John Adam was born in Lundin Mill on 12 August 1872.  His mother was a 'flax dresser' - a job in the textile industry which involves removing straw from the flax to prepare it for spinning.  As a child he lived at Keil Bank Cottage with his coal miner grandfather and his family.

By the age of 18, John had become an apprentice painter in Leven.  He gained experience in Dumbarton and in London before returning home and setting up business as a house painter.  As his business in Lundin Links grew (at a time when the village was greatly expanding), he moved to 'Wellfield' on the corner of Mill Wynd and Largo Road and became increasingly involved in community life.  

In the early 1920s John Adam became a member of Largo Parish Council and was elected Chair in 1924.  He held the role of Chair for 6 of the 12 years that he served on the Council, and remained a member until his death in 1932.  He was also involved in the Fife Education Committee and on the day of his sudden death on 26 May 1932, John was described as a "well-known Fife County Councillor and Educationalist" with a "fine record of public service" by the Evening Telegraph.  In fact, he had just left an education sub-committee meeting and was walking along Kirkcaldy High Street when he collapsed and died from a heart attack, age 59.  He was also a long-time member of Lundin Golf Club and a keen curler, since the inception of the Lundin Club in 1906.  John Adam had been predeceased by his wife Christina but was survived by their children.

Wynd Well has been covered in a previous post, with a view similar to this one included.  However, the above image is taken from slightly further back and gives a better impression of the roughness of the road, which must have been treacherous when wet and muddy.  The steepness of the road was probably even greater further back in time, as it seems likely that the road was raised up to become level with the bridge when it was constructed.  Prior to that there would have simply been a ford over the burn. Certainly there are houses on either side of this stretch of road which lie below present road level, suggesting the road is on a man-made embankment.

This stretch of Largo Road was for a long time known locally as 'the Wynd' or Well Wynd.  The meaning of 'wynd' is a narrow lane or path - sometimes linking places of different heights.   It's a perfect description of this stretch of road - being as it is on a slope with higher ground on both sides.  The reason why the above postcard is entitled "from Wynd Well" is that there was a well just around the spot where the photographer would have been standing, in at the right hand side of the road.  This was a proper well and was in addition to the water pump visible further down the road at the corner of the junction with MIll Wynd.  Eventually, the ground to the right, adjacent to the well, was developed and the house built there was aptly named Wellfield.  In the next post, a profile of a well known local figure who resided at Wellfield.

The Crusoe Hotel was built in 1824 as a granary, although from very early days the end of the building closest to the sea was used as an inn.  The original appearance of the building is shown above.  The roof is of uniform height and style over the full length of the building. However, on the evening of 8th January 1911 a serious fire broke out in a room on the third storey of the inn.  According to the next day's Evening Telegraph, the Buckhaven Fire Brigade were summoned, by the proprietor Mr Thomas Lumsden, and arrived within 30 minutes.  By that time, flames were bursting through the roof.  Unfortunately, the tide was out and the fire brigade had to rely instead on the Keil Burn. The top floor was completed gutted but the fire was prevented from spreading to other floors or to the adjoining granary, stores and stables.  Water damage did however contribute to overall damage of £1,000.  As the fire started in a room not occupied for over 24 hours, the cause of the blaze was not known.

After the fire damage, the building was repaired and modernized.  The notable change was to the roof, with the beach-side of the building featuring a flat roof.  Perhaps this design proved to be leaky, as it was eventually replaced with the present roof - now higher on the sea-side than the other side.  In 1920, the granary was converted into a tearoom, extending the facilities of the hotel, by the owner Mr Howard Barnes Moss. Its license was granted on the condition that no liquor be sold in the tearoom.  The most recent major change to the building was the early 1990s extension (see lower right image) which runs perpendicular to the main building.

This slightly grainy 1980s aerial photograph shows both the old and new Lundin Mill Primary Schools (marked with red arrows).  The 1850s built school on the left is surrounded on all sides by housing, although it would have been open space to the south when first built.  The new school (to the right) has much more grassy open space around it.  The tree-lined Keil Burn runs close by to the north and east.  The present school is also sited more centrally between Lundin Links and Lower Largo - the two main villages which it serves.  As the present school is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, past pupils and staff are invited to contribute memories, photos, etc to be shown at planned events, see East Fife Mail article for details...

http://www.fifetoday.co.uk/news/local-headlines/lundin-mil-celebrates-landmark-occasion-1-3383467

Times have changed greatly and the design of the existing school is very different to the old.  Originally, at the Crescent Road School, boys and girls would have had separate entrances and separate playgrounds.  The diagram shows how the layout of the old school grounds used to be.  The numbers represent the following:

1. Schoolhouse          2. School Master's House
3. Front Entrance      4. Rear Entrance from vennel
5. Boys Playground  6. Girl's Playground

A wall would have divided the two playground zones and each area had its own toilet block and bike shed.  The school master's house would have been internally connected to the school itself.

