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Largo House and the Durham Coat of Arms

25/2/2022

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The previous post looked at the life of General James Durham (1754-1840) and noted that one of the changes he made to Largo House was the addition of a coat of arms on the tympanum above the central upper windows. 'Coat of arms' is the popular term for what is more accurately a 'full heraldic achievement'. This post attempts to 'read' the heraldic achievement displayed on Largo House and understand the significance of the various elements of it. The component parts of the full heraldic achievement, including the shield, supporters, crest, and mottoes, will be described. 

Heraldic visual designs have been used by families, places and organisations for centuries to symbolise their identity. The origins of such designs date back to medieval times when a warrior dressed in a full suit of armour including a helmet would have been entirely anonymous without some visible symbol to identify him. His shield provided a large flat surface upon which to display a pictorial means of identification. 
A family's arms can evolve through the generations to reflect lines of descent, adoption, alliance, etc. General Durham registered his own coat of arms in 1792 and it carried variations from the arms of his Durham predecessors. It must have been after the death of his father in 1808 that he had his own arms mounted on the frontage of Largo House. Below is an annotated image of it as it appears on the tympanum of Largo House (which being stonework does not reflect colour aspect of the arms).

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​The full heraldic achievement of General James Durham bears two mottoes: Victoria non praeda (Victory not booty (or loot)) above the crest; and below the arms: Per mare per terras (Through the sea, through the lands).

Central to the coat of arms is a shield quartered. 
Quartering in is a method of joining several different coats of arms together in one shield by dividing the shield into equal parts and placing different coats of arms in each division.

The first and fourth quarters of the shield represent the Durham family (see full Durham shield below) and have a crescent topped with three mullets (stars with straight sides, typically having five or six points - five in this case).

The second quarter bears the Calderwood family shield - a saltire with five mascles (diamond shaped objects) on ermine with palm leaves. This represents the family of General Durham's mother, Anne Calderwood, and is the key variation from his father's arms.

The third quarter reflects the Rutherford family - 
an orle below three martlets (mythical birds without feet which never roost from the moment of birth until death as they are continuously on the wing). The Rutherford shield, which can be seen below was quartered with the Durham shield when the Rutherford of Hunthill line ended with Margaret Rutherford, wife of General Durham's great grandfather, James Durham. 

The quartered shield is flanked by two supporters: horses saddled and bridled. These are known as 'supporters' or 'attendants' which are usually as close to 'rampant' in attitude as possible. Horses represent readiness for all employments for king and country. Above the shield is a dolphin haurient (depicted swimming vertically, typically with the head upwards). In heraldry, the dolphin is an ornamental creature that takes the form of a large fish. It bears little resemblance to the true natural dolphin, which is a marine mammal. A dolphin represents swiftness, diligence, salvation, charity and love. This dolphin sits atop a Baron's coronet (small crown). Such a crown would have six pearls, only four of which are visible on the arms.

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Below is a representation (from a medal) of General Durham's father's coat of arms. Its shield bears only the Durham and Rutherford quarters. This medal, which was awarded to James Durham for archery around 1752, is held at St Andrews University Special Collections and can be viewed on-line in detail here. General Durham's younger brother Philip Charles Henderson Durham had his own coat of arms registered in 1818. The full heraldic achievement featured the same shield layout as his father's (i.e. the one on the medal below) but had different elements added that were more personal to him. More on that some other time. 

​Despite all the variations in the Durham arms over the centuries, it is the arms of General James Durham (1754-1840) that has been displayed in Largo for around two centuries and can still be seen (albeit obscured by trees) on the tympanum of the ruins of Largo House. As it is difficult to view the ruins today, here is a link to a short drone film over the Largo House ruins from the Vintage Lundin Links and Largo YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/IS6jlq8dPAc

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The Norrie's Law Silver Hoard

11/2/2022

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Two centuries ago, a hoard of silver was discovered at Norrie's Law - a cairn on the northern edge of the farm of Bonnyton within the Largo estate, close to the boundary with Teasses estate. The find is now known to be one of the largest hoards of Pictish silver ever to be found and has been dated to 500-600 A.D.. Unfortunately, back in circa 1819 the unnamed person who unearthed the finds was an unscrupulous individual who, rather than report the find to the appropriate authorities, sold the silver to an intermediary allegedly named Forbes who sold the pieces on to silversmiths. The objects, reportedly including a full suit of scale-armour, a shield, a helmet and a sword handle were melted down and recycled by the purchasers. Thus important historical artefacts, and the knowledge that they could have unlocked, were forever lost. 

