I was delighted to receive an image recently, from a kind visitor to the blog, showing a paper bag from Turbayne's shop. Described as a "Grocer, Fruiterer and Confectioner", the shop stood at the corner of Hillhead Street and Emsdorf Crescent and was run by James Terras Turbayne. He was proprietor from 1920 into the 1950s and you can read more about his time running the shop here. Note that the small bag features a very fancy looking box of chocolates with the words "High-Class Confections" above it. There is also a footnote: "home and foreign fruits in their season".

Also notice the phone number for the shop at the time was a single digit. The very first phone lines in Lundin Links were as follows:
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This small bag survived because it contained a half-sovereign given to its owner in infancy (circa 1950). Her grandparents lived in Lundin Links. ​This is not the first image of a paper bag from a long-gone local shop that has appeared on this blog. Back in 2017, another reader shared an image of a bag from David Watson the baker - click here to read more about that. If you have a paper bag from an old local shop or a similar artefact, please do get in touch. Sometimes a seemingly insignificant little item can bring back memories, provide a glimpse of the past and help to preserve a little bit of local history. 
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The previous five blog posts have charted the history of Lower Largo's Crusoe Hotel, from its 1824 origin as a granary to the more modern era of the 1970s. The years from the 1980s to the present day will remain fresh in many people's memories. If you have your own stories or photos that you would like to share, and add into the archive of the hotel's history, please do get in touch, either by commenting on this post or hitting the 'contact' link on the sidebar (or footer on mobile version of site). 

The circa 1980 photograph of the hotel above shows the building returned to a creamy-white colour after its mustard-yellow 1970s incarnation. The newspaper photograph below shows the 'Flying off the Pier' event, which took place on 27 July 1980, with the hotel in the background. These events always drew huge crowds despite the fact that little actual 'flying' was achieved.

Nationally, the period 1980 to 1983 saw what was considered to be the most severe recession since the Second World War. So it was a challenge, in 1982, when the state of the pier became a concern. A 31 March 1982 East Fife Mail report stated that then Crusoe Hotel proprietor, Lockhart Bruce, owned the pier. Mr Bruce explained that the economic recession made it impossible to direct money to pier repairs. So discussions took place with the Community Council on potential ways to use the hotel to raise money for a pier fund. Repairs were carried out later that year.
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The most significant alteration to the hotel building in recent decades was the extension added above and behind the seawall between the main building and the pier (see below). The photograph above was taken in 1989, the same year that then owner Bob Jurgensen submitted a planning application to the District Council for alterations and extension to the hotel. Permission was granted with some conditions (such as a requirement to use traditional materials in the build and to ensure that the façade of the existing building and the extension matched). The works were completed in 1991. The images below show the extension shortly after completion from the front and just over a decade later from the rear.
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A couple of years after the hotel was extended, Bob Jurgensen decided to create a tourist information point and exhibition within the hotel. This was to mark 300 years since Alexander Selkirk went to sea in 1693. The exhibition consisted of six panels which outlined the life of Selkirk and highlighted other figures of interest such as Daniel Defoe and William Dampier. The exhibition space was designed to provide the ambience of the galley in which Selkirk sailed and there was originally even a hatch through which visitors could view his desert island.

The mid-1990s advert below for the hotel notes that it had recently featured on TV programme 'Wish You Were Here'. If you remember that - please comment. The advert draws heavily on the desert island theme. At this time the restaurant was named the 'Castaway Restaurant' while the 'Juan Fernandez Bar' continued alongside the 'Crusoe Bar'. The 'Man Friday's footprint' in the floor is also mentioned. Even with the extension, the total number of bedrooms (12) was fewer than it had been in the past, due to the fact that en-suite facilities had been introduced.

