As another year comes to an end, a brief look at how the turn of the year was marked in days goneby. Both news fragments below date from 5 January 1865 in the Fife Herald. The first talks vaguely of "the usual festive features", while the second speaks of "harmless happiness"! Then, as now, people must have wondered what a new year would bring - especially for those involved in risky occupations such as fishing. 

Whatever your plans are, I wish you a Guid New Year and hope that you will return in 2017 to read new blog posts on a wide range of topics.

The above image features a small fairground on Largo Pier in the 1880s, in front of the Crusoe Hotel. From left to right, this features a set of four swing-boats, some kind of booth, a light-coloured tent and a caravan. Travelling shows were popular at the time and this one was probably calling at the height of the summer season. Swing-boats were one of the earliest fairground rides and were common in the Victorian period. The 'boats' are suspended from rods connected to 'A frames' and pairs of riders pull on ropes in order to swing back and forth.  Later on, steam-driven versions were introduced.

It's unclear whether the booth in the centre foreground is connected to the tent or is independent. Perhaps one or both hosted a theatrical or musical show of some sort. The caravan to the right has carved panels on the side that look like they open up. Someone is climbing up the steps into the back of the caravan and what appear to be more panels lie to the right. Could this have been a shooting gallery, coconut shy or 'knock 'em down' game?

While these small-scale shows would not have rivalled the large scale ones found at the time in Fife towns such as Cupar, Kirkcaldy or Burntisland, they would still have been well-attended and probably would have attracted other vendors and entrepreneurs such as sellers of confections and card sharps. There would have been quite a constrast between the Largo of the summer season and the Largo of the winter months. A news snippet from the Fife Herald of 30 September 1880 sums this up...

"With the departure of the swallow most of our summer visitors, and they have been many this season, have left us. There is a pleasure, a witching fascintaion in rusticating, especially to those pent up for months together in chambers, in courts and behind desks and counters in towns and cities, and a few weeks fresh air breathing in the country, how gloriously refreshing and invigorating. Largo has many fascinating spots that claim attention and admiration. Walks by the sea and shore are here full of interest, and apart from historical associations every day discloses new charms....So the holiday season has almost waned once again, and the usual monotony of Largo is gradually being once more assumed."

I imagine there were many locals, however, that were pleased to see the peace and quiet restored.

Back in 1924, one Fife retailer seemed to be concerned that customers might telephone friends to wish them a 'Merry Christmas', rather than send the traditional card. I don't know how many folks back then opted not to send a "wireless handshake" but perhaps J&G Innes would be pleased to see the popularity of sending cards remains high almost a century later. 

Meanwhile the report below from 1926 (Fife Free Press 25 Dec) suggests that shopkeepers were expecting a quiet season's trading. This was the year of the General Strike. Nevertheless children were still "well catered for". Interestingly, many shops were open on Christmas Day back then.  The advert for A.K. Melville (the Largo-born outfitter) below states at the top that the shop would be open all day on 25th (although closed for 1st and 2nd January). Christmas Day only became a public holiday in Scotland in 1958.

The final year of the 1920s saw Largo children receiving their usual annual treat at the Simpson Institute (Fife Free Press 3 Jan 1930). Elsewhere in the localty, the members Lundin Golf Club were competing for the Christmas medal, where "a strong wind from the sea made conditions none too pleasant" and the Christmas Day service at Largo Kirk "was filled with Brownies, Cubs, Guides, Rangers and Scouts". Finally, a small advert for the Lundin Links Hotel - sadly no longer an option for the festive season - but fondly remembered.

The previous post included a view of Largo Cemetery, north of Upper Largo. Back in the mid-19th century this was referred to as the 'new cemetery'. The original one was the graveyard that surrounds Largo Kirk. In January 1857, a ratepayer wrote to the Fife Herald noting that the Parochial Board had stated that "it is imperitive by a recent Act of Parliament that they should have a new burying ground, the present one being too near the village". This correspondent was complaining about a lack of public consultation on the matter.

The new cemetery opened in 1859 and, according to the Dictionary of Scottish Architects, involved the architect George Birrell  (son of Hugh Birrell a builder architect based in Drumeldrie). A decade later, the 11 February 1869 Fife Herald reported that "previous to securing of a new cemetery here, few parishes were more in want of such a place as Largo. Its locality is everyway well-fitted for sepulchre, and although it has only been opened a few years, numerous monumental stones have been erected within its walls, and the keeping of this "silent city" is admirably gone about".

Again the following year, this time in the Fifeshire Advertiser of 4 June 1870, the 'new' cemetery was praised...