Word of the event eventually reached land owner General James Durham of Largo House. He had the site rechecked and further silver items were recovered, having escaped the notice of the original finder. Although General Durham had succeeded in preserving an important subset of the hoard,
a mix of intact objects and hacksilver (fragments for recycling), he did not immediately share the news of his discovery. It was not until around two decades later that a man named George Buist brought the story into the public domain. Buist was a journalist and keen antiquarian. While researching sculptured stones, he heard of a stone recently rediscovered by General Durham (now known as the Largo Pictish Stone). While learning about the rediscovered stone at Largo House, Durham presumably told Buist about the silver.
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George Buist aged around 40 years, captured in a ​Hill and Adamson calotype in late 1845 during a visit of a few months to Scotland following the death of his wife.

George Buist (pictured above ) was born in Forfarshire in 1804. At the age of twelve, he enrolled at St Andrews University to study Theology. From 1826 he spent six years as a preacher, following in his father's footsteps. In 1832, a career change saw George became editor of the Dundee Courier. After two years, he left to set up the Dundee Guardian on his own account, as well as the Scottish Agricultural Magazine. He later edited the Perth Constitutional before spending six months in London in 1837, working in the library of the British Museum where he undertook historical and antiquarian research. A particular line of investigation of his was ancient cross-stones.

This interest, coupled with a return to Fife to become editor of the Cupar-based Fifeshire Journal, led George Buist to General James Durham. Buist re
cognised the similarity between the imagery on the Largo cross-stone and on a silver plaque amongst the hoard (what we know now as the Pictish double disc and Z-rod). George Buist's journalistic curiosity led him in 1838 to investigate the backstory of the original find and the lost majority of the hoard. He became convinced that more facts (and possibly even further pieces from the hoard) could be unearthed by bringing it to the attention of the public. Part of his strategy was to have pewter casts made of nine of the key objects. These could be taken with him while making his enquires to perhaps jog memories. The pewter replicas are pictured below (and were later donated to the museum at St Andrews).

The maker of the pewter replicas was Robert Robertson (1793-1877), a Cupar jeweller who lived and worked
 at 35 Bonnygate. He was a deacon of the Hammermen Trade (that is craftsmen working with metal, including silversmiths, goldsmiths, armourers, blacksmiths, wheel-wrights, cutlers and pewterers, saddlers and lorimers). He also became Chief Inspector of Weights and Measures for the County of Fife and was highly respected. So it is surprising that he was also one of those who had also illegally purchased some of the original hoard two decades before (he paid £35 for his items). Robertson was able to provide some more information that helped Buist gain a better understanding of the fate of the original portion of the hoard, including his recollections of the appearance of some of the lost objects and what he knew of other purchasers of the silver. He described a shield featuring a man on horseback and sword handle which appear in the illustration further down the post as items 8 and 9.
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14 July 1859 Fife Herald advertisement for Robert Robertson, Jeweller, Cupar
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​Incredibly, Buist reported that, as a consequence of his investigations, one additional plate and one pin, both matches for existing pieces, (items 4 and 5 in the image above) were 
"recovered from hands from which they might, like so much of what preceded them, have passed into the crucible of the silversmith". He stated that these recovered pieces had now "been added to the collection of General Durham, in connection with which they will hereafter be noticed without further distinction from the others". He also bemoaned the "absurd law in reference to treasure trove, which has occasioned the secretion and destruction of so many valuable relicts". In other words he believed that the law encouraged the type of action carried out by the man who found the Norrie's Law hoard - the speedy destruction of evidence.

​Buist went on to publish a report to the Fife Literary and Antiquarian Society late in 1839 entitled "Silver Fragments in the Possession of General Durham, Largo - commonly called the Silver Armour of Norrie's Law" (which can be viewed in full here). However, just at the point that this was published and interest was high, Buist left Scotland to take up a new post as editor of the Bombay Times in India. General James Durham was one of the many to write a testimonial for Buist to ease his settlement there. The letter of introduction (further below) was written on 7 December 1839.  James Durham died two months later on 6 February 1840.

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So with General Durham deceased and Buist in India (where, aside from a couple of brief return visits to Scotland, he would live out the rest of his life), investigations into the hoard were discontinued. The surviving silver remained in the possession of the Durham family. In 1856 Mrs Dundas Durham sent the relics to an exhibition of antiquities and in 1864 she gifted part of the collection to the National Museum of Antiquaries of Scotland in Edinburgh. The remainder of the silver was donated to the same museum in 1883, following her death.

For over a century the 170-piece silver collection was assumed to be one cohesive group of medieval artefacts. The additional items 'rescued' by Buist's efforts in 1838-39 were treated as a genuine part of the hoard. However, in recent years the objects and their origins have been re-examined as part of the Glenmorangie Research Project on Early Medieval Scotland. Project findings have thrown up a surprise and cast doubt over the authenticity of a couple of the key objects. The writings of George Buist have played a key part in unravelling the truth.

