The previous post covered the life of Robert Black - a native of Woodside who became Chair of Largo Parish Council and Inspector of the Poor for the Parish. Indeed it was Robert Black who, towards the end of his life, cut "the barricade of red, white and blue ribbon" with "a pair of silver scissors" to allow the first cars to pass over the new bridge linking Drummochy to Lower Largo on Saturday 3 October 1914. Many years in contemplation, the long-desired bridge was composed of steel girders and troughing and parapet railing, with concrete wing walls. It came at a cost of £1,455, 8s and 5d.

The commemorative photograph above was captured by keen amateur photographer, Robert Paxton of Homelands. It shows the first of the three cars that crossed the new bridge as part of the opening ceremony. This car, registration SP 708, bedecked in flowers, belonged to Lower Largo's Walter Horne. Another of the cars belonged to Upper Largo's Thomas Wishart. The cars carried members of the Largo Parish Council, the engineers and the bridge contractors. A profusion of flags and bunting surrounded around the bridge. The buildings in the background from left to right are The Railway Inn (light-coloured gable end), Alexandra House (centre), Beach House (3-storey terrace with dormer windows and many chimneys) and the Crusoe Hotel (extreme right). Robert Black and his wife Eliza could well be among the crowd. Are you able to identify any of the faces shown below? 
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​Having been presented with a pair of silver scissors by Walter Horne, Robert Black declared the bridge open "in the name of the Parish Council" and expressed "the hope that it would fulfil all their expectations and be of advantage to all and disadvantage to none". As the ribbon was cut, there was "a great scramble on the part of the spectators to secure a piece as a remembrance of the occasion". The 8 October Leven Advertiser ran a lengthy article describing the occasion. A large crowd raised loud cheers "as the first gaily decorated motor car sped across the bridge". 

After the official party crossed the bridge in the cars, they, and a few select others, made their way to the recently completed Victoria Hotel for a "daintily cooked and perfectly served dinner" supplied by Miss Brown. Toasts were made, including one to Messrs Bruce and Proudfoot of Cupar and Kirkcaldy, the civil engineers. The building contractor for the bridge project had been Mr Henderson of Markinch. The Motherwell Bridge Company was also acknowledged, having supplied specialist materials. The engineers and contractors presented Robert Black with a silver tray and Walter Horne with a silver cigar case, in recognition of their co-operation as members of the Parish Council. After completion of the toasts, speeches, and presentations the national anthem was sung.

The pair of maps below compares the harbour area before and after the building of the road bridge. Close inspection shows that the corners of a couple of gardens had to be clipped to enable smooth entrance to and exit from the bridge for vehicles. One of those who gave up a portion of their garden was Dr Selkirk, owner of Alexandra House (which had a large rectangular front garden in the older map). 
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Robert Black was born on 12 October 1838 at Woodside, the hamlet west of New Gilston. Like many men in Woodside, his father James Black was a coal miner. His mother was Elspeth Dalrymple (daughter of farmer James Dalrymple). James and Elspeth were from Ceres Parish and had married there in 1836. Their first child was born there in 1837 before they moved to the relatively new settlement of Woodside in the Parish of Largo. There, in a cottage on the east end of the hamlet, Robert was born (followed by a further six children). Robert was named after his paternal grandfather, Robert Black, who had been a labourer in the Parish of Ceres.

Robert Black attended the Subscription School in New Gilston but left formal education at the age of 13, to begin work and contribute to the household income. However, leaving school did not diminish Robert's desire to learn. He attended evening classes and studied at home, eventually becoming sufficiently qualified to take up the post of schoolmaster at the Adventure School at Gateside in the Parish of Strathmiglo. That is where we find Robert in the 1861 census, boarding with a manufacturing agent, while working as a teacher.

The 'Adventure School' at which he worked was part of the patchwork of school types that existed at the time, and included Parish schools, Subscriptions schools and Free Church schools. An Adventure School was privately run by an individual's own adventure - the word ‘adventure’ used in the sense of risking a financial loss. These schools were not subject to the legislation that applied to more mainstream schools. There were once several adventure schools across Fife. After a year teaching there, Robert attended a training college in Edinburgh to attain a formal qualification before returning to Fife in 1864 to take up the post of schoolmaster at Strathmiglo Subscription School.