The photograph above shows the Crusoe Hotel fenced off while up for sale in the autumn of 2020, having been placed in administration. It was purchased by the present owners in the spring of 2021 and in the last couple of years, the hotel has been significantly renovated and refreshed. The images below show a selection of before and after images to provide a flavour of the most recent round of changes. The Crusoe Hotel has emerged looking fit for the future, while acknowledging its past (and of course retaining the Robinson Crusoe theme). As the building approaches its bicentenary next year, the story of the former granary looks set to continue for many years to come.
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The previous post covered the inter-war years at the Crusoe Hotel, ending with the period when the hotel was owned by the Dick family. In April 1947, Samuel Maxwell Nicoll was granted a hotel license for the Crusoe and became the next long-term owner. Sam was born in Glasgow in December 1916 and had been in the R.A.F. during the Second World War. He married Sheila Betty Beable, in 1942, in London and the couple went on to have two children. During his time at the Crusoe, Mr Nicoll was involved in the wider hotel trade, as a director of the Licensed Trade Association and a committee member of the Fife and Kinross division of the British Hotels and Restaurants Association. A feature of his era was the Juan Fernandez Cocktail Bar (shown below with its barrel, lanterns, clay pipes mounted behind the bar and rustic wooden panelling). At the time the 14-bedroom hotel, with dining room for 80 people, marketed itself as being modern yet retaining old-time character. Like the Lundin Links Hotel, the Crusoe Hotel bought into the concept of being located on the 'Scottish Riviera' and used the phrase in advertising in the 1950s.
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In 1961, Sam Nicoll made some alterations to the hotel. Notably the arched doorway to the former cart shed and stables was replaced by a window and the backdoor entrance to the bar was blocked up. Meanwhile, inside, a number of modernisations took place to the ground floor bar and lounge areas. These included building up old fireplaces, removal of some partition walls, and the creation of new vestibules inside the front entrances (see plan above).

Shortly afterwards, in 1962, plans were set out for two garages to be added to the hotel, abutting the seawall. The plan below shows how these were arranged to fit in between the main building and an existing shed. The fact that the postcard image above shows the new windows fitted in 1961 but not the garage proposed in 1962, dates the image precisely to one of those two years.
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Having trained at Edinburgh School of Cookery at Atholl Crescent, Crawford enjoyed creating unique dishes using local ingredients. Often his dishes had local names such as 'Saute Beef Montrave', 'Braised Duckling Balcormo' and 'Steak Selcraig'. Another innovation of his was the creation of the Man Friday Gourmet Club.  Meeting around five times per year, dining club members were invited to a specially themed meal. However, as the 5 February 1975 East Fife Mail reported, the tantalising aspect was that the guests only saw the detailed menu once they arrived.

The Club proved to be very popular, attracting people from far and wide and gaining a membership of around 120. With only 40 places on offer each time, members had to reply to invitations quickly to secure a place. The 1974/1975 season included the themes of 'Food Through the Centuries', 'French-Style' and 'Roman Orgy'. The Latin-sounding menu for the latter is shown below, the highlight being suckling pig roasted over charcoal (see photograph). The food was presented theatrically and at this event guests sat on the floor eating food from wooden platters that had been dished up from large cauldrons. 
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Crawford Horne also became actively involved in promoting Fife as a destination. He can be seen in the photograph above with Duncan Dewar, Fife's assistant tourist officer, promoting Fife as 'Scotland's Holiday Kingdom' at a tourism event in Manchester in 1976 (25 February East Fife Mail). In the summer of the same year, the hotel and pier became a focal point for the 'Crusoe 300' celebrations. The ambitious 10-day event took place in Largo to mark the tercentenary of the birth of Alexander Selkirk (the Largo-born inspiration for the character Robinson Crusoe). The Crusoe Hotel's role included hosting the opening Barbecue and Dance, a Radio Forth Disco, a 'Bothy Night' after 'Its a Knockout' and a Gala Ball. Below is the Christmas offering from 1976 - all on a Caribbean theme.

Note in the two black and white photographs above, from the Canmore collection, the rustic outdoor seating area. The 1973 advert below echoes the 'fine-dining' reputation of the hotel, with the "famous Crusoe menus, seafood caught daily and superb wines". If you recall sampling the delights of the hotel's menus from this time, please leave a comment. In the next and final post in the series - a few selected highlights from the more recent decades of the hotel. 

In the early 1920s, the Crusoe Hotel building approached its centenary looking more modern than before. Now with more bedrooms and varied catering options, including a tearoom, the once old-fashioned hostelry was enjoying popular appeal. The 'stables' that existed within the building in 1920 had become a 'garage' by 1925. This was also the heyday of entertainment at the pier pavilion. Both the pavilion and the hotel even featured several times in sketches and paintings by Scottish colourist George Leslie Hunter (see examples below).