"The new cemetery set apart for the "city of the dead" for this rural parish is well kept, and within these few years, it has assumed a very imposing appearance. Many attractive monuments now stud its surface. The ground is tastefully and substantially enclosed by a wall; and the site being to the north of the village and under the shadow of Largo Law, its seculsion well adapts it for a last resting place for the departed."

​This type of article was repeated over the years in local papers - always referring to how well kept the grounds were. By 1880, it was necessary to plan an extension. Once more, in 1896, the site - still known as the new cemetery - had plans drawn up for enlargement. Moving forward to 1928, and on 26 January, the Courier noted that several draft plans had been submitted to Largo Parish Council by Mr Dewar, architect, Leven, for a significant extension. Work was delayed by 'unfavourable weather' over the 1928/9 winter. In the Spring of 1929, Mr James McIntosh of Windygates agreed to carry out the work. On 5 September 1929, the Parish Council suggested that upon the completion of the extension, and in view of the extra work that the larger site would entail, a full-time cemetery keeper should be appointed rather than the pre-existing part-time arrangement.

The cemetery remains today much as it was in the past, with its quiet and picturesque setting, interesting array of monuments, stone walls and towering monkey puzzle tree. Originally imported from Chile, this prickly coniferous evergreen tree was traditionally used in cemeteries and graveyards as the dark evergreen contrasts with the headstones. The fossilised remains of similar trees was the source of jet which became popular in Victorian times as jewellery as a symbol of mourning.

This scene from the 1920s/30s era contains plenty interest - from the vintage car in the foreground to the man walking with a stick and two dogs to the detail of the cemetery (with its tall monkey puzzle tree), the shadowy outline of Wood's Hospital and Largo Bay beyond that. The title it also noteworthy - 'Largo from The Birsays'. This road leads uphill from Upper Largo, skirting the lower easterly slopes of Largo Law, towards places such as Pitcruvie, Balcormo and New Gilston. But before reaching any of these places, on the right, was a small farm named 'Birsiemire'. The road down to Upper Largo was variously known as 'Birsie Brae' (see entry in Fife Herald of 8 January 1846 below) or 'Birsey-brae' (as noted in Largo Village Book) or 'The Birsays'.

The cemetery on the north edge of Upper Largo originated in the late 1850s, taking over from the graveyard that surrounds Largo Kirk - more on that to come.

The images above and below show unusual tall structures in prominent street locations, both dating to the early years of the last century. Above, the post seems to be in the garden of 'Sea View' on Main Street, Lower Largo. Below, the structure is attached to the roof of 'Fir Park Cottage' on Lundin Links' Emsdorf Street. These are connected with street lighting and would hold lamps during the darker months. During the summer these would be removed and cleaned. 

In the mid-19th century, according to newspaper reports, some Fife towns and villages were looking at "the prospect of our streets now being lighted with gas" and were "putting up posts and lamps" and looking at employing a lamp lighter "in season". Other towns at the time were not so fortunate. On 20 December 1849 the Fife Herald reported that in Kennoway "there are no lamps to illuminate the streets" and "everyone must splash through the mud and mire the best way he can, walking is often dangerous and always disagreeable". It was suggested that there, in the absence of a gas works, perhaps "a few oil lamps could be got, at no great expense, to dissapate the gloom of our streets, during the long dark nights of winter, when there is no moonlight". 

Information regarding the early street lighting of Lundin Links and Lower Largo is harder to find but by 1900 a fund-raising exercise was carried out to bring street lighting to Lundin Links and Drummochy (see feature further below from St Andrews Citizen). The street lighting of the villages has been through a number of upgrades since.

The first public street in the UK to be lit by a series of gas lamps on free-standing posts was Pall Mall in Westminster in 1807. Although they gave off a meagre light, it was an improvement on previous lighting and led to similar lamps being installed all over the country.  Until street lights could be automatically lit and extinguished, lamplighters worked their way around streets at dawn and dusk with long poles.

Do you recognise this Lower Largo house?  Back in the long hot summer of 1972 'Rhinivie' (now 2 Seatoun Place) was under construction - the good weather enabling it to be complete by October. The brick layers that worked on this house also worked on the new Lundin Mill Primary School the following year.

Rhinivie was named after a croft up in Bettyhill near Tongue on the north coast, which was once owned by a former Drumeldrie woman and was extended by Robert Band, who went on to build its Largo namesake. Both houses are situated close to where a river/stream meets the sea. Below are more images of the house during an earlier stage in the building process. Note that the top left picture shows the roof of the public conveniences featured in the previous post (marked with arrow).

The early 1970s saw a spate of building in the area.  As well as the new primary school, there was the Durham Gardens development, Lundin Sports Club and other individual homes - including the one seen roofless on the left middle ground in the small image below (just off Drummochy Road) taken in 1973.