The amusing piece from the Fifeshire Advertiser of 3 August 1912 comments on the volume of summer visitors to Fife from the cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh - calling it "an invasion".  Seaside holidays soared in popularity with the expansion of the railway network in the mid-nineteenth century, helped by the firm belief that the sea air and bathing had significant health benefits.  Whether it was a short break or a longer stay for the summer season, there was plenty on offer for the holidaymaker to the Fife Coast.  Pierrot shows, concerts, sporting activities, boating and bazaars were some examples of entertainment to be found.

At the time of the above article, Lundin Links and Largo would have had a significant number of visitors that would take a house let for a month, or two or three months.  Newspapers would print a list of names and addresses of houses for let and bookings might be managed by an agent such as a local shopkeeper (such as Margaret Bremner at the Lundin Links Post Office).  Some families would send luggage on ahead. Fathers might commute to the city during the week.  Some house owners might move in with relatives for the season or cram into an attic or annex in order to capitalise on the demand for holiday accommodation.

It might be less of an invasion these days, but there's no place else I'd rather be at this time of the year - especially if the west coast weather keeps away!

Having written previously about both Dr George Lumgair and Dr Stuart Palm, I would like to turn attention now to the next in the succession of long-serving Largo doctors, namely Dr William Eggeling.  He was in practice in Largo from soon after the death of Dr Palm in March 1908 until his own death in 1946.  It's possible that some people living today may remember Dr Eggeling or at least recall parents or older relatives speaking of him.  If you have any information about him at all, please get in touch by commenting on this post or by using the 'Contact' button - his descendants would love to learn more about him!  

Julius Franz Wilhelm Eggeling was born in London to German parents on 28 October 1873.  When his family moved to Scotland, he was educated at George Watson's College and Edinburgh University.  He obtained an M.A. before going on to study Medicine and Surgery - being awarded his M.B. Ch. B. in 1901.  Seven years later, William filled the gap left by the death of Dr Palm and was living and practising at the Palms' former residence, St Leonard's, on South Feus, Upper Largo. In 1908, at the age of 35, he married Ellis Mitchell Wood.  The photograph above, shows Dr Eggeling probably not long after that on his motorcycle. The couple had four children: William Julius (born 1909), Minnie Anne Annandale (1911), Alfred Homann (1914) and Thomas Frederick (1916).  The family can be seen together in the photograph below. The Doctor had a distinctive car (a British-made G.W.K. - see below) which became well-known in the area and even featured on a popular postcard of Upper Largo at the time.

Dr Eggeling had a challenging time during the First World War, when some highlighted his German descent.  However, his work seems to have been tireless through this period and beyond.  During the Second World War the Eggelings, like many others, took in evacuees from cities threatened by air raids.  In fact, they took a family of five, who stayed longest of all the locally hosted evacuees. Their oldest son would later comment that in all the decades that his father worked in Largo, he only took two holidays that he can recall. 

Sometimes patients could not afford to pay the medical fees but Dr Eggeling would not turn them away.  He was often given gifts instead, for example books.  His daughter-in-law recalled one particular case...

"On one occasion, a motorist crashed his car at the bad corner on the main road between Upper Largo and Lundin Links" and in the resultant accident, bit off the end of his tongue.  He "walked up to the surgery at St Leonard's with the tip of his tongue in his hands.  Dr William Eggeling simply sewed it back on again" and once healed, the tongue was apparently "as good as new"!

There was another story about a man who had an accident near Peat Inn during a severe winter and whose leg was so badly injured that Dr Eggeling had to amputate it back at Largo without anaesthetic (only whisky). Do you know more about these stories or others?

Dr Eggeling died on 23 May 1946, aged 73, while his wife passed only weeks later on 11 July.  The pair are shown in the photograph below in their garden at Upper Largo.

If this information and these photographs stir any recollections of the Eggeling family, please do get in touch.

[With thanks to David Eggeling for sharing the information and images]

The above simple notice, placed in the Fife Herald on 16 February 1837, marked the beginning of a remarkable career and a lasting legacy of medical care in Largo Parish.  Yet, at the time, who could have imagined that the nineteen-year-old medical graduate, originally from Arbroath, would have become, by the time of his death, the oldest of his profession in Fife. Born in 1818, son of linen manufacturer David Lumgair, George left for Edinburgh at a very young age to study medicine at the University and the College of Surgeons.  He seems to have also undertaken some study in St Andrews before settling into a country practice at Upper Largo.  