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Pictured above are two pairs of virtually identical objects from the hoard. Recent analysis has revealed that these pairs of objects are each made up of a worn original and a direct copy. Where there were areas of damage on the original, these were also present on the copy. The silver composition of the copies was examined and the copies were found to be refined silver that lacked the trace elements one would expect to be present in antique silver. These items were different from the rest of the hoard and the question arose of when these copies were made. 

The story of Robert Robertson making the pewter copies was widely documented. He would have had the necessary moulds. Could he have made the silver copies too? Was George Buist misled about the unearthing of these 'lost' pieces'? Or could have been in on the creation of the silver copies? Arguably both Robertson and Buist had something to gain by the miraculous 'finds'. For Robertson, being able to add to the surviving silver hoard could have eased his guilt over his involvement in the earlier illegal destruction of the lost items. For Buist, having something tangible coming out of his intense investigations into the hoard would have provided both success and closure prior to his departure from Scotland. The source of the 1838/9 supposedly-rescued pieces was never specified and Buist had seemed keen that "
they will hereafter be noticed without further distinction from the others".

The full facts will likely never be known but certainly we understand more now than we did before and perhaps further information will come to light in the future. In the meantime, you can see the surviving hoard including the imposter pieces at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, where they are part of the Early People gallery. As for George Buist - after 20 years at the Bombay Times, he retired from journalism in 1859 to take up a government appointment at Allahabad. He died from dysentery while at sea, en-route to Calcutta on 1 October 1860.

Read more on the recent findings in this NMS blog - blog.nms.ac.uk/2015/03/19/the-glenmorangie-research-project-norries-law/ and also in this video - 
www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9CtTmpaQCM&list=TLGGW4HYcdAgKhEwOTAyMjAyMg&t=98s


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Illustrations of the key silver pieces featured in the 1856 'Sculptured Stones of Scotland' book by John Stuart. Note that this does not include the 1838/9 additional items only the key pieces retrieved around 1819 from Norrie's Law.
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Largo's Pictish Stone

4/2/2022

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The Picts were an ancient people who lived in what is now eastern and north-eastern Scotland from Caithness to Fife from around the 3rd to the 10th century. Much of what we know about them has been deduced from the Pictish stones that survived from that era. Above is a plate from John Stuart's 1856 publication 'Sculptured Stones of Scotland' - a seminal work that sparked great interest in Scotland's Pictish stones. The image was created at the firm of Keith & Gibb, Royal Lithographers and Engravers. It shows in detail the symbols carved into the Pictish stone which is now much deteriorated and resides in a shelter to the right as you enter Largo Kirk churchyard through its west gateway.

Sometimes referred to as the 'Largo Cross' or the 'Largo Stone', the upright cross-slab of red sandstone is shaped to a rectangle with a rounded top. It is carved in relief on both sides. On one side is a ringed cross that fills the full dimensions of the slab. The head of the cross is equal-armed with rectangular terminals. The shaft of the cross is set into a rectangular base. To the right of the shaft is a pair of entwined sea-horses and to the left is a large human figure. Indistinct traces remain of ornamentation on the ring and of a flat circular boss at the intersection. The cross arms once had an interlaced pattern and a spiral or interlaced design once covered the shaft.

The opposite face depicts a hunting scene in the upper half, with three horsemen and at least two hounds, all facing to the left. There are traces of some creature behind the lower rider. In front of the two lower riders is a double disc and Z-rod symbol set vertically. Below all of that is a Pictish beast facing left and further below a deer looking back at another deer. Below are two alternative illustrations of the stone, which measures 6 feet 6 inches by 2 feet 6 inches and is 5 ½ inches thick. The upper one, in sepia, is from an 1840 book by J.M. Leighton called 'History of the County of Fife. The lower illustration is from 'Early Christian Monuments of Scotland' by J.R. Allen and J. Anderson (1903).

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The stone dates back to the 8th or 9th century but little is known about its early history. At some point it was moved from its original (unknown) site, broken in two and forgotten about. Its rediscovery happened around 1838. The story goes that one piece was discovered during quarrying on the north side of Norrie’s Law. The other part, roughly equal in size, turned up almost a kilometre away, having been used as a drain cover. A variation of the story is told in the extract from Stuart's 1856 'Sculptured Stones of Scotland' (see above) - where it is stated that it was "taken from a wall forming part of or contiguous to old Largo House".  Either way, the 1830s discovery involved General James Durham. The two pieces reunited, they were cemented together and erected in the grounds of Largo House on a plinth inscribed with the year 1839, when it was fully restored and re-erected. The 1854 map below shows the 'monumental stone' situated on the right of the west entrance to Largo House. General Durham died in 1840 - the year after the stone's restoration.
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At some later point, possibly when Lilias Dundas Calderwood Durham sold the Largo estate and moved to Polton House, near Dalkeith in 1868, the stone was moved. It was positioned in the kitchen garden at Polton, in among the greenhouses and growing produce. A painting dating from 1840 of Polton House is shown above. The pair of detailed maps below from around 1912 show the stone still in place at Polton and, on the other map of Largo, a note stating 'sculptured stone (site of)' indicating that the stone was no longer in its former spot at Largo. This relocating of the stone created an anomaly - a Pictish stone standing beyond the south boundary of where the Picts had ever been, as they were never south of the Forth.