Of course neither of these buildings was the original school.  A school existed in the old village of Emsdorf before the building of Crescent Road took place.  The wash-house of the house called 'Sea Cliff' on Emsdorf Road had a stone on the gable with 'Emsdorf School" engraved on it.  Old schools also existed in Lower Largo - initially at the Temple and then in what is now the Durham Hall.

Back in September 1973, building work was well advanced on the new Lundin Mill School.  The site had previously been used as a chicken farm.  The above image shows the north side of the school, looking south towards the houses of Woodlands Road, with the school football pitch between the two.  The large house in the centre, partly obscured by trees, was at one time the manse for Largo St David's Church and the new modern houses to the left of it were built in what was once part of the manse's extensive garden.

On 12 September 1973, the East Fife Mail, under the headline "Unusual Design at Lundin Links", described the modern circular layout of the new school, with its six general purpose classrooms set around a central hall.  The new building, started in January 1973, was a replacement for the old Lundin Mill School on Crescent Road (now the library).  The new school cost £138,000.  Pupils moved into the new school building in January 1974, making this year the 40th anniversary of the school being located at its present site.

William Stuart Palm was born in 1857 in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).  After qualifying in Medicine, Dr Palm came to Largo to become assistant to long-time local medical practitioner Dr George Lumgair.  On 23 March 1880 Dr Palm married the younger daughter of his mentor, Agnes Crawford Lumgair, in Largo. Dr Palm's father Rev John David Palm, assisted at the wedding ceremony. The couple lived at St Leonards, South Feus, Upper Largo.  Upon the death of his father-in-law, Dr Palm succeeded to his practice.  

In addition to his medical duties, Dr Palm was actively involved in curling and golf.  He was part of the Committee which revived Lundin Golf Club in 1889 and was Captain of the Club in 1892.  In 1903 he was elected Captain of the Lundin Ladies' Golf Club.  Both clubs had trophies given by Dr Palm - the Palm Jug at the Lundin Golf Club and the Palm Medal at the Ladies - both of which continued to be competed for annually for decades after his death.

The 'Largo Village Book' published in 1932 names both Dr Lumgair and Dr Palm in the section headed 'Distinguished Men of Largo', saying of the latter:

"Dr Palm was a very brilliant student and a wonderfully clever doctor, perfectly unsparing of himself, he rode in all weathers and any distance all over the country.  Summer and winter, day and night, it was the same.  I was told, a few days ago, by one of his patients, who lived in Elie, that once, when her mother was ill, he apologised for being late as he had just come from Kingkettle where he had been called for consultation in a serious case."

Dr Palm died of pneumonia on 29 March 1908 at the age of 51 and was survived by his wife and daughter, Frances. He was missed and mourned by many for a long time after his death.

On Easter Sunday back in 1973 (and quite possibly also other years) a "Dawn Service" was held at the top of Largo Law.  Starting at 6am, around 100 people were met at the summit with bagpipe playing and a bonfire, assembling around a wooden cross.  According to the East Fife Mail of 25 April 1973, the Rev. Douglas Lister, as part of his Easter message, told the gathering:

"For centuries on the headlands of Britain like this, our ancestors, Druids and Norsemen among them, gathered to celebrate the return of Spring and, by bonfires, to send their messages across the land - warnings of danger, signals of victory."

If you ever attended such an occasion up the Law, or if you have memories of rolling eggs down it, or other local Easter-related recollections - please comment.

The origins of the Largo St David's Church, which sits on Lower Largo's Main Street, date back to 1768.  Prior to then, Largo Kirk in Upper Largo was the main place of worship for the Parish.  Disagreement over the selection of a new minister in 1768 led to a group of dissenters leaving Largo Kirk and meeting in open air as an independent church.  This new group, though limited in money and resources, were granted land on which to build by Mr Durham. 

In 1884 a letter was written to the editor of the Dundee Courier, signed "A United Presbyterian Member", and published on 15th November, which relays a tale of the building of the church around 1771, stating... 

"men, women and children were alike zealous, and when the masons towards the end of their day's labours left off their work for the want of material, they were often surprised next morning to find an abundant supply - the men with barrows, the women with their aprons, and children with creels, having procured it for them overnight from the beach which skirts the village."

The original church stood just east of the present building but eventually became too small and no doubt too run-down. The existing church was built 1871-72 and was opened on 17th July 1872.  I've never seen an image or sketch of the old church - if you have seen one, please comment.  The postcard below shows the church just visible above the shore-front houses to the left of centre.  It seems to have lost the very top part of its frontage in more recent times compared to this postcard view.  If you know what happened, please get in touch.

This photograph of the Lundin Golf Clubhouse must surely date from the late 1890s as the building looks so new and the surrounding paths and fences are pristine.  The clubhouse was opened in 1896 and the architect of the building was P.L. Henderson (who also designed the Lundin Links Hotel).  The small building to the left belonged to golf clubmaker Alex Patrick, the brother of fellow clubmaker D.M. Patrick who lived and worked in Golf Road.  The clubhouse itself has, of course, been extended on several occasions since this photograph was taken.  I wonder if any images of the interior the original Victorian building exist.  I'm sure the inside would have been as elegant as the exterior.