Having purchased the Lundin Estate in 1852, the Standard Life Assurance Company set about making plans to expand the existing village of Lundin Mill by adding a substantial residential development to the west, capitalising on the sea-views and proximity to the future railway station. Drawn up in 1853, the initial plan involved building nineteen large detached villas and twelve smaller detached villas, positioned along curving streets and interspersed with areas of greenery. The development would also include a hotel adjacent to the railway station, a church close to the hotel and a new school situated between the new buildings and the existing areas of Emsdorf and Drummochy.
The above map shows that the only pre-existing buildings on this side of the village at the time were Sunnybraes Farm and its associated cottages near the Standin' Stanes. Even the golf course did not exist at that time. The proposed new streets would be 'Church Road' (running between the large villas along the Leven Road and the church itself), 'Carmyle Crescent' (the crescent on the seaward side of the group of nine villas) and 'Moncrieff Road' (the road sweeping down from the Leven Road towards the proposed school). In addition, the road closest to the sea, connecting the station and school was marked as 'The New Road' and the S-shaped short section of road above the school was to be 'Moir Road'. Surprisingly, there were also plans to change the names of some pre-existing streets. Emsdorf Street was marked on the plan as 'Patton Street', the Wynd as 'Sligo Road', Woodlands Road as 'Thomson Road', Drummochy Road as 'Standard Hill', Hillhead Street as 'Inglis Road', Hillhead Lane as 'Tod Street', Emsdorf Crescent as 'Robertson Row', Mill Wynd as 'Murray's Wynd', Drum Park (or the Pans Road) as 'Trail Lane', Burnbrae Terrace as 'Blackburn Brae' and there were more examples.
These proposed names, rather than being of any local relevance, were names of people associated with Standard Life. Company directors at the time included:
John Sligo Esq. of Carmyle
William Moncrieff Esq. Accountant
George Moir Esq. Advocate
George Patton Esq. Advocate
Harry Maxwell Inglis Esq. W.S.
Anthony Trail Esq. W.S.
John Robert Tod Esq. W.S.
Thomas Graham Murray Esq. W.S.
Andrew Blackburn Esq. Banker
William Thomas Thomson was the company manager and Thomas Robertson the clerk. Clearly the creator of the 1853 plan was pandering to the board members of the company which then owned the Lundin Estate but thankfully these street names never came into being. They would have been irrelevant to the local people and meaningless in the present day. It's so much more appropriate to have retained the descriptive and relevant names that we are all so familiar with. While, we know that this particular plan did not become reality, elements of it did eventually make it off the drawing board - more on that in the next post.
The above map shows that the only pre-existing buildings on this side of the village at the time were Sunnybraes Farm and its associated cottages near the Standin' Stanes. Even the golf course did not exist at that time. The proposed new streets would be 'Church Road' (running between the large villas along the Leven Road and the church itself), 'Carmyle Crescent' (the crescent on the seaward side of the group of nine villas) and 'Moncrieff Road' (the road sweeping down from the Leven Road towards the proposed school). In addition, the road closest to the sea, connecting the station and school was marked as 'The New Road' and the S-shaped short section of road above the school was to be 'Moir Road'. Surprisingly, there were also plans to change the names of some pre-existing streets. Emsdorf Street was marked on the plan as 'Patton Street', the Wynd as 'Sligo Road', Woodlands Road as 'Thomson Road', Drummochy Road as 'Standard Hill', Hillhead Street as 'Inglis Road', Hillhead Lane as 'Tod Street', Emsdorf Crescent as 'Robertson Row', Mill Wynd as 'Murray's Wynd', Drum Park (or the Pans Road) as 'Trail Lane', Burnbrae Terrace as 'Blackburn Brae' and there were more examples.
These proposed names, rather than being of any local relevance, were names of people associated with Standard Life. Company directors at the time included:
John Sligo Esq. of Carmyle
William Moncrieff Esq. Accountant
George Moir Esq. Advocate
George Patton Esq. Advocate
Harry Maxwell Inglis Esq. W.S.
Anthony Trail Esq. W.S.
John Robert Tod Esq. W.S.
Thomas Graham Murray Esq. W.S.
Andrew Blackburn Esq. Banker
William Thomas Thomson was the company manager and Thomas Robertson the clerk. Clearly the creator of the 1853 plan was pandering to the board members of the company which then owned the Lundin Estate but thankfully these street names never came into being. They would have been irrelevant to the local people and meaningless in the present day. It's so much more appropriate to have retained the descriptive and relevant names that we are all so familiar with. While, we know that this particular plan did not become reality, elements of it did eventually make it off the drawing board - more on that in the next post.
RSS Feed