​In the book 'Hunter Revisited' by Bill Smith and Jill Marriner it is noted that: "The little town of Lower Largo provided another favoured painting ground for Hunter. This tiny stretch of the Fife shoreline - its cottages and large, square granary block (now part of the Crusoe Hotel) backing in to the sea, its sandy shore dotted with large outcrops of rock, its jetty and small harbour at the mouth of the Keil Burn and people enjoying the sea air - provided a constant source of challenge for Hunter." The painting above is 'Summer's Day, Lower Largo' dated 1921 which depicts a bustling beach scene.

The 1921 census lists 14 people in residence at the Crusoe Hotel on the night of 19 June. Proprietor, Howard Barnes Moss, his wife and eight-month old son, headed up the list, followed by three 'servants' (on-site members of staff). The hotel guests were a civil engineer, two tweed manufacturers with their spouses and children and a spinning mill manager. Three years later, in 1924, the Barnes-Moss family emigrated and the hotel was bought by Miss Marion Brown. She had run the Royal Hotel in Comrie with her sisters Jessie and Elizabeth for the previous seven years (St Andrews Citizen 19 April 1924). The Ayrshire-born sisters continued the recently-established tearoom element of the hotel.

However, in April 1926, the hotel was sold once again - this time to Robert Dick. He had been a joiner by trade but, owing to an injury in the First World War, he was unable continue in that profession. Having gained experience in the Victoria Inn in Lochgelly, he became owner of a public house on High Street, Innerleven, in 1924 at the age of 31. When he and his wife Margaret Guild and their children relocated to Largo two years later, a long period of unchanged ownership at the Crusoe began.

During Bob Dick's time at the hotel, he possessed Alexander Selkirk's gun. He made this available for handling, fascinating his guests. He managed to attract the attention of the national press several times over the years, regaling tales of the "exploits of the old mariner who made Largo famous". It would appear that much of his information came from a descendent of Selkirk's who was at the time residing in Lundin Links and also from an old acquaintance from Bob's days in the west of Fife, the late Dr Selkirk of Cowdenbeath.

The proprietor was also happy to tell of the building's history. He described the hotel as standing "solidly on the edge of the North Sea" where "wild winter gales" and "certain tides" would on occasion "whirl surging seas round it and leave it as an island". Its role "as a warehouse for distribution by sea of Fifeshire's potatoes and grain before the railway came out from Leven" was also celebrated. Bob Dick liked to speculate about how the original Robinson Crusoe might have found his establishment "a haven of comfort" and a "paradise". Certainly, locals and visitors of the time flocked to the hotel and pier. Scenes like the 1930s one below were a regular occurrence in high season.

The previous post described a period of transition for the Crusoe Hotel - from a small inn within a granary to an expanding hotel, playing host to fashionable functions for the the many summer visitors and golfing fraternity. The hotel already had its iconic picture of Robinson Crusoe in goatskins on its landward gable end and it had become a popular destination. When John Harris bought the Crusoe Hotel in April 1898, seven decades of Largo Granary Company ownership came to an end.

Harris set about upgrading the premises and the 19 July 1898 Dundee Courier notice above told of "entirely new management" and "redecorated and refurnished" rooms. The hotel now filled a large section of the old granary building and had its own stables. Yet, despite seemingly favourable circumstances, Harris advertised the hotel for sale the year after buying it. The advert below from 25 August 1899 Glasgow Herald provides scant description of the hotel but makes a point of stating that "a good business is being done" and that there were "satisfactory reasons for selling". Could the truth be that the seller had concerns about the future of the business?
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The timing of the decision to sell is interesting because, at this point, the Lundin Links Hotel was under construction. The building of the new hotel in Lundin Links had become a protracted affair. The old village inn had been bought in 1897 by James McTavish, the son-in-law of keen golfer and Edinburgh-based tailor, Sam Duncan. Duncan was an associate of architect of the new hotel, Peter Lyle Henderson. Indeed it was Duncan and Henderson, together with former owner of the old inn, William Bethune, who had the vision of demolishing the old establishment and building a modern, up-market hotel to cater for golfing summer visitors. 

