​The above 1920s photograph shows James Harris and Sons' 'Central Garage' on Upper Largo's Main Street, with a rather splendid vehicle emerging from the main entrance. The photograph is part of a larger advertisement (see foot of post) that appeared in the 'Guide to the Kingdom of Fife' by Andrew S. Cunningham. At the time the garage boasted space for 20 cars, a kerbside petrol pump, closed and open motors for hire as well as lorries and a charabanc.

James Harris was born in Collessie in 1869. While working as a coal miner, he met and married Helen Evans of Dunfermline in 1891. They settled in Largo, where James's occupations included carrier, coal contractor and a hirer of horse-drawn vehicles. By 1911 he operated one of Fife's first motor hire services. Later he became a pioneer of motor coach services. Circa 1921, with an expanding business and seven children, James converted the buildings shown above (once the site of an early 19th century brewery) into the garage, which he ran with his sons James, William and Benjamin.

In 1925, James opened a large garage on Commercial Road in Leven. The two-centred business thrived and, by the 1930s, the family operation had diversified to include a Buckhaven to St Andrews bus service and wide-ranging motor coach tours - see advert below from 24 July 1934 Leven Advertiser. The piece further below from the 30 November 1937 Leven Advertiser reflects the success and popularity of Harris and Sons, with 200 people attending the annual staff dance that year. 
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The 12 August 1987 Dundee Courier ran a piece headlined 'Expanding business in restoring MGs', illustrated with the above picture, about Mercury Motors on Largo Road, Lundin Links. Originally Jimmy Horne's 'Lundin Links Service Station', the building changed name around four decades ago. The Courier article remarked upon how staff numbers at the garage had risen from two to nineteen over four years as demand had risen for 'modern classics'. Specialising in the MG sports car, especially the MGB, enquires came in to Mercury Motors from all over the UK and parts of Europe. The marque had ceased production in 1981 and their popularity among collectors was rising. The garage tracked down old neglected examples and had the ability to completely rebuild these cars and offer 'as new' models.

1987 was the 25th anniversary of the first MGB. Cars produced by Mercury Motors could be "built to customers' individual requirements....stripped right down to the last nut and bolt". Virtually every component of the car could be replaced or reconditioned. Owner Ian Forgan (who started buying and selling cars in Kinghorn in 1973) said that "from start to finish it takes about eight weeks of solid work to produce one car but by the time it leaves here it will be almost as good as the day it left the factory."

The business is still going strong and still run by the Forgan family, although renamed 'Mercury Motorsport' in recent times. The business's current website states:

"Founded in 1973, Mercury are the longest established Classic Car Sales, Restoration and Repair business in Scotland. Our reputation for technical excellence and customer care is well renowned by proud classic car owners from across Britain and Europe. 

We are delighted to help you look after your cherished classic car be it for a straightforward MOT test, service, those little jobs that require a ramp, welding rebuild and restoration work.

We are also proud to offer our Build to Order facility which has expanded to meet the needs of those customers who are unable to find exactly what they're looking for using more traditional methods and instead prefer the alternative of purchasing the Classic Car they have always promised themselves - built entirely to their own detailed specification.  Primarily for classic MG and Classic Fords but we will consider rebuilding any classic car."

The wonderful photograph below (which was found on the Mercury Motorsport Facebook page) shows the garage I recall from my youth, with a long row of MG cars for sale. I certainly find it interesting that this modern business would not exist in its current location had it not been for the chain of events tracing back to the creation of the Claremont Garage back in 1908 and in particular the vision that Jimmy Horne had in the 1950s to move from Corner Garage to the new site in front of Largo House.
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The previous post featured 'Claremont Garage' at the corner of Largo Road, close to the junction with Cupar Road. Set up in the 1900s, this early motor garage paved the way for later Lundin Links garages. In the 1940s, James Crawford Horne (Jimmy Horne) revived the garage after the building had been used as a laundry, renaming it 'Corner Garage'. The above photograph, dating from 1964, shows the garage on the right hand side (as seen from the garden of Ernest Cottage). Note the garage frontage, which no longer exists today, as it was destroyed by fire later on in the 1960s. 