Initially, Dr Lumgair lodged with Mary Thom and the census of 1841 shows him still lodging with her four years later, living in between George Simpson the tailor and John Marr the grocer on what appears to have been the Main Street. One of the incidents that Dr Lumgair attended during this period was the fatal accident at Lundin Pier when the flory boat carrying people ashore from the St George steamer went down in January 1843. On 14 Nov 1848, George married Frances Hart Beveridge, daughter of the town clerk of Dunfermline, William Beveridge. By this time George was living in 'Largo Cottage' on South Feus, Upper Largo.  The couple are pictured standing outside this house below c1870 (an image which appears in the book 'Seatoun of Largo' by Ivy Jardine).  Here they would live out the rest of their lives.

George and Frances had two daughters - Anna Simpson Beveridge (1849) and Agnes Crawford (1851).  The younger daughter would go on to marry Stuart Palm, who became her father's partner in medical practice before succeeding him. The Palms settled just a few doors along the street at 'St Leonard's'. The photograph above hints at the Lumgairs' interest in horticulture, with their well-tended garden.  Their names crop up in newspaper archives in relation to floral fetes. Dr Lumgair was involved in the Largo Field Naturalists' Society and was at one time president.  Dr Lumgair had to keep horses and had a coachman that worked for him for 23 years - James Cunningham who died in 1877. The advert below shows the doctor advertising a pony for sale.

In 1882 George Lumgair was unanimously elected as the first President of the Fifeshire Medical Association, when it was constituted. He also became a Justice of the Peace around that time. However, on 1 November 1884 Dr Lumgair passed away aged 67 after several months of illness. The Fife Herald quoted the Edinburgh Medical Journal's tribute to his memory the following month...

"For the long period of forty seven years he laboured [in Largo], hardly ever a day off duty, though a great martyr to bronchial asthma....In his practice, his name was indeed a household word, and his bright smile and kindly hopeful manner, won the affection of all classes of his patients as his skillful care commanded their confidence. His professional brethren in this and the neighbouring counties recognised his many-sided ability, and gladly sought his help in consultation....An accurate physician, an able surgeon, and an accomplished accoucheur, his wonderful experience and his extensive knowledge of human nature made him a power far beyond his immediate neighbourhood; and his enthusiasm in this work, and his interest in the welfare of the people amongst whom he spent his life, will not be soon forgotten."

In a recent post, I speculated over what the many huts were visible beyond The Temple at Lower Largo around the 1940s. Well, thanks to some comments from blog readers and some further research, I can confirm that these huts housed poultry as part of Buckthorns Farm.  The above image marks the hen huts and the site of the Viewforth houses on each side of the railway line.  The extract from the 1950 valuation roll for the area (below) shows both the Buckthorns Poultry Farm and the other houses at Viewforth.  By this stage the two houses closest to the sea had been condemned ('Viewforth B' above).  Viewforth of course is a very old site that once was the location of a salt works.  

Amazingly, even plans for the 'hen and duck houses' could be found on-line.  The plan shown below was dated 1910, so poultry must have been kept on the site for upwards of forty years!  The photographs at the foot of this post show the Viewforth site as it is today.

The above multi-view postcard of Upper Largo features a range of familiar views of the area.  I've picked out in detail below the view of the Main Street.  One of the many shops at the time was George Mackie Ltd, the Chemist.  George Mackie had an earlier chemist business in Glasgow on Renfield Street and had lived in Kirkintilloch.  However, he made the move to Fife in 1935, taking over the existing chemist shop from James Bowie.  Mackie lived at 'Lynwood' on Upper Largo's Main Street just a few doors along from the shop (which itself has now been converted into a house).  The Upper Largo chemist business was in fact run by his daughter Miss B. H. Mackie.

George Mackie was "an authority on music, having one of the finest collections of high-class musical recordings in the District", according to the Kirkintilloch Herald, which reported his death on 14 May 1941.  It also noted that Mackie made musical instruments as a hobby and "for some time conducted the Players' Club Orchestra with great success".  He was also an elder at St David's Church.  He was 77 years old when he died.  The Upper Largo Pharmacy continued under his name for many years and it was only in 1975 that the business was wound up.

