This week saw the demolition of a Largo landmark - the Largo Gas Works retort house. Many were fond of this industrial building, while others found it an eyesore. But over the century and more that it was there, in its prominent elevated position above the harbour and viaduct, it caught the eye of locals and visitors alike. In order to mark the end of its existence, this post will look in detail at the site, its history and the internal workings of the building. The annotated site drawing below and the floor plan and section drawings further below have been created by John Band. 

As the first drawing below states, the site for the gas works was selected due to its proximity to the railway station and to the buildings that it was going to supply. The works began operation on 20 April 1909. Remarkably, they only operated as originally intended for approximately 16 years, as around 1925 the Largo operation went into liquidation and was absorbed into its Kennoway-based sister company. The inset advert from the 24 May 1926 Dundee Courier gives notice of the pipe laying work to enable gas to be supplied from Kennoway to Largo.

To see the above site drawing as a PDF, please click here. 

If you have ever wondered what originally went on within the retort house and what the process of producing gas involved, then the document below will provide the answers. In order to appreciate the detail within floor plan and section drawings, please open this as a PDF. The Largo operation was typical of small gasworks of the time.

Below is a photograph showing the gas works (partly obscured behind the viaduct) during its short period of operation. This image is pre-1914 as the old wooden footbridge is shown and the existing road bridge is not. The chimney of the retort house is visible in the distance, overlapping with the chimney of the oil and cake (formerly flax spinning) mill which is slightly closer to the camera. Note also the gas lamp visible on Drummochy Road in front of the house to the left of the picture. There is another on the pier.

In the next post there will be some follow-up on the gas works site, including detail on the gas holder that once stood alongside the retort house, the changing uses of the retort house building over the years and the important role that the building played during World War Two - accompanied by some more photos.

This wonderful painting by James Riddel R.S.W. (1857-1928), entitled "Auld Reekie from Largo", features the view from an elevated position close to Largo Station looking down over the roof of the Railway Inn to the Net House (surrounded by drying fishing nets) and beyond to Edinburgh. It's an unusual perspective of a familiar place, so to help with interpretation of the painting there is an annotated sketch of the same view below.

The features numbered above are:

1. The Net House                       2. Demolished House (see below)                      3. Largo Harbour
4. Railway Inn                             5. Station Wynd House                                         6. Bridgend House

The 'demolished house' is the dark coloured one to the left of centre in the background of the George Washington Wilson photograph below. Remains of the old wall can still be seen but the site is now used for sitting and enjoying the view (see present day image below).

Returning to the Riddel painting....it featured in the reprint of a book 'Traditions of Edinburgh' by Robert Chambers (published in 1868). Within this book is a reference to the origins of the name 'Auld Reekie', as follows:
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"This highly appropriate popular sobriquet cannot be traced beyond the reign of Charles II. Tradition assigns the following as the origin of the phrase : An old gentleman in Fife, designated Durham of Largo, was in the habit, at the period mentioned, of regulating the time of evening worship by the appearance of the smoke of Edinburgh, which he could easily see, through the clear summer twilight, from his own door. When he observed the smoke increase in density, in consequence of the good folk of the city preparing their supper, he would call all the family into the house, saying : 'It's time now, bairns, to tak' the beuks, and gang to our beds, for yonder's Auld Reekie, I see, putting on her nicht-cap!'"

Back in the mid-nineteenth century, when golf was growing in popularity and new clubs were being established in the area, one man's name seemed to crop up in the context of several local clubs. He was Nicol Baird Malcolm - a farmer from Dubbieside (Innerleven). The photograph of him above was taken by John Patrick and was published in the 1900 Fife News Almanac, some years after his death. Even many years after his death, he gets a special mention as the "ever-famous Nicol Malcolm" in the 22 July 1899 St Andrews Citizen (see below), in the context of the role he played helping in the setting up of Lundin Golf Club, back in 1868. His life story is an interesting one and is interwoven with other local characters.

Nicol's parents, John Malcolm and Janet Glass were married on 2 February 1793 in Edinburgh. John was a gardener at Broughton Loan (an area north east of Edinburgh city centre which was then filled with plant nurseries). Janet was the daughter of a shoemaker and lived in nearby Canonmills. Their daughters Christina and Isabella were born circa 1793 and 1799 respectively. By the time their son Nicol was born, on 24 May 1801, the family were living in the Parish of Scoonie.  John Malcolm continued to work as a gardener around the Leven area into the 1840s.

