It's interesting to contemplate that back in the 1850s a "nice basket of fish" would have been "very appropriate for a Christmas present". This could have included the largest and finest "pandore oysters". These oysters, found in the Firth of Forth near Prestonpans got their name for being found close to the salt pans there. The advert below from the 10 December 1858 Caledonian Mercury was placed by John Anderson, the father of Andrew Greig Anderson who controlled many of the salmon fishing stations in Largo Bay in the late nineteenth century. Native oysters in the Forth were eventually fished to virtual extinction. The quirky festive postcard further below seems to hint at the loss of our native oysters, which are now part of a restoration project.
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Back in 1865, the valuation roll for Largo Parish included three salmon fishing stations: Lundin Salmon Fishings (owned by Standard Life Assurance Company); Largo Salmon Fishings (owned by Largo Estate); and Strathairly Salmon Fishings. The latter was owned by Captain David Briggs of Strathairly House and was leased at that time by David Ballingall (see valuation roll extract below). The painting above dates to 1895 and is by Peter D Lauder of Dollar. It features the salmon bothy and nets associated with this fishing station, to the east of the Temple. The Viewforth buildings are visible in the distance. A more recent photograph of the same view also appears for comparison.  Note that the Temple was once known as the Temple of Strathairly.

In the 1861 census, there were four men in Largo with the occupation of 'Salmon Fisher', all of whom lived at the Temple - David Ballingall, David Birrell, James Clark and John Clark. David Ballingall was married to James Clark's sister Betsy and John Clark was James's son, so this was a family affair. John Clark latterly lived at Rollo Villa, named after his mother, Mary Rollo. In fact, Alexander Selkirk, who leased the neighbouring Largo Salmon Station (more on that to follow) was also a relative. His sister Margaret was James Clark's mother - making him uncle to James and great uncle to John Clark. 

Such success must have attracted the attention of the big players in the salmon fishing game. One of those, Andrew Greig Anderson, already leased a salmon station a little further east in neighbouring Newburn Parish by 1875. Within a few years this Edinburgh fish merchant would operate many salmon fishings along both sides of the Forth, including at Stirling, Cockenzie, Aberlady, North Berwick and multiple within Largo Bay. He also had significant interests in Kirkcudbright. 

The previous Strathairly Fishings tenant James Clark died on 9 November 1879 at Lorne Cottage, aged 67 years. His salmon fishing partner David Ballingall died on 6 January 1885 aged 85 years. By 1885 Andrew Greig Anderson had the lease of both the Lundin Fishings and the Strathairly Fishings, in addition to the Balchrystie Fishings within Newburn Parish. A few years later he would add Dumbarnie Salmon Fishings to his Largo Bay portfolio, taking his total in the bay up to four stations.

Anderson also owned three houses at the Temple, which he rented out to the salmon fishers who worked his nets. The year 1885 also saw Anderson build Carrick Villa at Johnston's Mill (see 19 August 1885 Fife Herald story below). This imposing building (pictured further below in 1975 from the Canmore Collection) took its name from the maiden name of his wife, Mary Carrick. The map above shows the division between Largo and Newburn parishes and the proximity of Carrick Villa to the boundary between the two (marked Johnston's Mill).

Andrew Greig Anderson still had four Largo Bay salmon fishings, including Strathairly, in 1895. However, around this time he was also diverted with other interests. Being a fish merchant required much use and storage of ice. In 1895 Anderson commissioned none other than architect Peter Lyle Henderson (regular summer visitor to Largo, architect of the Lundin Links Hotel and one-time Captain of Lundin Golf Club) to design a large curved building on St Stephen's Street in Edinburgh's Stockbridge, to be used as an ice store.

Being something of an innovator, Anderson had a scheme to also create an adjacent ice rink, designing the 'ice floor for skating rinks' system (shown below) himself. The venture took a while to come to fruition but eventually reached the stage of having all of the necessary machinery installed. However, just as it was on the point of being ready to open, the scheme was abandoned. Between 1899 and 1901 the building was converted into a theatre. It operated as the Tivoli Theatre for several years, before becoming a picture house and later a night club, prior to burning down in 1991.

A few years after his unsuccessful ice rink venture, Andrew Greig Anderson died aged 64 from accidental poisoning. ​When the lease of the Strathairly salmon station became available, local men Walter Horne (joiner and contractor) and James Simpson (fisherman) took it on. The extract from the 1905 valuation roll below lists their names. Walter Horne also purchased the row of three homes at the Temple which Anderson had previously rented to salmon fishermen. In 1907 Horne also took over the lease of the Largo Salmon Fishing Station (more to follow on that). Walter Horne retained the tenancy at the Strathairly station right through to 1940, partnering with Alexander Simpson after the death of James Simpson and later with David Gillies. Walter Horne died in 1941 aged 77.

The Strathairly Station, as it was, went out of use during the Second World War but this wasn't the end of salmon fishing along this stretch of the bay. Activity eventually resumed and continued during the 1960s-1990s, as many will remember. A more recent photograph of the site is shown below. Further posts to follow, covering the third of Largo's salmon fishings, as well as those in neighbouring Newburn and Scoonie Parishes.

The image above features the salmon stake nets which once ran out to sea in front of the Net House (which itself is surrounded by nets drying in the photograph). This was known as the Lundin Salmon Fishings, and was one of three key 'fishing stations' along the coast of Largo Parish. This station was part of the Lundin Estate. The 1865 valuation roll extract below names the proprietor as Standard Life Assurance Company, who at the time owned the Lundin Estate. When the estate was advertised for sale five years later, 'Salmon Fishings in the Forth' were part of the specification and it was noted that these were let 'from year to year'. 