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The timing of the stones return to Largo (at its new site at the Kirk) is a little unclear. Historic Environment Scotland states that "by 1933 it had been taken back to Largo" however a 1938 map shows it still in the grounds of Polton House. The latter could however be an error, given that the 1938 map series has a footnote stating that these were "surveyed by rapid methods as an emergency measure". Perhaps an assumption was made the the stone was still there. After all it would have been a rare occurrence for Pictish stone to be moved. Further investigation shows that the 1933 date relates to a report published that year - 'The Royal Commission on Ancient and Historic Monuments and Constructions in Scotland Eleventh Report'. Within that it states that the stone at Largo was actually visited in August 1925, when it had apparently "recently been returned".

Pictish stones are classified into three groups. Class I stones are the simplest and oldest, with symbols cut into the stone. These date to the 6th, 7th and 8th centuries and do not include Celtic crosses.  Class II stones have both Pictish symbols and Celtic ornamentation. These 8th and 9th century stones are dressed, so that the imagery stands out in relief. Class III stones also date to the 8th and 9th centuries but have none of the original types of Pictish symbols. These are typically decorated with crosses and scenes involving people and animals.

The stone at Largo is a Class II stone and is a complex blend of a cross, a hunting scene and some of the earlier Pictish symbols such as the pictish beast and the double disc and Z-rod symbol. It is a cross-slab rather than a free-standing cross and incorporates both Christian and pre-Christian symbolism. After a millennium and having been uprooted from its standing place more than once, Largo's Pictish stone understandably looks a little worse for wear now. Yet it is worth a visit to see this remarkable piece of history in its roofed and grilled enclosure at Largo Kirk.

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Battle of Emsdorf and Sir William Erskine

27/1/2022

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On 14th July 1760 the British were victorious over the French in the Battle of Emsdorf, which is depicted in the above painting. This battle took place during the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) - a struggle for world supremacy between Great Britain and France which is considered to be the first global conflict in history. At Emsdorf, the newly raised British 15th Light Dragoons, along with six battalions of Hanoverian and Hessian infantry and some irregular cavalry fought against the French side (which were five battalions of the Royal Bavière and the Anhalt regiments, German mercenaries, and a regiment of hussars recruited from Hungary). The two forces were roughly the same size at around 3,000 men. The British and Hanoverians wore red. 

Part of a campaign to disrupt the French line of communications, this particular battle's objective was to capture Marburg to the west of Emsdorf (a village in Hessen, Germany, north of Frankfurt) where a French supply depot was situated. The French force were settling down to lunch when the British alliance surprised them. The Anglo-Hanoverians ultimately captured over 1650 prisoners, mostly due to several charges by the British 15th Light Dragoons into the retreating French force. A map of the battle is shown below. 
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The victory was largely won by the well-handled British 15th Light Dragoons. The officer commanding the 15th was Lieutenant Colonel William Erskine. Erskine later presented King George III with 16 colours (flags) captured by his regiment after the battle. The 15th had only recently formed and had seen no action as a regiment beforehand. Augustus Elliot was the Colonel and many of the men had been tailors by trade, giving the regiment the nickname "Elliot's Tailors" in its early days.  Later the 15th Light Dragoons went on to be the 15th King’s Royal Hussars, then the 15th/19th King’s Royal Hussars and now the Light Dragoons. 

The story below published in the 24 May 1876 Naval and Military Gazette tells of how Erskine motivated his men by ordering them to place small branches from an oak tree into their helmets to signify that they were as tough as oaks themselves. The piece goes on to describe how the 15th charged four times at Emsdorf - an action of legendary proportions. Once back in Britain, while being reviewed in Hyde Park, the 15th wore oak leaves in remembrance of Emsdorf.