In 1819 Nicol’s elder sister Christina married Alexander Patrick, a linen weaver of Scoonie Parish. They had a son – John Patrick. John eventually became a cabinet maker in Leven and married Agnes Murdoch Patrick c1840. They had at least eight children. On 9 November 1866, John Patrick (who was Nicol Malcolm's nephew) died in a cholera outbreak (see Dundee Advertiser of 10 Nov 1866 below) but before that he had diversified into golf club making.  John’s business (and the family home) was at 3-4 Branch Street at Leven’s Shorehead. It was the low building shown on the left in the sepia image below. The building still exists today as a take-away pizza outlet.

John’s eldest son Alex Patrick had joined him in the club making business, before the fatal cholera outbreak, and he went on to continue making golf clubs for the rest of his working life. Alex had shops in Leven and at Lundin Golf Club. Alex’s younger brother Nicol (named after his great-uncle) had become an apprentice golf club maker by the age of 17 in 1871. Youngest brother David Murdoch Patrick also eventually became a golf club maker. He was based in Lundin Links (after a spell as greenkeeper at Royal Wimbledon Golf Club) and a had a house and workshop built on Golf Road around 1896.

Nicol Malcolm married Ann Balmain in 1830 and later the same year their daughter Catharine was born. They appear to have had no further children and Ann died in 1843. Nicol had many great nieces and nephews – three of whom were golf club makers. He also seems to have been connected to another John Patrick - the pioneering local photographer - who had a studio in Leven, before he moved to Kirkcaldy and then Edinburgh. Nicol Malcolm remarried later in life, aged 43. He married widow Ann Christian Gray (nee Wetherspoon) on 2 August 1844. ​Her first husband – John Gray the Cupar ironmonger – had died aged 39 in 1837.

Nicol was a farmer at Dubbieside and had a dairy there. At the time of the 1851 census Nicol’s widowed sister Christina had joined Nicol and Ann (acting as house keeper). In 1861 the three – Nicol (still a farmer), Ann and Christina were still residing together at an address described as ‘Innerleven Cottage’. And in 1871, the household comprised: Nicol ('farmer employing 1 man and 1 boy'), Ann, Ann’s son from her first marriage (William Gray ironmonger) and a servant (Anne Dryburgh). By 1881, Nicol has passed away but Ann continued to reside at ‘Dubbyside Street’ – now with a niece and nephew (Anne and Edward Gray) and servant Mary Brown. Ann was described as an ‘annuitant’.

The valuation rolls also provide an insight into Nicol’s interests. In the 1855 valuation roll he is named against 4 subjects: he is proprietor occupier of a house and garden in Dubbieside and proprietor of another house and garden. In addition he is tenant occupier of both a land holding and the ‘Links of Methil’ – the land owner being James Hay Erskine Wemyss. ​By 1865, the situation was much the same with Nicol owning two houses with gardens plus a stable and byre – as well as being tenant of ‘Innerleven Acres and Links of Methil’. Golf had been played on these links for a long time. As tenant of the links, and an enthusiast of the game, it is not surprising that one of the nine holes of the golf course at Dubbieside was named ‘Nicol Malcolm’. He was also a member of Leven Curling Club and he hosted other sporting events on Methil links such as 'gymnastic games' in 1874.

In the 1875 census, Nicol Malcolm was still proprietor of the two houses but no longer the tenant of the acres and links – these were now rented to John Lawrie, farmer from Kirkland. Now aged 74, it seems that Nicol had retired. The newspaper archives are full of references to Nicol Malcolm – mainly in the context of golf. He was a member of  at least three local clubs – all founded during his adult lifetime: Innerleven (Dubbieside) (1820), Leven Golfing Club (1846) and Wemyss Castle (1857) plus he had a hand in the setting up of Lundin Golf Club in 1868. As well as mentions in connection with agriculture and cattle markets, Nicol was noted in the press for his gardening skills (clearly taking after his father).

