Above is a 'then and now' comparison of the west end of Lower Largo's Main Street. In the black and white 1960s view, cars are parked on the left side of the street, leaving the right side clear for pedestrians. Nowadays cars only park on the right and spaces are generally at a premium. Several attics have been converted during the period between the two pictures, with dormer windows added to a few homes. In the middle distance, the height of Alexandra House (where the Rio Cafe was) has increased over time. That extra storey was added in 1965, dating the postcard to before then. The Crusoe Hotel comes into view at the end of the street then and now.

Close inspection of the detail in the distance reveals the 'Wall's' ice-cream sign that hung outside Potter's Newsagent on Defoe Place. There newspapers, groceries and postcards were on sale and there was a Post Office and a public telephone inside. In fact, the early 1960s postcard featured was probably bought from this shop, as the sender was based directly over the street at Edina View (where a cross marks their location). The reverse side of the postcard is shown below. It is stamped 22 August 1967 and was sent to Kent.  An X marks the 'boys bedroom' in the upper flat within Edina View, The message reads:

This is a new card I have got - not great but it shows the back of our house. Weather just grand - only 3 wet days so far. On the beach since 10am this morning except for lunch time at Crusoe. Just off to phone you and it is still glorious. Bob off today, Mr and Mrs L here for 10 days. Love to all, Muriel and gang.

It sounds very much like a holiday maker that is writing but the birth notice below from the Leven Mail in December 1961 suggests that Bob and Muriel were full-time residents of 2 Edina View. 
​

Annotated in the image below are Edina View (1), Rock View (2) and Beach House (3). These flats had long been a popular venue for summer visitors, having been built for Andrew Selkirk in phases circa 1890, on the site of some old and run down properties. Lists of summer visitors - like the example further below from 25 August 1898 Leven Advertiser - show their popularity at the time with folks escaping the city for a few weeks. 
​

At first glance, the front elevation of the clubhouse of the Lundin Ladies Golf Club has changed very little from the 1897 drawing above. In fact, a few changes have occurred over the years, including the removal of the veranda's decorative balustrade, the enlargement of the windows, the repositioning of the front door and an extension to both the left and rear. The 10 May 1897 Dundee Advertiser announced the original construction of the building was underway. Details were provided of the internal layout and the contractors involved in the works (see below). 

The photograph above shows the clubhouse on its original site, with many smartly-attired lady golfers congregated around the veranda. The Ladies Club was based at this location until 1909 when the clubhouse and ladies course were relocated to 'Standing Stanes Park'. The minutes of the 12 November committee meeting stated that "It was arranged to have the Club-House lifted from the present Links to the new Ladies Links at once." The piece below from the 24 November Leven Advertiser confirms the removal of the pavilion. 
​

The proximity of the new links to the houses on Leven Road resulted in some complaints about balls going over garden walls. The note above from the 30th March 1910 committee meeting notes this issue (and the fact that some players even ventured over the wall into gardens). The solution was "to have barbed wire put up on the wall". The official opening of the new course took place on 15 April 1910 and the following year a house was built for the greenkeeper (seen to the right of the postcard view below).
​

In 1998, substantial alterations were carried out to the clubhouse, building out to the rear as shown in the images above and below. The front windows were also lowered, to enhance the view of the course from inside. The club house was now fit to face the new millennium. It continues to stand the test of time and remains a hub of activity. Find out more about the club today here: ​lundinladiesgolfclub.co.uk/
​

The Fairy Bridge crosses the Keil Burn at the north end of Keil's Den, just south Balmain Farm and north of Pitcruvie Castle. The map below from 1857 shows that it was once between two quarries, suggesting both the reason for its creation and the source of the stone from which it was constructed. It is linked to the road that passes Auchindownie by a short farm track. The origins of the 'Fairy Bridge' name are discussed in the 1931 book 'Bygone Fife', where James Wilkie writes of the traditions, legends and folklore of the Kingdom. He describes Keil's Den as "that notorious haunt of witches" and "a haunt of fairies as well as witches". Referring to the fairies, he continues:

"They held their revels on the green haugh at the northern end, where the ruins of the castle, once a stronghold of the Lindsays of Pitcruvie, or the Byres, look down on the Keil Burn. The bridge that spans the stream is still known as the Fairy Bridge".
​

The ambiguity around the age of the stone bridge is also touched upon by Wilkie. 

"Over the Fairy Bridge, whensoever and by whomsoever erected, the wayfarer may pass out of the haunted den to farms so well known in mystic lore as Balmain and Fairyfield, and climb the slopes of Norrie's Law, where the herd blew his fatal blast and foiled the attempt to solve the riddle of the buried treasure. There still lingers a vague memory of the days when the retainers in Pitcruvie Castle crossed the bridge to the spot where they exercised in arms....In fairyland seven years are as three days; time is after all an arbitrary conception, and it is difficult to fix dates dealt with in tradition. So the age of the bridge may be left to the imagination."

However, Wilkie also notes that this was the site of an earlier timber bridge. A wooden bridge was certainly built in the vicinity in 1760. It is recorded in the minutes of the Kirk Session that local wright, James Murray was paid £10, 13s, 4d for its construction. A footnote in Wilkie's book tells us that the name of Fairyfield Farm was changed, as the fairies "shrink from direct mention". The photograph below of the bridge was captured by local chemist Peter Cowie, who was also a keen photographer, like many in that profession at the time.
​

The free-stone quarry by the Fairy Bridge was the source of the stone use to build the present Wood's Hospital (also known as John Wood's Houses) in Upper Largo. The advert above from 1831 is for the sale of the quarry after completion of the hospital. So the bridge must be older than that date. It's intriguing to imagine horses with loads of quarried stone navigating the bridge, as it made its way south to Kirkton of Largo for the construction of imposing James Leslie designed building (see map below for context and image of Wood's Hospital further below). There was said to be a stone on the bridge which states that it was restored by General James Durham in 1836.