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The fledgling regiment's victory at Emsdorf caused a sensation back in Britain. They were awarded the first ever Battle Honour (the right to emblazon the name of a battle or operation on flags, uniforms or other accessories), thus beginning a system that continues to this day. The 15th Light Dragoons began to wear the words “At Emsdorf” on their light dragoon helmets (see image below) and, as a result of this victory, the regiment acquired the new nickname of “The Fighting Fifteenth”.
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​William Erskine (pictured below) was knighted for his performance in Emsdorf by King George III. Nicknamed "Woolly" Erskine, he went on to be posted to America and spent three years participating in the American War of Independence. He later saw action in the wars of the French Revolution. The Erskine Baronetcy, of Torrie in Fife, was created in the Baronetage of Great Britain on 28 July 1791 for William. In 1793 the baronies of Torrie and Lundin were entailed by Sir William Erskine. When he died on 19 March 1795, he was succeeded by his eldest son William.

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So by the beginning of the 1800s, General Sir William Erskine, second baronet of Torrie (1770-1813) was proprietor of the Lundin estate. With the death of his father was still relatively recent, when it came to forming plans for the development of a new village to the south of Lundin Mill, he decided to name it Emsdorf after his father's famous victory. The brief entry (no. 6334) in the Sasines of 1802, shown below, is the earliest reference to the name 'Emsdorf' within the Largo Parish. It records James Crawford as the first to take possession of a feu in the newly established village on charter by Sir William Erskine of Lundin. 

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From then, further feus were taken up and Emdorf grew into the village seen on the 1854 map below. Many of the early residents of the village were linen hand loom weavers. At the time of the first census in 1841 there was a concentration of weavers in the streets of Emsdorf. The sound of the shuttle would have emanated from many of these houses, as a local nonagenarian commented in 1931.

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The younger Sir William Erskine, the second Baronet, died in 1813. The title and estates passed first to his brother James, until his death in 1825 and then to youngest brother John, fourth baronet, who lived until 1836. The Baronet of Torrie title became extinct upon his death. The property of Sir John Erskine of Torrie then passed to the son of his late sister, Frances Erskine (1773-1798). This was Rear-Admiral James Erskine Wemyss of Wemyss (1789-1854), whose maternal grandfather was Sir William Erskine of Battle of Emsdorf fame. James Erskine Wemyss sold the Lundin Estate to the Standard Life Assurance Company in 1852, shortly before his death (see notice from 27 May 1852 Fife Herald below).
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Although Emsdorf no longer exists as a village, the street names of Emsdorf Street, Emsdorf Road and Emsdorf Crescent survive to this day within Lundin Links. The unusual name often prompts questions. Although like several other streets and settlements around the country the name recalls a long-ago battle fought in a foreign land (other examples being Waterloo, Trafalgar and Maida), the full story of Sir William Erskine and his role in this battle remains relatively unknown. 
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Read more about the Battle of Emsdorf here: ​https://www.britishbattles.com/frederick-the-great-wars/seven-years-war/battle-of-emsdorf/
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Hunger Himout or Hunger-em-out

6/1/2022

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The Ainslie map of 1775 shown above shows a place by the name of Hunger Himout to the north of Lundin Mill, where Little Pilmuir is now. This lost place name means 'starve him or them out' and has variations including Hunger-em-out. It's the latter that is used in the 24 November 1836 Fife Herald piece below about a pair of men who lived there at the time who were charged with assault. This article states that Hunger-em-out is Hattonlaw but the name does seem to have applied to whole area encompassing Hattonlaw and Little Pilmuir.

The unusual name does appear elsewhere in Fife and further afield within Scotland, including Orkney and Lanarkshire. Another example close by is Hunger emout in the Parish of Kettle shown on the 1775 map too (see further below). The book 'The Place-Names of Fife' by Simon Taylor (2008) explains that this was a "humorously self-deprecating name" which "refers either to poverty of the land or to the fact that it was not big enough to support its inhabitants". The name belongs to a well-defined genre of early modern Scots place names containing a verbal construction. Not dissimilar is the English market town name of Hungerford, which is derived from a Saxon name meaning "ford leading to poor land".
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Another reference to the term can be found in the 11 August 1858 North British Agriculturist below. This refers to "the hunger-him-out system of farming" which, in the case described, had reduced the land to worthless remains (caput mortuum in Latin). The suggestion seems to be that the land was depleted due to overuse and that soil fertility was not properly maintained. So perhaps at some point in history areas with this name had been exhausted by over use. Whatever the origins of the name in the Largo case, the Brown family certainly proved that the land could be made productive and that a good living could be made from it.

