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The station at Largo was often awarded prizes for 'best kept' station over the years.  The above photograph of the station garden (looking east towards the signal box and beyond) demonstrates why this was the case.  The year was 1932 and Largo had won the highest honour of best station in Scotland!  The Dundee Evening Telegraph of 14 September commented upon the beautiful flower beds, which were carefully tended by stationmaster Mr Peter D. Low (left) and his assistants, Mr Melville (centre) and Mr Wilson (at rear). ​Note the sundial to the right of Mr Wilson.  This was shell-covered and was created by former stationmaster James Hope Young in the 1920s.  There was also a shell-covered model of the Flying Scotsman at one time. 

In 1934 Mr Low won first prize again, with the Fife Free Press (22 Sept) noting that he was assisted by other station staff, Messrs Wishart, Melville, Wilson and Storrar. By 1935, the same newspaper (5 Oct) commented upon the pride that Largo residents must feel at their stations record of prize winning. Another first-class prize had been won that year under new stationmaster Mr Alexander R. Thomson.  The article stated that:

"During the last ten years, five special and five first-class awards have been recorded. In 1926, 1927 and 1928, Mr J. H. Young, then stationmaster, obtained one special and two first-class awards. Mr Young is now retired and resides in Lundin Links, where he still pursues his favourite hobby - gardening.  Four special awards and two first-class awards were secured from 1929 to 1934 inclusive. Mr P.D. Low was stationmaster during that period....Largo had indeed been fortunate in having railway officials taking a special pride in the appearance of the station gardens and premises."

Peter Low (pictured below) was Largo stationmaster for six years, succeeding James Young in 1929 and moving to Newburgh in 1935. Mr Low (who had started with the railways in 1902 as a boy messenger) won further prizes at Newburgh, where he retired from in 1949. Alexander Thomson was stationmaster at Largo from 1935 until 1940.

A pair of railway stations shots today.  Above is an unusual view of Largo Station. The photographer would have had their back to the viaduct and is looking down the track as it splits.  The main track is on the right and the sidings to the left. The passing loop was added to Largo Station in 1894. Houses of Station Park are seen in the distance on the left side of the station buildings.  The footbridge over the tracks is a more modern-looking one that that seen in many old station images.

​Below is Lundin Links Station, looking east down the line that leads to Largo.  An advert for 'The Scotsman' can be seen under the large 'Lundin Links' sign. Neither image is dated but I would assume these date to the final few years of the railway era in Largo.

The notion of a Temperance Hotel arose from the temperance movement, which had gathered momentum from the 1830s. The traveller who preferred to avoid alcoholic drink could be supplied with 'harmless' beverages such as milk, tea, coffee or water and be accommodated in a 'respectable' house. The idea grew that 'temperate persons' needed beds and stabling in establishments other than the traditional inns. Temperance Hotels sprung up across the country, and Lundin Mill was no exception.  

The above advert was in the 1866 Westwood's Directory and describes the establishment that would go on to be known as the Temperance Hotel, as the 'Temperance Refreshment Rooms'.  In fact, at that date there were two such ventures in Lundin Mill - one run by David McEwan (who was also a General Dealer) and the other by Alex Pattie.  The latter may have been short-lived, as I can find no other reference to it and have no idea where it was located.  A little more is, however, known about David McEwan's business. He moved to Lundin Mill from Auchtermuchty in the mid-1860s.  In the 1871 census, David was recorded as 'General Dealer and Temperance Hotel Keeper' in the village, assisted by his wife and the eldest of his children. As the 1871 census did not record addresses in any detail, it is difficult to pin-point the location of the Temperance Hotel.  It appears to have been somewhere along Largo Road. Potential sites are either at Bridge House (A), where he had a shop, or up-hill close to the junction with the Cupar Road (B) at a house with attached stabling. The annotated photograph below marks these two sites.

From around 1830 for about a century, temperance was a major political and social issue.  The issue of the tight control, or even total abolition, of alcohol was one that divided society.  Evidence of that division was apparent in Largo in 1837, when the Second Statistical Account of Scotland recorded (using the words of Rev. Robert Brown) that in Largo Parish there were "four inns and sixteen licensed ale-houses...the latter are much more numerous than necessary, and unquestionably have a pernicious influence on the morals of many of the people".  Early temperance societies opposed the drinking of spirits, while believing that to drink beer or wine in moderation was acceptable. Later, however, many 'Total Abstinence Societies' appeared. 

The 'Largo and Lundin Mill Total Abstinence Society' was in existence by the start of 1839. The Fife Herald reported (24 January that year) on the Society's "first soiree" held on Old Handsel Monday.  This event was almost scuppered when the difficulty that many temperance and abstinence societies had  - finding a suitable venue for an event, given that the only public meeting places were often inns and public houses - occurred when the Lundin Mill Subscription School (ie the old Emsdorf School) had refused to accommodate them.  