Nicol died on 1st March 1881 aged 79 years, having had a full and active life. His second wife Ann passed in 1886 in Edinburgh aged 76. However, the legend of Nicol Malcolm lived on after his death - for example in the clip from the 16 Sep 1899 St Andrews Citizen below - which recalls the time that he challenged a man to a round of golf playing with a bottle rather than a club! If you know more about Nicol, please comment. 
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The previous post touched upon the early history of the village of New Gilston. The above 1930s view of the village shows the Post Office on the right foreground looking west. The Post Office was at the centre of a tragic incident back in 1953. On Saturday 22 August that year a Gloster Meteor aircraft, which had taken off from RAF Leuchars only ninety seconds before, crashed into the Post Office in the early morning around 6 am. The pilot was instantly killed. He was 21-year-old Flying Officer David Ernest Rock (born in Lichfield, Staffordshire in 1932). Amazingly, no one on the ground was seriously hurt. 

The jet which crashed had been flying with a second plane and both had begun to descend from 2000 feet, thinking they were over the sea. In fact they were over the highest village in Fife. The lead aircraft saw ground and pulled up striking some trees and eventually returned to base. The second jet struck the upper storey of the Post Office building and broke up. Occupants of the building, Mr and Mrs Andrew Laing Ramage, had been asleep on the ground floor at the time. ​
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Wreckage was strewn about the village, the blast broke several windows, live ammunition was scattered about, the school roof was damaged and a neighbouring cottage had its chimney knocked off the roof. Andrew Ramage described how he and his wife Christina initially thought that their house had been struck by lightning. When the roof collapsed they were immediately covered in plaster and could not speak for the dust in their mouths. First they tried to get out of the door that led to the shop but found that it was blocked with rubble. Instead they made for the front door but could not get past the flames, so finally they smashed a window in order to get outside, with help from lime quarry worker Alexander Barclay. Their only injuries were cuts from the broken window glass. The only possessions they had left were the night clothes they were wearing.

All but one of the local phone lines was taken down by the accident. The school house line was still intact and was used to call the fire brigade. Engines came from St Andrews, Cupar, Methil and from R.A.F. Leuchars. Mrs Christian Randall, who lived at the school house with her two children took in the Ramages and they three are shown in the photograph below. Firemen recovered very little from the site - only some charred bank notes, some blackened coins and an intact case of 12 bottles of whisky.

On the Monday, Mr and Mrs Ramage moved into a nearby cottage and their friends and neighbours rallied around to provide them with clothes, furniture and bedding. Their shop delivery van survived and was out delivering newspapers as usual the day after the crash - driven by a friend. The image further below shows the destroyed Post Office and workers clearing the crash site. Mr and Mrs Ramage took some time off to recover from their ordeal (which had come only months after they had lost their only son in a motor accident at Teasses Toll). The Post Office eventually moved to the other end of the village, where it was run by a Mrs Winton. 

According to A.S. Cunningham's 1907 book 'Upper Largo, Lower Largo, Lundin Links and Newburn', New Gilston was built around 1700 and owes its existence to coal mining. Its 'coal works' are mentioned in the 1773 advert in the Caledonian Mercury (below) advertising the lands for sale. Historic Environment Scotland consider it to be a 'planned village', The 1854 map below clearly shows its linear layout and fairly uniform plots. It also shows that some of buildings are ruinous by this time. Clearly marked on the map are the village smithy and the school. There is also a coal pit situated to the north of village (there were few others not much further away). And there were many quarries in the area. The 1845 Statistical Account on Scotland specifically mentions that "to the north of New Gilston a singular mass of rum coal is found, under the mass of overlying trap to the south. It is an inflammable bituminous shale, and is extensively used for lime burning. It is known to be eighty feet deep, and is wrought in an open quarry."

Situated to the north of Largo Law, New Gilston is credited as being the highest inhabited place in Fife. It is well-documented that the name of the village has fluctuated over the years - for example: 
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• Guilston Backmuir in 1753  on the Roy map 
• Newtown of Gilston in 1775 on the Ainslie map 
• New Gilston in 1828 on the SGF map
• Backmuir of New Gilston on the 1854 OS map above 
• New Gilston on the 2001 OS Explorer map

The 1841 census data for the village shows that the majority of adult males in the village were employed either as agricultural labourers or as coal miners (with a small number of hand loom weavers and carters and a couple of blacksmiths and stone masons). At that time the village had had a school for a number of years - a subscription school having begun in 1832 (see advert below from the 1 November Fife Herald that year.