It is ironic that Largo's 'Hunger-em-out' was where the Brown family had their market garden for many decades. Jimmie Brown was a life-long market gardener, like his father before him and brought produce from Hatton Law to Lundin Links for decades. Before occupying the newly-built shop at the west end of Emsdorf Street from 1903, he sold his produce in the open air at Emsdorf Road. Esther Menzies recalls this as follows: "In the summer time, in a small clearing in the front of the trees, Jimmie Brown set up his hut and sold fruit and vegetables...[which were] green and crisp and were sold in fresh cabbage leaves instead of bags." After Jimmie died in 1943, while walking the road to Hunger-em-out, his niece Alice Brown continued to run the fruit and florist shop (see image at the foot of this post). 

Had you heard the name Hunger-em-out? How old do you think this name might be? When did it go out of use? Any thoughts on this interesting name welcome!
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More about Drummochie Harbour

27/8/2021

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As a follow-on from the previous post about the Port of Drummochie, and the heyday of the salt pans there, we can look in more detail at the visible evidence of the old structures around this area. First, for context, a map comparison (above) of Drummochy in 1964 (top) and a feuing plan of the same area from around 1840. Numbered on both maps are:

1. The site of the former Emsdorf School;
2. The Salt Panhouse on the 'Panbraes';
3. Drum Lodge;
4. Salt Girnel (later known as Net House).

These landmarks and others are also annotated on the map below of Drummochy Salt Works from the book 'Largo - An Illustrated History' by Eric Eunson and John Band. This also shows how the pair of skerries of rock directly in front of the panhouse would likely have been dammed to create a 'bucket pot' (basin). Here the sea water would have been held when the tide was out, ready to be drawn up into the panhouse for boiling. More about the salt production process can be read about here.

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The aerial image above and the ground level images below show the remains of the harbour structure. Much of the original stone would have been recycled into new building works long ago.  The former 'Pan Braes' became known as 'Massney Braes'. Unable to find any definitive origin or meaning for the word Massney, I wonder if there is any connection to stone masons using this area as a source of material. Opinions welcome on this idea - or evidence of an alternative meaning to the name. It's certainly the case that stone has taken from this area of shore by masons. In 1880, legal action was taken to stop Thomas Tivendale, mason, from "taking stone for building purposes from the seashore opposite Mr Macrae's property". Mr Macrae was Colin George Macrae W.S. of Drum Lodge.
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Interestingly, on the c1840 map above, the present-day harbour at Largo is labelled 'Harbour of Drumochy'. This suggests that once the old Port of Drummochy on the west side of the Keil went out of use, the name was transferred (temporarily) over to the neighbouring harbour (the Drummochy name being established and well-known). Drummochie had its own annual Fair - see below from the 1828 Edinburgh Almanac. This took place annually on 1st February and had been established sometime prior to the mid-1770s. It was a regular event for well over a century, providing an opportunity for trading and amusement.

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Above images show specific detail of the old harbour of Drummochie, captured at a time when there was less sand covering the area. The image on the left is the base of the sloping revetment of the harbour entrance (looking back towards Drum Park). The photo on the right is the end of the pier section which projects from the Lundie rocks.
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Another historic feature in this vicinity is the man-made extension to the end of the Lundie rocks. Built around the 1830s, in the pre-railway days of the steam boat services, this low-water pier allowed boats to dock, embark and disembark passengers and goods, whatever the state of the tide. The flat platform of cut rocks can still be seen at the Lundies southern tip. The two images above show this from the ground and below is the same area from above. Remnants of iron fixings in the rock indicate a walkway with a bannister once would have assisted passengers from the boat to the shore.

Enjoy a short drone video clip ending at the former Drummochy Harbour here: https://youtu.be/HzIW_B2jxbk

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With thanks to John Band for the ground level images of the harbour remains and explanatory notes on these, also for permission to use the sketched map of the Drummochy Salt Works.
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The Mile Dyke

6/8/2021

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In recent times the 'Mile Dyke' has been known for being the dividing point between the course of the Lundin Golf Club to the east and the Leven Links Golf Course to the west. However, the wall or 'dyke' itself predates both courses, going back to the eighteenth century. The 'Miledyke Wood' appears on the 1854 O.S. map (see below). And, in the accompanying O.S. Name Book, the Miledyke Wood is described as "A wood chiefly composed of oak, beech and elm trees, planted nearly a century ago on the estate of Lundin". Historically the dyke was a march wall that formed the boundary between the estates of Lundin and Durie. 
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​The Mile Dyke is similar in appearance to the wall at Fir Park in Lundin Links (shown below). Both are well-built random rubble masonry walls with large boulders arranged somewhat haphazardly at the base but topped with more uniform stones. Both are built from a mix of local stones (some likely gathered from the beach) set with slightly recessed mortar, so that all the stone faces can be easily seen.