Around this time, Robert and Eliza Black relocated to Lundin Links - moving into Bayview Cottage, on Crescent Road, Lundin Links (to the right of the School and Schoolhouse in the image above). The previous owner of Bayview had been Henry Anderson, linen power loom manufacturer from Strathmiglo (employer of 10 men and 50 women in 1881). Henry was the brother-in-law of Robert Black, as Henry's wife Margaret Elder was Eliza's sister. Henry was already a widower in 1888 when he died aged 60. Interestingly, Bayview had always had a connection to Strathmiglo. The architect of the house was Strathmiglo native James Campbell Walker who also designed nearby Melville Cottage (now Old Calabar) and Bourtree Brae House.
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Robert Black lived out the rest of his life at Bayview. He was recorded there in the 1891 census as a 'retired farmer', living with wife Eliza and long-term lodger William Hendry. The same year Robert was appointed Inspector of the Poor for the Parish. He held that role for 22 years until failing health forced him to resign in August 1913. The 1901 census recorded him as 'Inspector of the Poor', still sharing the Bayview household with Eliza and William. His other activities included being the local representative of the Shipwrecked Mariners' Society, President of Y.M.C.A. and the Vice-president of the 'Pleasant Sunday Afternoon' (or P.S.A.) Brotherhood. The P.S.A. movement originated in 1875 and spread throughout the country - its purpose to gather people together for spiritual objectives on Sunday afternoons. The Largo P.S.A. attracted attendances of up to 100 in Robert's day. The Blacks also hosted committee meetings of the Lundin Ladies Golf Club at Bayview (prior to the construction of the club house) and were involved in a range of philanthropic works, including organising fundraising concerts. 

Woodside is a hamlet to the west of New Gilston, in the north east of Largo Parish. In the centre of the 1828 Greenwood map extract above, it is clear how the hamlet got its name. At the time the settlement was surrounded by trees on all sides. Woodside would have been a relatively new settlement when surveyed for this map. It is absent from the 1775 Ainslie map below, where the road between Hill Teasses and New Gilston is featureless.
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In 1808 a "Plan of the Estate of New Gilston" was drawn up by land-surveyor Alexander Lumsden. This plan shows the site that would become Woodside as a "planting" known as "West Muir". On the plan, this planting had been subdivided into 8 or 9 strips running north from the roadside (some in pen, others later additions in pencil). At the foot of the plan was a table listing these strips: a, b, c, d, e and f (then in pencil g, h and i). Names had been lightly added in pencil against those letters. Although difficult to read, the names against the plots included Ritchie, Carstairs and Pryde. This suggests that it was 1808 that initial plans were drawn up for the development of Woodside. It may have been some years later before the row of stone cottages reached completion.  

The 1841 census records 21 Houses and 108 persons living in Woodside - a mix of primarily agricultural labourers and coal miners and their families. There was also a blacksmith and a shoe maker. As the 1775 map above shows, the area already had a number of coal pits (New Gilston was created to house colliers employed at the Gilston Coalpits some 400 metres to its north). The early 19th century saw increased industrial activity in the area with further pits sunk at Teasses, Baldastard and Bonnyton. This activity must have led to the need for new housing for workers.

The description of Woodside from the Ordnance Survey 1855 Name Book is show below. It describes a "neat and clean village" with "houses which are of one storey" with small gardens attached. At the time there was "one shop in the village for the sale of groceries". The school was in New Gilston and the nearest Post Office at Upper Largo (from which walking postmen would serve Woodside). Although this record states that the village was "occupied chiefly by farm labourers", the census data from 1841, 1851, 1861 and subsequent decades records many coal miners in Woodside too. In fact for decades, the population seems to have been a fairly even split of miners and farm workers.

​The 1866 Westwood Parochial Directory extract below show that by that time Woodside had two grocers (William Pryde and Mrs William Leslie), as well as a dressmaker Miss Christine Pratt, and four carters (David Baldie, James Black, Thomas Laing and Thomas Morgan). All four of these carters had been coal miners earlier in life but were now employed to transport it. Miss Pratt also ran a Female Industrial School in the hamlet. One of the few mentions of this school was when pupils contributed entries to the annual horticultural shows at Largo. Mrs Leslie the grocer was Catherine Leslie, the widow of coal miner William. She was still a grocer in Woodside in 1891, aged 78 and died in 1898 aged 85.
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The most recent census results published date to 1921, when Woodside was home to a mix of farm workers, foresters, coal miners, crofters and employees of the nearby North British Railway Company. in 1933, the New Gilston and Woodside W.R.I. Hall was opened at Woodside. A substantial wooden construction, the hall "was formerly four houses, and was purchased in Largo for £35. It was transported to Woodside, where it was adapted to meet the requirements of the W.R.I. and erected by the men of the district. A new floor was laid." The Institute had been fund-raising for three years in order to obtain a hall. It remained in use for many years.

The pair of images above illustrate the changing face of Woodside over recent decades. The black and white photograph appeared in the book 'This is My Kingdom' by Charles Brister, published in 1972. Next to the image the author comments that "it is difficult to believe that these idyllic acres were once festooned with pit buildings". Although Woodside has not expanded in size since its initial development, many of the original dwellings have been modernised or replaced. More stories from Woodside are planned to follow in future posts but to round off for now, below is a rare example of a postcard from Woodside. The reverse side confirms that it was sent from Woodside, Largo and posted at Lower Largo. If you know of other Woodside postcards, or have any other old photographs of the place, or information on its history, please do get in touch.
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As we pause to remember those named on Largo War Memorial - notice the new addition to the memorial site this year. The photograph above was taken earlier this year, soon after the weekend of events remembering the Polish soldiers in Fife under General Stanisław Sosabowski. Three floral wreaths in red and white can be seen at the base of the memorial and the Polish flag is flying behind it. A new commemorative plaque was unveiled to the right hand side of the memorial, shown in detail below, which reads:

"In memory of Major General Stanisław Sosabowski, the 1st Independent Parachute Brigade headquartered in Largo House and the Polish soldiers assigned to defend Fife during the Second World War who all fought as part of the Allied forces."