​The listing below from the 3 August 1949 Dundee Courier shows that Horne's Corner Garage was fully established by that date. By 1956 Horne had had plans drawn up for a bigger and better garage - or 'service station' - further along the Largo Road close to the newly abandoned Largo House. The images of the architect drawings further below show that this was designed to be a modern, purpose-built facility to meet the needs of the growing number of motorists - a step-up from the old garage that was built for the days when few owned a motorised vehicle.

The site and footprint of the new building are worth noting. The location, on a straight stretch of road, was far more visible to passing traffic and had room for expansion. The unusual tapering shape of the site reflected the plan to build a by-pass road behind the garage. Its intended path is shown in the map below, marked 'future trunk road'. This road never came to fruition despite years of discussion and planning.  
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The layout plan above shows a block of 5 lock-ups on the left and the garage and office block to their right. A two pump island with flood light sits in front between two access points from the main road. Below is the plan of the garage block, which comprised workshop space plus a store and an office/shop (with display shelves). It must have all seemed very modern at the time - does anyone recall the early days of this garage?

Meanwhile the old Corner Garage continued under new management once Jimmy Horne had relocated. The advert for it below dates to the 13 March 1968 East Fife Mail.  Over the decades it has changed use and ownership multiple times - services based there have included spray painting, cold store installation and a builder's workshop.
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The 8 September 1909 Leven Advertiser ran the above advert for John and David Hay's Claremont Garage in Lundin Links. This was located close to the corner of Largo Road at the Cupar Road junction and can be seen in the recent image at the top of this post. Like Wishart's in Upper Largo this was an early motor garage plus cycle works - looking after the need of early adopters of the motor car while still servicing more manual means of transport. Another example of an advert for the business is below from the 24 Aug 1910 Leven Advertiser. Note that they were agents for Darracq Motor Cars and 
Royal Enfield. There were also private lock-up garages to let, given that few people would have had a garage at their own house. Also, cycles could be hired - no doubt something that summer visitors would have taken advantage of.

The name 'Claremont Garage' came from one of the semi-detached villas neighbouring the garage, which John Hay resided in (marked '1' on the map below). Hay rented both the house and the garage from proprietor William Clayton. William's father, Robert Clayton, a wool spinning business owner, had retired to Lundin Mill in 1880 and had purchased 'Hallwells'. The large plot of land that Hallwells sat on was developed over time, eventually incorporating the garage, the two semi-detached villas and other cottages and outbuildings. The 1964 map below shows the buildings in question and their nearest neighbours.

In 1915 John Hay died at the age of 36 and the garage was advertised for let. By that time, the First World War had begun. The garage lay empty and in 1917 owner William Clayton, a marine engineer, was killed. He was one of fourteen to lose their lives on a cargo ship named 'Barnton' when it was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine in the Bay of Biscay on 24 April 1917.  The cargo steamer had been carrying iron ore from Bilbao to the Tyne.  The inscription 'Mar. Ch. Eng. W Clayton' appears on the Largo War Memorial.
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1. Claremont (house)
2. Aviemore (house)
3. Claremont Garage (later Clayton's Garage, then Corner Garage)
4. Hallwells
5. Ernest Cottage
​6. Keilside Bakery

Not long after the war ended, the garage was restarted by William Clayton's son, Thomas. The advert below announcing it open appeared in the 25 March 1920 Leven Advertiser. Another advert below dates to July of the same year. Thomas Clayton was aged only twenty at this time. The garage still hired out cycles and also re-tyred prams and had a Daimler Landaulette for hire. 
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Also around this time, Thomas Clayton and his brothers developed a love of film and entertainment and soon went on to run the La Scala cinema and entertainment on the Pier at Lower Largo. The valuation rolls indicate the changing use and ownership of the garage building thereafter. While it was still described as a workshop run by Bill Clayton in 1925, by 1930 the Claytons had sold the garage and it was let by the new owner to Daniel Ramage (who also operated a bus service and ran the Upper Largo garage for a spell). It had acquired a petrol pump by 1930. Ramage moved on in 1934 and the garage was unlet in 1935. In 1936 the building became the Lundin Links Laundry, run by William Mann. However, the Second World War cut this enterprise short, with William Mann joining the RAF for a spell and not resuming the laundry business post war.