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Always a local landmark and notable point of reference, mentions of the Mile Dyke in the local newspapers often relate to property lost close to it - see examples below from the Leven Advertiser in the early 1900s. 
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However, most frequently, the Mile Dyke is mentioned in relation to golf. Leven Links dates back to 1846 and originally ended to the east at the Mile Dyke. It was extended beyond the dyke by 1868, towards Lundin Mill. Lundin Golf Club was instituted at the same time. The Mile Dyke thus became not a golfing boundary but a hazard in the centre of the green. A shared Leven-Lundin golf links arrangement meant that play started at both ends with a pause at the half-way point to take turn about. However, by the early years of the 20th century, the increasing popularity of golf locally led to frequent congestion and drastic change was required. In 1909, new full eighteen-hole courses opened at each end and the golf links was divided. James Braid designed the Lundin course, while Alex Patrick laid out the new Leven course. When an end came to the previous combined arrangement, the Mile Dyke reverted to its role as a boundary point.
 
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The Leven Mail ran a poem about the Mile Dyke on 16 October 1946, penned by James Dingwall of Leven. Shown in full below, the humorous words highlight the robustness and longevity of the wall. The piece ends with the fitting statement that the Mile Dyke "will for lang years yet be seen".

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Newburn Old Church

21/10/2020

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Above is a 'then and now' comparison of the roofless ruin of Newburn Old Church, which is located to the north west of Upper Largo, close to Drumeldrie. The east end of the church is of pre-Reformation date and may be part of the original structure, which was dedicated by Bishop Bernham in 1243. The top postcard image above dates to the early years of the twentieth century, when the structure was covered with thick ivy, long since removed. Two very new-looking headstones appear in the foreground on the left, which appear more weathered and less straight today. The chain link has disappeared from the stone posts surrounding this plot. The gravestone on the extreme right above has been removed, apart from its base, while some neighbouring headstones have tilted with the passage of time.

Here's what RCAHMS had to report on the Old Parish Church following a field visit in 1927:

"At the south side of the road close to Little Dumbarnie, half a mile north-west of Balchrystie, stand the ruins of the old parish church, so densely clad with ivy that the external features are not apparent . The rubble walls rise to a height of about 12 feet, and there are east and west gables, the latter with a late belfry. The church measures internally 54 feet 10 inches in length by 12 feet 4 inches in breadth at the east end and 14 feet 10 inches at the west end the widening being all on tile north between the west gable and a transeptal aisle, which projects from the middle of the north wall and is a later addition.

The windows, one of which in the west gable has had a circular head, are now all built up, and other structural changes have been made. The original entrance is probably the round-headed door near the western end of the south wall, but the porch which covers it is later. An equilateral-headed credence in the north wall with roll-moulding and outer checks for a door and a small locker-recess beneath, is a pre-Reformation feature, as is also a recessed piscina, chamfered, with a bowl 10 inches in diameter opposite to it in the south wall. A larger recess at the southern end of the east gable, 2 ½ feet high by 1 foot 10 inches wide by 1 foot 2 inches deep, now closed by a memorial stone, may also be early."

A few hundred yards away is the the early nineteenth century parish church which replaced the old church around 1815. This later church closed when the last minister of Newburn, Reverend Frederick Cox retired in 1958. The Parish of Newburn was united with that of Largo at that time. One of the ways in which the Old Newburn Church was recognised by the united church was by the holding of open air services there on the Sunday closest to midsummer's day. The old ruined church is in a beautiful spot and is filled with interesting features and memorials - well worth paying a visit to.

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Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe - 300th Anniversary

24/4/2019

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First published 300 years ago tomorrow (25 April 1719), the story of 'Robinson Crusoe' by Daniel Defoe (first edition frontispiece pictured above) was a ground-breaking work. Written in a highly-descriptive narrative style, the account is presented as if an autobiography of the title character. The first instalment 'The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York, Mariner' was so well received that by late summer 1719 the book had been reprinted three times and Defoe had published a sequel,  'The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe'. A third volume, 'Serious Reflections During the Life and Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe' completed the trilogy in 1720. Hundreds of editions, translations and spin-offs followed and the tale became one of the most widely published of all time. The isolation/survival premise of the story has been much imitated. There is even a literary genre named after the novel - ‘Robinsonade’ - defined as ‘a desert island story’ or ‘castaway narrative’.
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Written in a house in Church Street, Stoke Newington, London, 'Robinson Crusoe' was Defoe's debut work of fiction. And it came late in his life - he was almost sixty when he penned it. Defoe was born 'Daniel Foe' in London circa 1660. Son of James Foe, a butcher and tallow chandler, Daniel's early life coincided with the Great Plague and the Great Fire of London, as well as the raid on the Medway by the Dutch Navy. By the time he was ten, his mother Annie had died.