In his memoir Freely I served, Sosabowski states that in 1941 "I made up my mind to form a Polish Parachute Brigade. I was all alone in my office on the second floor of the Leven YMCA; a small coal fire burning in an iron grate spread a meagre warmth through the stolid bare office. It was afternoon and everyone was out training, and I had several hours in which to pace the room and make plans". Sosabowski chose Largo House as the official training centre.

The 23-25 August 2024 programme of events marked the 80th anniversary of Operation Market Garden and the Battle of Arnhem where many of the Parachute Brigade eventually fought. Events at Largo comprised a wreath laying at the War Memorial, candle-lighting at the graves of Sosabowski's soldiers at Largo cemetery and a ceilidh at the Simpson Institute. Other events included a ceremony at the cliffs on Kincraig Point, a march along the General Sosabowski Way (a route that runs through places closely associated with the presence of the 1st Independent Parachute Brigade in Fife during World War II), a cross-country run, a series of historical lectures and a service at Falkland Palace. A video showing highlights from the weekend of events can be viewed here.

The name 'The Castle' is an ironic one for this diminutive structure but the name also has some basis, given its elevated position above the beach behind a high wall. It stood alone in its own plot, in contrast to neighbouring terraced dwellings and can be seen in a wider context in the postcard view below (white building to the right). 
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On Monday 17 October 1898 a "terrific gale" hit the east coast of Scotland, resulting in loss of life and property and a string of ship wrecks. The headlines from the Dundee Courier of 19 October above reflect the impact along the Forth and Tay - the coast "strewn with wrecks". It was this storm that brought about the demise of The Castle. A piece from the Leven Advertiser of 20 October sets the scene by describing the inundation of Lower Largo...

"The tide and fierce billows washed the main street, and at the harbour and the Crusoe Hotel the thoroughfare was impassable, the hotel for a time being entirely isolated. Each window had to be boarded up and the door barricaded and made watertight. At Drummochy the sea made a clean sweep over the embankments and menaced the houses, and rising higher than the footbridge, tore up the roadway. Thousands of tons of earth and rock were torn away; right on to the links the face of the shore was almost entirely changed. Largo pier has suffered from many gales but never has it presented such a ruined appearance as today."

The article goes on to mention how many outhouses abutting the beach were damaged and the one property which was completely destroyed...

"This was a dwelling owned by Mr Selkirk, and tenanted by Mrs Cooper. It was undermined and the wall fell in - at present only the gable next to the street is still standing."
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Other houses had tiles stripped off and windows driven in but for this little house the damage was terminal. The photograph below shows how vulnerable the building (and the outhouses close to it) would have been to a raging sea.​

The tenant of the property, Mrs Cooper, was the widow of grocer Thomas Cooper. Thomas Cooper had died earlier in 1898 from meningitis aged 36 years. His widow Helen Cooper (nee Mitchell) carried on running the licensed grocery business at Forthview after his death, and continued to do so after the storm. While she and her children lived above the grocer shop, she perhaps used the destroyed property as a store or sublet it to summer visitors. Helen Cooper went on to die in tragic circumstances five years later, in 1903, aged 33 years. The grocer shop was later run by Peter Scott and then William Gould. The shop can be seen in the postcard view below - between Mrs Davie's shop and the Co-operative. It is now 56 Main Street. Part of the plot where The Castle stood can also be seen below, on the far right foreground. 

The site of The Castle was not rebuilt upon but became the garden of the house on the opposite side of the road. Nowadays it is adorned with the striking 'Malagan' sculpture (2008) and a decorative garden gate - the work of local artist Alan Faulds. On his website, Alan explains that Malagan was inspired by a trip to Lithuania in 2006, in which tall wooden roadside structures named Roofed Poles caught his attention.

Speaking to Fife Today in 2008, Alan explained that “they were sometimes erected to commemorate a particular event...for example, during Soviet control, a deportation of someone to Siberia might result in the erection of a Roofed Pole. Usually it would be swiftly removed by the authorities.” He continued "I wanted to make something that carried that power.”

The finished piece incorporates a variety of influences from Mexican, Hindu, Baltic, Indian and ancient Greek art and the name Malagan relates to sculptures from Papua New Guinea. I wonder what the former tenants of The Castle would make of the creative use of this space today.