The 'Suggested Walks and Places of Interest' pamphlet by Largo Field Studies Society describes the walk to the Fairy Bridge as follows...

From Upper Largo "take the road past the school. Go straight on at the cross road, downhill and across the road bridge over the Keil Burn. On the right view the remains of Pitcruvie Castle. Follow the road until the wood ends on the right. In spring a track skirting what was the wooded area can be traced to the Fairy Bridge but in summer it is liable to be overgrown."

This booklet also notes that the bridge was said to have been used by cadgers taking fish from Anstruther and other places in the East Neuk to the Royal Palace in Falkland, when the King was in residence. Whether that is true or not, the bridge is on the direct route as the crow flies from Anstruther to Falkland. The postcard image below suggests that the Fairy Bridge once provided a handy vantage point for recreational fishing. Nowadays access to the spot is more challenging, adding to the mystery of this forgotten source of folklore.
​

The Belmont Temperance Hotel, pictured in the centre of the image above, once stood adjacent to Largo railway station. The snippet above from the 8 August 1890 East of Fife Record, details the circumstances that would eventually lead to the building of the hotel. The piece highlighted the "enormous" demand for accommodation in Largo but also pointed out the lack of options for those looking for only a short stay. While a couple of hotels existed, these had a small number of rooms, plus, these were "licensed premises" and many visitors at the time would have objected to that. 

The temperance movement, which encouraged abstinence from alcohol, had been established for decades. The local lodge of the Independent Order of Good Templars - the Robinson Crusoe Lodge - had been established in 1872 and was still very active in 1890. Lundin Mill had once had its own small Temperance Hotel. Against this backdrop, a proposal was made to build a new temperance hotel. Specifically, it was to be close to the beach at Lower Largo. By the summer of 1890 it was thought that a suitable site at Drummochy had been identified. However, that particular plan did not come to fruition and teetotal visitors had to wait a little longer.

There was no record of a temperance hotel in the census of 1891 but by July 1893, the local papers were listing summer visitors staying at the Belmont Temperance Hotel on its elevated position between Largo Station and the north side of Main Street. A storm in August 1893 resulted in a Norwegian vessel running aground at the Temple. Her crew were given hospitality at the Belmont Hotel under the care of hotelkeeper Mary Carswell. The 1895 valuation roll shows that Andrew Masterton, joiner, was the property owner, suggesting that he was responsible for its construction. 

​

The 1 April 1903 Scotsman newspaper ran the small advert above stating that the hotel was "under new management". A W Urquhart was named as proprietor. However, by 1906, it was all change once again when there was another auction of furniture from the hotel (see notice below from 26 April 1906 Leven Advertiser).

Finally, a period of stability began when Miss Margaret Pippet Sawyer and Miss Mary Elizabeth Sawyer took over the Belmont in 1906. The sisters were born in the English coastal town of South Shields and were daughters of a mariner turned hotelier. Before coming to Largo they had lived in both Leith and North Berwick (where the family had run a temperance hotel). The article above detailed one of their early bookings at the Belmont - a tea party for a temperance group (30 June 1906 Fife Free Press). The advert below dates to their era. At the time that the 1911 census was taken, a 29-year-old Margaret Sawyer (also known as Marguerite) was the only resident at the Belmont Hotel. She and her sister later moved to Elie, where they ran various holiday accommodation over the years, both eventually marrying.

The 1920 valuation roll had Mrs J MacDougall and Miss J MacDougall as tenants with Catherine Clayton still the property owner. The 1921 census tells us that this was Jessie MacDougall and her daughter Jessie Mary. Also present for the census were four visitors and a servant (house and table maid). In December 1921 the wedding reception of the only daughter of the minister of Largo Baptist Church, Rev. Pulford, took place at the hotel. The hotel was advertised for sale in both 1920 and in 1922 (but apparently never sold as Catherine Clayton was still listed as owner in 1925). 

By summer of 1923 the hotel was under new management with Hugh and Janet McLean taking over the reins. During their time in charge, the Scottish colourist George Leslie Hunter was a guest on more than one occasion. Hunter's choice of a Temperance hotel is significant as his friend, art dealer and biographer, Dr Tom J Honeyman was a big supporter of the Temperance Movement. It's fascinating to imagine such a well-known artist producing familiar artworks featuring local scenes from this base - his hotel room full of his art materials, rough sketches and works in progress. 

​The story of the Belmont came to an abrupt end in the early hours of Friday 22 January 1926, when the hotel was gutted by fire. Only Hugh and Janet McLean and their child were occupying the hotel at the time. The "magnitude of the blaze attracted many spectators" in what was a unique spectacle for Largo. Later the same day the report below appeared in the Dundee Evening Telegraph.
​

The side by side maps below show the hotel in 1912 when still standing (left) and the equivalent site in the 1960s (right) when the empty outline of the shell of the building was still marked on maps. The hotel building outline with its sea-facing bay windows is in the centre of the map extracts (below the F.B. which marks the foot bridge over the railway line). Further below are images of some traces of the old hotel which remain on the foot path up to the car park at the old station. A modern private dwelling, aptly named Belmont House, now occupies the plot of the former hotel.
​