His adult life was equally event filled. As a risk-taking merchant he found himself bankrupt and as a political writer he was imprisoned. A prolific writer on topics as diverse as crime, politics, religion, marriage, psychology and the supernatural, he was also a pioneering journalist. After travelling around Europe, he adding the 'De' to his surname (perhaps to sound more exotic or aristocratic). He witnessed the Great Storm of 1703 and wrote a book about it the following year. After the success of his first work of fiction with 'Robinson Crusoe' in 1719, he followed up with others such as '​Moll Flanders' and 'Roxana'. His marriage to Mary Tuffley produced eight children. Defoe (pictured below) died on 24 April 1731.
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Before and during Defoe's lifetime there had been multiple stories of real-life castaways - including of course Largo-born Alexander Selkirk. Defoe himself never confirmed nor denied that Selkirk was the prototype for Robinson Crusoe and as a result much speculation has ensued over the centuries as to where the inspiration came from. Many articles and books have been published exploring various theories. 

While it's possible that Selkirk and Defoe actually met one another, what seems probable is that Defoe would have been familiar with the 1712 publication of 'A Cruising Voyage Around the World' by Captain Woodes Rogers, who had rescued Selkirk in February 1709 from his four years and four months of solitude on the island of Mas A Tierra in the Juan Fernandez archipelago off the coast of Chile. His publication relayed Selkirk's experiences in some detail as it was his crew who discovered Selkirk “clothed in goat-skins” gesticulating wildly to them from the shore. Selkirk’s survival story spread widely due to Woodes Rogers’s work. A likely scenario is that Selkirk's adventures - interwoven with creations of Defoe's own imagination plus perhaps elements from other retold survival stories - formed the basis of Robinson Crusoe, which was completed seven years later.

There were of course several notable differences between Alexander and Robinson. For example, the former left his ship by choice while the latter was shipwrecked. Selkirk spent four years and four months on an uninhabited island, while Crusoe found himself stranded for 28 years. Selkirk had only goats and cats for company while Crusoe had 'Man Friday'. Crusoe's island was in the Atlantic while Selkirk's was a Pacific island.

Back in the Parish of Largo, as elsewhere, the connection between the fictional Crusoe and the famous local Alexander Selkirk became strong. Both men (the real and the fictitious) were celebrated. In 1792, the Reverend Mr Spence Oliphant wrote the Statistical Account for the Parish of Largo. The words recorded within this (recorded under the 'Eminent and Notable Men' section) cemented the connection. Oliphant's words, shown below, bear a strong resemblance to the account published by Woodes Rogers and following the publication of the 1792 Statistical Account his words were reprinted in many newspapers and journals. Selkirk family members continued to live in Largo and were able to share recollections of their famous relative. Some Selkirk artefacts remained in circulation. The statue of Crusoe was erected on the site of Selkirk's former home in 1885. Part of the main street in Lower Largo was named 'Defoe Place' for a time. A Selkirk museum was a feature in Largo in the late 1980s.
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Three centuries after its origin, 'Robinson Crusoe' is still read and enjoyed in numerous formats and languages. The tale and its main character continue to be discussed and studied. The genre is still imitated and re-invented - a recent example being the novel (and movie) 'The Martian'.  But the classic image of the wild man dressed in goat skins is the one that remains most recognisable and most authentic. The true story of Alexander Selkirk and the image of him described by Woodes Rogers has influenced many an artistic book cover, as well as Largo's own statue. 
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Lundin House Doocot

28/2/2018

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Lundin House - the main mansion on the Lundin Estate - was almost completely demolished in 1876. The tower was left standing and is still a local landmark. A lesser-known building that still stands (albeit as a ruin) is the Doocot or Dovecot that served Lundin House. It is listed on the 'Buildings at Risk Register':

www.buildingsatrisk.org.uk/details/908010

A doocot is a structure full of pigeon holes for housing doves or pigeons, which were historically an important source of food. Early Scottish doocots were a beehive shape but a 'lectern' style with a mono-pitched roof became more common from the late 16th century. These structures continued to be built well into the 18th century (when the Lundin one is thought to date from), with some becoming quite decorative in style. The Lundin House Doocot is gothic in style - a style which can also be seen at Eglinton in Ayrshire (see below)
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The doocot can been clearly seen on the 1854 map below of Lundin House (prior to the demolition). The longer building to the north east of the dovecot housed the kennels. Lamont's Diary shows evidence of a dovecot at Lundin House in the 1660s, although that would have been an earlier structure. The images further below show the dovecot (front and rear) still roofed and in much better condition in the 1970s (source RCHAMS). It's too bad that this interesting little building has not been maintained. ​If you know any more about this structure - please comment!
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    This blog is about the history of the villages of Lundin Links, Lower Largo and Upper Largo in Fife, Scotland. Comments and contributions from readers are very welcome!

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