However, the day was saved when "Mr Leslie, mill spinner, in the most handsome manner, granted his large wareroom" (ie the storage area of the spinning mill at Lower Largo). 260 people attended for "tea and other suitable refreshments", to listen to speeches, and to enjoy music from the Largo and Lundin Mill Instrumental Band as well as songs performed by some of the females present.  Finally, "dancing commenced about 10 o'clock, and was kept up with great spirit until five in the morning.  Three hearty cheers were given for Mr Leslie, for his kindness in granting his wareroom on this occasion."

The challenge of access to suitable venues was a national one and the movement generated over time a significant number of 'Temperance Halls'.  In Largo Parish. most events took place outdoors or in one of the school rooms, until the aspiration to have a dedicated hall under the temperance banner was finally achieved in 1886.  After much fund-raising activity, a "very substantial brick building" was erected by local builder Robert Gilchrist (see image above).  The Fife Herald of 18 August 1886 stated that this had been "opened two or three months ago...at a cost of around £300 by the members of the Robinson Crusoe Lodge of Good Templars. In addition to being used by the Lodge for their ordinary meetings, it is to be available for meetings of "a good, moral and religious purpose"." By 1900, every town, and many villages, had their own temperance hall.  

Although the temperance movement died out long ago, some of the buildings associated with it have been left behind as a reminder.  The Temperance Hall in Lundin Mill (until recently the Crusoe Hall) at Mill Wynd is a legacy from this era. Aside from the desire to have suitable venues for meetings and soirees, it became clear early on that the temperance movement also needed to offer accommodation for travellers - an alternative to the inns and public houses.  The next post will look at the concept of the Temperance House, or Temperance Hotel....one of which Lundin Mill also had.

The basic process of crushing the seeds involved edge runner stones (see images above) moving around a central shaft to crush or bruise the seed before they were heated in a kettle (large metal vat) and then pressed (see further images below). The water wheel, supplemented by a steam boiler, was used to drive the milling and pressing machinery.  Some mills would have had their own cooperage, machinery repair department and joiner’s shop. We know that at one time there was a joiner at the Largo mill who made wooden wrappers for the cakes (see memoirs of former employee David Wallace).  Large storage areas would be required for the bags of seed, the barrels and the cakes.

As far as I know, there are no photographs of the interior of the old mill at Lower Largo from the days when it was still operational (if you know differently, please comment).  So the best clues as to the interior layout come from images such as the one above (taken by Cowie in the late 1930s), when the mill was disused and roofless. The most notable features above are the parallel gables to the right of the main mill building, with half the roof remaining above them.  Below this would have been the water-wheel pit. The fact that the front wall and lower roof here have been carefully removed, suggests that the water-wheel itself was removed with care - perhaps for reuse at another site. The water-wheel may have originally been exposed, with the right-most part of the building added later to enclose it (during various improvements to the mill during the 1810s and 1820s). The photograph at the foot of this post shows the wheel pit in 1982, at the time of the development of Seatoun Place, and shows the scale of this feature perfectly.

Aside from that, the image above gives a great impression of the number of windows in the main building and the relative location of the Manager's House to the rear (ie the white house to left of the chimney). Note also the raised feature at the top of the right hand gable of the main mill building (above water-wheel) was a bell tower, using for calling the workforce. In the foreground on the left is the old 'heckle house'. To the front of the main building is the area where loading and unloading would take place by both boat and cart. Note in the distance is the old hen farm on the site of the present Lundin Mill Primary School.  In the next post we'll look at the type of machinery that would have been inside the mill.

The above plan of the site of the mill, once situated by Lower Largo Harbour, is based upon the 1912 OS Map. The mill site existed long before then, of course, and it evolved a fair bit over time, with individual buildings being altered, adapted or replaced, as the nature of the businesses that occupied the site changed. However, the above illustration shows the three main buildings within the complex, as well as some additional structures.  The numbered features are as follows:

1. One of the oldest buildings in the complex, which latterly housed a gas works and forge
2. Spinning Mill built 1798 and converted to Oil and Cake Mill circa 1861 (note 2 square extensions to rear built 1877)
3. One time 'Heckle House' (where flax was teased and combed out) with upstairs 'Counting House'
4. Manager's (or Overseer's) House
5. Mill Dam - with sluices marked left and right with dotted lines*
6. Building erected 1907 at the same time as a gas engine was installed at the mill
7. Course of the ford used by vehicles to cross Keil Burn prior to building of road bridge
8. Railway Viaduct (completed 1857)
9. Footbridge
​10. Site of flax warehouse (pre-railway line) which would have had ford access from a ramp at edge of burn

* dotted lines show route of tunnels, the longest of which feeds the water wheel within building 2

The site was clearly well-placed, next to the point where the Keil Burn flows into Lower Largo Harbour, next to the road that connects the village to the main road at the top of Harbour Wynd and, eventually, next to Largo Railway Station. There was probably activity on this site long before existing records can prove. A brewery pre-dated the spinning mill, as did a lint mill. This blog has covered the early history of the 1798 mill before.  In 1801, in addition to newly-built main building, there were also: a Malts Mill and Thirlage, a Waulk or Plash Mill (where cloth was cleaned and thickened), Ware-room, Heckle-house, Wright's Shop, Stable and Byre, as well as a Manager's House.