James McTavish had married Margaret Duncan in 1896. The intention was that they would own and run the hotel. Construction of the new hotel was advanced when, in March 1899, McTavish was declared bankrupt.  The bankruptcy was connected to the infamous ‘Pattison crash’.  McTavish had previously worked as a clerk for the firm of Pattison, Elder & Co – a whisky distiller and wholesaler that was mismanaged and collapsed taking many other businesses and individuals with it (McTavish held many shares in the company and was liable for some of its debts). 
 
The Lundin Links hotel "in the course of erection" together with "the old building" was advertised for sale in April 1899 (see 8 April Scotsman notice below). The two buildings were purchased by the three individuals mentioned above (Duncan, Henderson and Bethune) and the Leven Advertiser on 27 April reported that following the sale of the hotel "the operations at Lundin Links Hotel will likely proceed on the same lines as originally intended, the purchasers being, it is believed, gentlemen who from the first had an influence in starting the enterprise". With the Lundin Links Hotel's construction back on track, John Harris knew he would be facing competition - not least because Peter Henderson, the architect, now co-owner of the new hotel, and former Captain of Lundin Golf Club was an influential figure, once hailed in the golfing songs performed at annual smoking concerts in the "good old Crusoe Hotel".

​In 1901 the dispute was settled out of court and Cessford did not remain at the Crusoe for much longer. Aside from the court case, complaints had been made about how the house was conducted. The St Andrews Citizen reported that "every Sunday intoxicated persons had been seen to come out of the premises". Mr Cessford had also apparently left his young niece in sole charge of the hotel on a number of occasions. The result was that his 'hotel licence' was cut down to a more restrictive public house one.

A fresh start was made in the Spring of 1902 when Dura Den-born Thomas Lumsden purchased the Crusoe, although it took until October 1903 for the hotel license was restored. Lumsden brought a period of stability to the hotel and catering for pic-nic parties became a speciality. The hotel managed to co-exist with the Lundin Links Hotel (now run by Sam Duncan junior). The advert below from the 12 June 1906 Courier shows that both hotels aimed to appeal to golfers, offering 'moderate' charges.

In January 1911, Thomas Lumsden suffered a set back, when a serious fire caused £1,000 worth of damage to the hotel. As the 14 January Fife Free Press above noted, the fire was spotted as the Lumsdens were retiring to bed in the evening and ultimately flames shot dramatically from the roof. The Buckhaven Fire Brigade attended more than an hour after the alarm was raised and were hindered by the tide being out. The roof had to be cut away to enable water to access the source of the flames. The upper storey was completely gutted. The lower floors were saved, as was the adjoining band hall, but water damage to furnishings and stock was great. The fire was extinguished by 4am the following morning. No clear cause for the blaze was found. Extensive rebuilding would be required. On 2 April 1911, the census recorded Thomas and Catherine Lumsden and their two daughters Catherine and Susan living at neighbouring Rock View, while the hotel was denoted as 'B' meaning being built (or in this case rebuilt).
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The hotel emerged from the incident with seven extra bedrooms and a modern-looking new flat roof. Around the same time the ​Pier Pavilion became a feature on the adjacent pier. However, the hotel's march into a new era was impacted firstly by the outbreak of the Great War and then, in July 1916, by the death of proprietor Thomas Lumsden died aged 65 years. His widow Kate continued the business until 1919, before deciding to retire.  In March 1919, the hotel was once again advertised for sale, this time highlighting the "splendid summer trade". 

The purchaser this time around was Yorkshire man and ex-RAF officer, Howard Barnes-Moss. With pre-war experience in both running a hotel in Falmouth, Cornwall and a Turkish Baths with Billiard Room in London (see below), he wanted to conduct the business as a proper hotel, with greater emphasis on catering and intended creating a new tea-room within part of the former granary. The move north to Scotland coincided with Barnes-Moss starting a new life with his second wife, Maria. Their two youngest children would be born in the hotel in 1920 and 1922. In Part 4, we will pick up as the hotel approaches its centenary.

