Picking out a detail from the postcard shown in the previous post, here is a clearer image of the Belmont Temperance Hotel which once nestled between Largo Station and the harbour area. This 10-bedroom hotel lasted just over 30 years before a fire left it a shell in 1926. Below is an advert from 1898, targeting "boarders", "visitors" and "commercial gentlemen" alike. An earlier (and probably the first) proprietor was Miss Mary Carswell. She played her part in a dramatic scene in Largo in 1893. On 22 August that year, the Dundee Courier reported that a gale had raged the previous day on the Firth of Forth - quite unprecedented for the time of year. A Norwegian vessel, travelling from Aberdeen to Methil, ran aground on the sand opposite the Temple and appeared to have sprung a leak. The crew, who did not speak English, were generously invited to hospitality at the Belmont Hotel by Miss Carswell.
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