We have also looked before at how the mill evolved during the first half of the 19th century, before, ironically, falling out of use just as the railway line was about to reach Largo. Also covered previously, was the conversion of the mill into David Russell's Oil and Cake Mill. The reason for revisiting the subject is to better describe the geography of the site and to provide a frame of reference for a series of future posts on the transformation of the site after the old mill buildings were finally demolished in the late 1930s.

The image below shows the mill complex c1909 and shows, from left to right, buildings 1, 2 and 3 noted above. This image is featured on p84 of the book 'Largo - An Illustrated History' by Eunson and Band (2000).  

With thanks to John Band for additional information regarding the mill site.

This postcard view of Lundin LInks Beach dates to before 1916 (the year it was posted). There's so much going on in this picture - the five boys and their toy boat in the foreground, the beach huts at the edge of the sand being used by the many beach-goers there that day, and the houses in the distance above the Massney Braes.  The Crescent Road houses named Glenairlie (formerly Murree Lodge), Bourtree Brae and Westcliffe/Seacliffe are visible, as are the houses at the junction of Emsdorf Road and Drummochy Road (above the railway bridge), and part of Woodlands Road to the right of that.  The detail below shows just how busy the beach could get a century ago.

This detail from an early 1930s postcard shows quite clearly the parade of shops on Leven Road, Lundin Links.  There's a lot going on in the scene - the boy with golf clubs, someone walking a dog, umbrellas hanging outside a shop, a car and motorbike parked up and the price boards propped up on the wall. Working from left to right, we have the Post Office, the National Bank of Scotland, the butcher, Somerville the grocer, the British Linen Bank, Mrs Gulland's drapers, Lundie Tearooms (owned by Mrs Gulland's daughter, Louisa May) and the Commercial Bank. At this time, the sub-postmaster was J.L. Duncan and the butcher's was in the hands of Thomas Alexander Borthwick. The presence of three banks within such a short stretch in a village was unusual. Now of course there are none left. Below is a notice from just weeks into World War Two, when all three banks restricted their opening hours (Fife Free press 21 October 1939).

Many readers of this blog will already be familiar with the life story of Margaret Bethune.  Her remarkable career as local midwife and her meticulous record-keeping have been documented elsewhere. Nevertheless, this site would not be complete without the inclusion of her story. Margaret Peebles was born in Largo in 1820. She married William Bethune in early 1844 and together they had two children, Margaret and William. The family were living in Lundin Mill when William senior, a coal miner at Carlhurlie, was killed in an accident at work.  The Fife Herald of 17 June 1852 described what happened:

"On Friday forenoon, William Bethune, a miner, residing at Lundin Mill, was found lying dead in a coal-pit to the north-ward of that village; part of the roof of the pit having fallen down upon him while occupied in excavating the coal. He was a sober and industrious man, in the vigour of life, and was an elder of the United Presbyterian Congregation, here. He was about to leave off the occupation of a miner, and commence shop-keeping, but this melancholy and fatal accident has ended all his plans and earthly prospects. His death is universally deplored, while he has left a widow and two children to lament his untimely fate."

While anyone reading those words would quite rightly feel great sympathy for William's widow, few would have imagined the strength of character that would motivate Margaret Bethune to do what she did next. By the end of the same year, at the age of 34, Margaret was enrolled in the midwifery course at the Chalmers Lying-In Hospital in Edinburgh. This was during the era of the legendary Edinburgh-based obstetrician,  James Young Simpson, who had discovered chloroform in 1847 and who pioneered several other advances in obstetrics.

Early in 1853, Margaret returned to Largo, ready to begin putting her training into practice.  From the first birth she attended, on 27 February 1853, a careful record was kept of each new arrival. Her casebook would go on to record 1,296 births and it is preserved to this day in Register House in Edinburgh. It is the oldest surviving record of its kind and pre-dates the 1855 law which required the statutory recording of all births. Below is an example of a page from her records. The columns show: case number; mother's name; place of residence; hour in the day; number of the pregnancy; sex of the child; the date; and the outcome.

Today it is difficult to imagine what the life of a midwife would have been like a century and a half ago. In the days before telephones, cars, electricity and such like, the practicalities of even contacting the midwife and of her travelling to the mother-to-be would have been challenging.  I imagine Margaret Bethune would have known the mothers-to-be well and would keep close tabs on the progress of their pregnancies. Yet, she would have to be prepared at all times for the unexpected. She would have worked closely with the local doctors - Dr Lumgair and then Dr Palm. She would have had to travel between the local villages and to outlying farms and cottages.  All this she did hundreds of times, for 34 years, with an impressive record of safe outcomes, and up until two months of her death in 1887 at the age of 67. Margaret's children went on to have fulfilling lives also - more on that another time.

With thanks to John Band for providing the images.