James Bowie, Mackie's predecessor, had been local chemist throughout the 1920s and early 1930s.  On 25 May 1935, the Fife Free Press reported that "Mr Bowie, who has carried on a chemist's business at Upper Largo for a great many years, is leaving the district.  The premises will be opened soon under new management."  At the foot of this post is an advert from a few months later (1936) and another dating from 1950 about conquering smoking.  Prior to James Bowie there had been a chemist named Peter Cowie in Upper Largo, who had died in 1917 at the age of 46.

This interesting photograph appears in the book 'Fife's Fishing Industry' by Linda McGowan (2003).  It shows the female workers of the Cardy Net Factory in Lower Largo.  The factory started in 1867 - the enterprise of David Gillies. Although the business was extremely successful, and employed around sixty women at 36 looms, it was relatively short-lived.  A decline in fishing saw the works close in 1886.  However, the building still stands, as does the imposing Cardy House behind it (built in 1871 for Gillies).  The house's Victorian interiors were preserved for over a century.

The above postcard image shows a busy beach scene looking from close to The Orry at Lower Largo towards The Temple. Zooming in a little (see below), the left-hand-side of the image shows a beach busy with bathers.  However, on the right-hand-side between the end of The Temple and Viewforth some unusual hut-like structures can be seen scattered about the slope above the railway line.  They appear again in a similar postcard scene shown further below.  What are these? Read on below for my theory.

The above images date from around the 1940s and so I wonder whether these are war-time related buildings.  Perhaps poultry sheds to bolster the supplies of meat and eggs?  Or sheds to house some other livestock?  Maybe they were there for longer than just the duration of the war?  Another view of these structures can be seen in the 1944 aerial photograph below (on the right surrounding the Viewforth buildings).  It shows about a dozen of the sheds - many with worn ground immediately around them.  If you can confirm what these were or have further information - please comment.

Pitcruvie (or Balcruvie as it is sometimes called) Castle, to the north of Lundin Links and Lower Largo adjacent to Keil's Den, is a ruinous grade B listed building. Built on the edge of a steep bank above the Keil Burn, the listing text describes the castle as follows:

"Possibly late 15th century with some reconstruction circa 1500. Ruinous rectangular, rubble built tower with later projecting stair at north west. At south east angle built up entrance at 1st floor level with indications of an earlier projecting stair. 2 intercommunicating ground floor vaulted chambers with trap being only access to 1st floor. Entrance to 1st floor on west elevation, round arched and formerly opening to screens passage. Chimney on east wall of hall barrel vaulted (now gone) inserted, early springing remains. Upper floors now fragmentary."

Furthermore, RCAHMS provide the following description of the castle:
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"This ruined tower has features which suggest that it has at some time been reconstructed though the difference in building style is so slight that it may indicate only changes made during building. The date of the original construction would seem to be a little before 1500. On plan the tower is an oblong lying E-W and measuring 25.5ft by 38.25ft with the remains of a small stair-wing projecting from the north-west angle. It is constructed of dressed stone with rubble filling and is now much weathered." 

The site belonged to a branch of the Ramsay family in the 14th century but became the property of the second Lord Lindsay of the Byres* upon his marriage with the heiress of Pitcruvie. The book 'The East Neuk of Fife - It's History and Antiquities' describes the story of the site's ownership as follows:

"It belonged, in the beginning of the fourteenth century, to a family of the name of Ramsay. Sir John Ramsay's granddaughter, Janet Ramsay, Lady Pitcruvie, married David, second Lord Lindsay of the Byres,....David, Lord Lindsay, died in 1492, and was succeeded by his brother John, who died without issue in 1497, and the title then came to Patrick, who, in 1498, has a charter of Pitcruvie for himself and his wife ; and his son John was styled Lindsay of Pitcruvie, whence we gather that Janet Ramsay had brought the lands of Pitcruvie into the Lindsay family. It was, with other lands, erected into the barony of Pitcruvie, and remained long in possession of their descendants. In or about 1650 Lord Crawford was obliged to sell Pitcruvie to James Watson of Aithernie. Soon after we find it in the hands of Arnot of Fernie ; and it now forms part of the estate of Largo."

 *Byres is located close to Haddington in East Lothian

Below are some pencil drawings of Pitcruive Castle done in 1838 by Alexander Archer, which show it in broadly the same state as it remains today.