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Seasons Greetings 2025

19/12/2025

Seasons Greetings from Vintage Lundin Links and Largo!

Let's take a quick glimpse back at a selection of Christmases past. A century ago, the 22 December 1925 Leven Advertiser gave notice of the Christmas Services at Largo Parish Church. There was a Christmas Day service at 11am when a special collection was made for The British and Foreign Sailor's Society. Now known as The Sailors' Society, this maritime welfare charity has existed for more than 200 years.

Meanwhile 150 years ago at Christmastime, a boy found a stash of counterfeit coins at the foot of a tree in Keil's Den. The long wooded glen does seem like a suitable option for stashing away illicit goods. The young lad's discovery included imitation shillings and sixpences. The newspaper piece below, from 30 December 1875 Fifeshire Journal, speculates over whether the person who deposited them there may either have forgotten about the coins or had been incarcerated for some other misdemeanour.

In another unusual discovery that same Christmas, the 25 December 1875 Fife Free Press below reported on a bottle washed up on the shore between Largo and Earlsferry containing a message. James Birrell found the lemonade bottle, which carried the following message:

Ship Eclipse, of Goole, abandoned; all hands to the boats. Nov. 16 1875. Whoever finds this please send to my father John Richards.

A month passed between this maritime incident and the finding of the message. No further information can be found on either the abandonment of the Eclipse nor whether the message was relayed to John Richards.

Jumping back to living memory, a mere sixty years ago a "grand display of toys" and other "Christmas goods" were on offer at The Viennese Tearooms in Lundin Links (1 December 1965 Leven Mail). There were "free refreshments for all purchasers" into the bargain!

Meanwhile, fifty years ago the Dinner Menu below was on offer at the Lundin Links Hotel. This was the era of J.W. Mathison, who took over from the Murisets in 1966. For only £2.50 patrons could enjoy everything from lobster to pheasant to apple meringue pie. Coffee was extra.

Finally, Christmas 1994 saw a feature on local businesses in the St Andrews Citizen. Two shops from the Largo area were highlighted: Pretty Details in Lundin Links run by Karina Morrison and Very Crafty in Lower Largo run by Tessa Young and Sheena Gilchrist. Both offered a creative range of Christmas gift options. Merry Christmas!

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Swan's Victoria

12/12/2025

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The building in the postcard image above was known as Swan's Victoria Boarding Residence a century ago. Later divided into the flats of Victoria Court, this building on Victoria Road in Lundin Links was first constructed around 1907, when it was named Victoria House. At that time there was an explosion in Boarding House style accommodation in the village, to meet the demand for seaside and golfing breaks.

Building contractor Walter Horne was the original owner of the building. He sold the premises to Edinburgh baker and confectioner Johnston Wright Swan in the early 1920s. The 2 April 1924 Scotsman advert below describes Swan's Victoria Boarding Residence as "now open". As the advert states, the location of the residence was ideal - close to the station, golf course, beach and other sporting facilities - with the bonus of steam trains passing by the gardens.

Johnston Swan (who may well be the taller man in the image above) came from a family of bakers and was a prize-winning baker himself. During his tenure, an extension was built to accommodate a cafe and bakehouse. This can be seen below and in the coloured postcard further below.

Mr Swan's talents were not limited to catering and baking however. He was also a musician. The piece below from 11 February 1928 Fife News notes his entertaining a company from St David's Church with his Swanee jazz-o-phone one-man band - which comprised no less than nine different instruments!

In 1929 the Swans purchased Bellville on Emsdorf Street, pictured above, from Mrs Dudgeon and, similarly as they did at the Victoria, they added an extension to be used as a bakery. This premises later became an ironmonger and hardware shop (latterly run by John McMillan). The advert below advertises the Emsdorf Street baker shop and highlights Mr Swan's fine baking pedigree of more than forty gold and silver medals and cups, as well as giving special mention to the wedding cakes for which he won so many of these prizes. By 1935 Mr and Mrs Swan had moved back to Edinburgh and he had presumably retired. Johnston Wright Swan died on 2 December 1943 at Spring Gardens, Abbeyhill, Edinburgh at the age of 84.

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Mooring Posts

5/12/2025

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Within the harbour at Lower Largo, historic mooring posts can be seen alongside their modern counterparts. In the image above a gnarly old post can be seen in the left foreground that could be a couple of centuries old. The posts are marked on maps dating back to the mid-1850s and are shown in detail on the 1912 map below.

The map detail includes the words 'Post' and 'Posts' at the harbour mouth. These features mark the Lundie rocks, guiding vessels away from this hazard. There are also several annotations of 'M.P.s' (an abbreviation of mooring posts) to indicate places to tie up vessels - both within the harbour and on the pier itself. On the map the series of mooring posts continues under both the footbridge and the viaduct up to the mill. Some of these posts may be contemporary to the significant work was done on the pier in 1819.

The image above, cropped from a postcard view, clearly shows a series of four posts marking the Lundie Rocks just beyond them. The more modern sketch of Largo Harbour below is also annotated with the poles at the Lundies.

In the circa 1900 scene above, from a George Washington Wilson photograph, a series of wooden mooring bollards can be clearly seen on the pier. Ships mooring ropes were secured to these bollards, which are positioned some distance from the face of the pier as they had to be founded in a secure part of the structure. The strains imposed on mooring bollards can be severe, particularly when the moored ship is subjected to very strong winds. These stresses are even greater in the case of sailing ships with a considerable windage. The image below shows a topsail schooner with a long mooring line attached to a bollard, likely calling at the harbour in connection with potato trading activity.

In the photograph above of David Ballingall's Forget-Me-Not (a 48.5 feet fishing boat with the registration KY 2011) entering the harbour, wooden fenders can be seen lining the face of the pier. These acted as fenders to protect the stonework and vessel’s hulls from any damage. The highest fending on the pier are what were known as “branders”. These were put in place to protect the paddle steamers from damage by the uneven stonework of the Pier. The branders were of such a height that the paddles were still protected when lying alongside at high water, spring tides.

The old worn posts must have witnessed many changes over time and are testament to the harbour's long history. Having outlived not only those who put them in place but several generations of harbour users, their longevity demonstrates their robust and skilful construction long ago.

Largo harbour's distinctive posts even appear in artworks such as the painting above by David Martin and many of the local pieces created by George Leslie Hunter, including the sketch below. No doubt these characterful features continue to inspire artists to this day.

With many thanks to the knowledgeable people who kept me right on the information about these harbour features.

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Seasons Greetings 2025

Swan's Victoria

Mooring Posts

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