memories.
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