Some of the buildings shown in the circa 1900 postcard above still survive to this day. But many are long gone, replaced by more modern homes. One of the most dramatic events in the history of New Gilston took place in 1953 - more on that in the next post.

A view looking east along Upper Largo's Main Street, taken from alongside the Upper Largo Hotel (on the right). The hotel was known as 'The Largo Hotel' at this time - as can just be made out on the nice piece of vintage signage advertising McEwan's shown in detail below. The hotel has a long history and has had a few name changes over the decades. 

Opposite the hotel, on the far left above, is the garage which was once owned by David Ramage and then by Jimmy Purves. This image must have been captured not long before the house next to the garage (with 'no parking' daubed on the wall) was demolished and alterations were made to the garage. The building housing the garage was built around 1843 and was originally the Free Church. 

As the Great War finally drew to a close a century ago, newspaper reports reflected the relief and joy that people at home felt. The day that the Armistice was signed was a Monday. The agreement was signed at 5 am and was to come into effect at 11 am. News reached nearby St Andrews "early on Monday forenoon". The message began to circulate that Germany had accepted the terms of the Armistice and that Dundee "had commenced its celebration of the great event".  Citizens, however, "refrained from commencing rejoicings until they were certain that the news was official" according to the St Andrews Citizen. Below is a clipping from the Fifeshire Advertiser showing how rumours and expectation gave way to celebration in Kirkcaldy. 

As soon as there was no doubt, buildings were decked with flags and national colours and people took to the streets. Bells were rung, songs were sung, bands played and spontaneous dancing broke out. 'Victory Holidays' were observed - allowing work to stop and victory to be celebrated. The St Andrews Citizen noted that "the streets present a busy and animated appearance" where "youngsters paraded...carrying flags and singing patriotic songs". 

Over the following days shops advertised 'Victory Sales', Victory concerts were organised and services of thanksgiving were held. But of course this was very much a time of mixed feelings. Many in Largo Parish had suffered loss and sorrow. A poem which appeared in the Dundee Evening Telegraph on 12 November 1918, written by W. McMann, reflected the balance of jubilation and sorrow.  The poem includes the following lines near the start...

"Peace was declared! I heard the cheers
Aringing doon the street;
I heard a band abune the noise
O' countless hurryin' feet
The hale toon was on holiday,
The good folk o' Dundee
Were oot en masse tae celebrate
Oor glorious victory."

....but towards the end of the lengthy poem the sentiment had shifted....

"At hame that night I minded o',
These fallen in the fray; 
Thousands rejoicing, thousands more
Are sorrowing today.
To those who listen for a voice
They never more shall hear, 
There's agony in every shout, 
A stab in every cheer."

The crowded beach scene above is Lundin Links at Massney Braes. Back in the very early 1900s the village was a fashionable "rival to the established and flourishing watering holes of Elie and St Andrews". According to the Dundee Courier (25 June 1903) "the attractions of the neighbourhood continue to draw large numbers each year so that a little town of seaside villas has sprung up on the magnificent feuing ground of Lundin". 

The attire worn by the beach-goers is similar to that worn in photos from a previous blog post at Seaview in Lower Largo - note the wide brimmed hats that children are wearing, the blouse and skirt combination favoured by the ladies and the popularity of smart hats and parasols. Although bigger and fancier hats would be worn in the evenings and for special occasions, the lady in the foreground with her back to the camera (see foot of post) is still wearing a pretty impressive piece of headgear for a day at the beach. 

There are a few beach huts in the dunes to the right of the image. While some folks might have stored their belongings in their own hut, many seem to be at the beach with minimal 'stuff' - no chairs, rugs or picnics. Most were probably staying a stone's throw away at one of the many boarding houses or hotels. There would also have been a good choice of tearooms and places to find refreshment within a few minutes walk. 

In the detailed image below, a row of little sand castles can be made out. There are a couple of people half buried in the sand towards the lower left hand corner. And a group of ladies are enjoying a chat in the centre foreground - I wonder what they were discussing!