By 1875, when Allan Gilmour owned Lundin Estate, the tenant of the fishing station was David Beveridge, farmer at Buckthorns Farm. However, as the above snippet from the 7 July 1876 East of Fife Record shows, salmon fishing was an unpredictable venture. This piece called the season "a failure" stating that "fish still continue scarce" and "it is feared tacksman will lose by the speculation". This precarious situation probably explains why from that point onwards the Lundin Salmon Fishing was let to large-scale operators from outside of the local area.

In the 1880s, a new era dawned at Lundin Salmon Station, when Andrew Greig Anderson, Edinburgh fishmonger, began his long tenancy. In fact, Anderson not only leased the Lundin station but also had the tenancy of the Strathairly Fishing Station, in front of Dumbarnie Links (more on that site in the next post). Andrew was son of fish merchant John Anderson, who, over the preceding decades, had leased several oyster beds in the Firth of Forth, pioneered the import of ice from Norway and was lessee of many of the best salmon fisheries on both sides of the Forth. A couple of adverts from the 1870s for John Anderson & Sons are below. Andrew's mother was Eliza Greig, daughter of hotel keeper at the Chain Pier Inn, Edinburgh, Andrew Greig, who owned the steamboats that plied between Dundee and Granton, and often called at Largo. Andrew Greig Anderson was the eldest of John and Eliza's fifteen children.
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Interestingly, the 1891 census for Largo includes many men with the occupation of 'salmon fishers' who had places of birth around the Montrose area. Presumably these individuals had been brought to Largo by Anderson, who had significant fishing interests and connections around Scotland's coasts . These men lodged together in cottages at Emsdorf. 

In 1904, Andrew Greig Anderson, described as a fish, game and ice merchant, died aged 64 from accidental poisoning. At the time of his death, The Scotsman newspaper of 29 January 1904 described him as "possibly one of the largest lessees of salmon fishings in Scotland, having interests at Aberdeen, on the Kirkcudbright Dee, on the Tay and Firth, and at Largo Bay." 

By this time, a new long-term occupier of the 'Lundin Salmon Fishings and Cellar' had become established in the form of Joseph Johnston and Sons of Montrose. This long-established business would retain the tenancy until circa 1940, when it would seem that the Second World War brought about the demise of the Lundin station. The postcard image below features salmon fishers at the Lundin site, with Massney Braes in the background. The stake nets here even featured in artwork by George Leslie Hunter, shown further below.

Salmon have been fished around Scotland's coasts for hundreds of years and Largo Bay was once a prime site for this activity. Salmon begin their lives in fresh water before moving out to sea, but later return to their original rivers to spawn. Their predictable migration pattern coupled with more advanced traps meant that by the early nineteenth century salmon fishing had become a well-organised operation involving stake nets such as the one shown in the photograph above.
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The extract above from the Largo Parish section of the New Statistical Account of Scotland, recorded in 1837 by Reverend Robert Brown, states that a salmon stake-net fishery was started some years previously at "different stations". His report suggests that, while initially the enterprise was not financially viable, it had recently been resumed and was now more prosperous. The census of 1841 in Largo records five men who stated their occupation as 'salmon fisher'. Of those men, four resided at the Temple and the other at Viewforth, suggesting that the focus of the salmon fishing at the time was to the east of Lower Largo.

The shelving sandy beaches of Largo Bay suited the use of stake-nets. These systems are described in 'The Firth of Forth An Environmental History' by T.C. Smout and Mairi Stewart as follows:

"They consisted of rows of poles up to 800 yards long, erected between high- and low-water marks, fastened together with ropes from which curtains of nets were suspended; these were set at an angle to the shore so as to form leaders towards other enclosures of netting, or 'courts', with entrances designed to admit the salmon but so labyrinthine and protected by net bottoms and lids so that they could not find their way out again."

The fish court is emptied of fish at low tide. There were regulations about when the fishing could be carried out. A close season coincided with the salmon breeding season (mid-August to mid-February from 1824) and even during the fishing season there was a weekly close time, traditionally 24 hours from midnight on Saturday nights. At close times the nets had to be lifted. Many newspaper reports from the archives tell of incidences when salmon fishers failed to do this. Below is an example from the 19 October 1910 Leven Advertiser, where Alexander Simpson was unable to take in his nets due to stormy weather but was still fined.

​Occasionally, species other than salmon, such as seals and porpoises, found their way into the nets and this is also a feature of the newspaper archives. In 1874, for example, Largo salmon fisher, James Clark, caught a large porpoise and brought it alive to the annual horticultural event in Keil's Den to be exhibited.

The right to fish for salmon in Scotland - whether in the sea or in inland waters - is a heritable right (i.e. like land ownership it can be inherited). In the heyday of salmon fishing in Largo there were three salmon fisheries, one owned by Strathairly estate, one owned by Largo estate and one by Lundin estate, each let to an occupier who managed the salmon station. The tenant had the exclusive right to fish for salmon in the area of his fishery. The 'tack' or lease of a fishing tended to be auctioned annually. The unpredictability of the catch made it difficult for local fishermen to place large bids and this often resulted in larger-scale interests from outside the local area winning auctions.

As the next few blog posts will detail, operators from places such as Edinburgh and Montrose were among those taking on the Largo stations at various points in history. Tenants also often rented buildings in which to store their gear and were entitled to dry their nets on frames erected on the nearby shore. The painting below is a great example of a scene of nets drying - in this case at Lundin Salmon Fishings at Drummochy, by the Net House at Cellar Braes. More on this particular salmon fishing station in the next post.

Painting by James Riddel R.S.W. (1857-1928), entitled "Auld Reekie from Largo". Read more here.