Around the end of World War Two, the building returned to use as a garage, when Jimmy Horne took it over - more on that in the next post.
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A few months ago I was contacted by someone who had come across the hand-painted buttons shown in the image above while going through family belongings. They are mounted on a piece of card upon which is written:

Largo, Fife. Miss Lyons. Heatherlie, Lundin Links.

A date on the back states 1923 and to the side is written: H.T. Lyons, Largo W.R.I.

With a bit of detective work, some information about the origins of these artistic buttons has been put together. Firstly, the house named Heatherlie still exists (with the same name) on Crescent Road. Heatherlie is in the centre in the photo below, behind the lamp post (with Aldersyde to its right). Secondly, the creator of the buttons was Helen Thomson Lyons, who lived at Heatherlie at the time with her parents Daniel Lyons (who was originally from New York, USA) and Janet (nee Thomson). Helen Lyons would have been aged about 18 when she made these buttons. Both she and her mother were very active in the Scottish Women’s Rural Institute (W.R.I.) in the 1920s and were members of the Largo branch. 

The S.W.R.I. was (and still is) about sharing and developing skills, including handicrafts. Many competitions took place at different geographical levels, covering all manner of categories. Clearly, in 1923 there was a category at one event for button making and the young Helen Lyons entered as a member of Largo W.R.I. How these have managed to survive in such good condition almost a century later and still neatly mounted on their competition label is unclear but they provide a small insight into the care that went into just a single entry in a single category at just one of the thousands of events that must have taken place during this era. Below is an example from the newspaper archives (15 July 1924 Leven Advertiser) showing that Helen was active in the W.R.I. at the time.

Helen went on to become a nurse and to marry a Dr George Bradbury in 1930. He was from Tunstall in Yorkshire and they settled in England, including time in Sheffield. Below is another example of the ingenuity of the W.R.I. members in the sphere of handicrafts. From the 1931 Fife News Almanac, this feature showcases the Fife W.R.I. turning their hands to upholstery. Long-time leader of the Largo W.R.I., Evelyn Baxter is in the photograph below along with other Largo members, Miss Syme and Miss Burns. The Largo W.R.I. reached their centenary in 2018. 

One of the summer attractions of days gone by were 'games' that took place at many a town or village. For a spell Largo/Lundin Mill had its own version of this. The above notice from 11 July 1907 Leven Advertiser advertises that particular year's event. The venue was Sandilands Park (close to the east end of Leven Road) - a site which was handy for the railway station and which at that time was still undeveloped. The 25 July 1890 East of Fife Record below reports on an earlier games, held at a similar location ("ground near Lundin Links station"). Some results are detailed for the wide range of contests that were on offer. As well as the more serious athletic contests, races for 'old men' and 'old women' were held. It doesn't sound quite right for these to be described as "particularly amusing"! I also wonder how old you had to be to qualify for these 'old' folks races.

The origins of the games are unclear but in 1888, the newspapers reported on the case of a man who was charged with "collecting funds for the Lundin Mill Games....all of which funds he had appropriated for his own uses." Apparently it had been "for some years practice to have annual games at Lundin Mill but this year there were no such games." The prisoner had spent the money drinking with a number of companions. His sentence was 10 days in prison. So the games perhaps went back to at least circa 1870s. Newspaper archives tell us that the games restarted in 1889 and definitely took place in 1890 and 1897. In 1897 the games took place on the "green in front of Lundin Mill villas", which was the undeveloped south side of Crescent Road - shown below and discussed here. The games must have lapsed again soon afterwards, as in 1904 the Leven Advertiser of 1 September told of how they had once again been "revived" and that "local lads and visitors met in keen rivalry". However, as the village grew, and permanent sporting facilities (such as tennis and bowls) were laid on, the demand for such 'games' diminished and they fizzled out in their traditional format.