In Part One of this series, on the history of the Crusoe Hotel, the origins of the building as a granary in the 1820s were covered, as well as the establishment of an inn. Early innkeepers included George Duff and Alexander Selkirk but it seems probable that James Gilchrist was the innkeeper to introduce the 'Crusoe Hotel' name to the establishment in the early 1870s. In 1881, former farmer John Forrester began his long run as hotelkeeper. Born in Newburn in 1820, to William Forrester and Jane Hodge, John was a farmer until the age of 60.

He had just completed a seven year lease at Auchendownie Farm prior to taking over the Crusoe Hotel. Perhaps it's no coincidence that a former agriculturalist should take over an inn within a granary building that he would have known well. Hotel-keeping offered an alternative occupation for his later years, as well as employment for his wife and children (some of whom would continue in hospitality for the rest of their lives). A number of changes to the building took place during Forrester's tenure. Looking at the pair of photographs above, there are several differences.

The top image dates to circa 1880 and the lower one to closer to 1900. As demand for granary storage space declined, but the need for visitor accommodation rose, the hotel expanded into the attic floor of the seaward end of the building. New larger dormer windows were created, a new slate roof put on and new chimney pots added. The hotel exterior was freshly painted and its sign spruced up. The later image features the 1888-constructed fishermen's bothy set into the wall by the pier as well as the 1894 station building (elevated to the left). The chimneys of the circa 1890 Edina View can been seen just about the Hotel roof.

The shift in use of the building from granary, to hotel and other leisure pursuits, didn't end there. In 1890 a 'smoking concert' or 'smoker' took place in the granary loft. In aid of the Lundin Golf Club building fund, this event saw a "bevy of ladies" convert the space into "a beautiful apartment decorated with flags and bannerettes, floral devices and trophies of clubs and cleeks". Over 150 visitors and residenters were present. The Dundee Courier of 26 August elaborated further and included an accompanying sketch (below) of the scene at Largo pier:

"For the first time in its existence, Largo indulged one night last week in the luxury of a "smoking concert." ...The old Crusoe Hotel was gaily decorated with flags, and the interior...was very prettily set out with floral decorations, mottoes, and lanterns.....It is fully expected that the proceeds from the concert will free the clubhouse from debt."

Such was the success of the event that it evolved into the "Annual Festival of the Lundin Golf Club" running over a few days in what was now being referred to as the "Hall of the Crusoe Hotel Buildings". The 1891 festival involved not only a smoking concert in the granary but also a 'children's frolic' for 200 youngsters and a dance for adults. The song below, composed by a golf club member, was sung at the concert. Note the people mentioned in the song include architect and regular visitor Peter Lyle Henderson (who did go on to become Captain of the Lundin Golf Club) and William Hearsey Salmon of Homelands, who was Captain of the Lundin Ladies Golf Club in 1891. The 'good old Crusoe' is honoured in the final verse.

The following year, 1892, the Crusoe was decorated with "Moorish Temple decorations" for the Golf Club Festival. Each evening's entertainment saw the railway viaduct "illuminated by lime lights". Large flags were supplied by Mr Clapperton of Edinburgh. A new golfing song had been composed by club poet Robert Johnstone. Again there was a concert, a children's frolic and a golfers' dance. The new song for '92 includes reference to "Crusoe's charming hall" and the "jolly golfers". The final verse, printed in the 1 September 1892 Fifeshire Journal, was as follows:
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Now let all the wide world know
That the charms of Largo grow
Ev'ry year there are new "beauties" to behold; 
Since our Ladies Links were made
There is quite a grand parade
Of our charmers, who at Golf can ne'er grow old

By 1893, the hall in the Crusoe Building, was referred to as the "Band Hall" because the Largo Brass Band had taken a lease there. Other tenants of the granary portion of the building were Thomas Buttercase (Potato Merchant) and Gordon the Poulterer from Leven. For the smoking concert in the Band Hall, once again a new golfing song was composed. The lyrics are shown below and once again feature Peter Lyle Henderson and the old Crusoe.

The present-day Crusoe Hotel occupies the entirety of a building that was originally built as a granary in the 1820s. Constructed so that local landowners and farmers had a safe and secure place to safely store grain, close to transport links (i.e. the harbour), the granary originally comprised two levels. Storage facilities that protected produce from damp and vermin, as well as theft, went a long way to ensuring a good price could be obtained for crops. Granaries of a similar design were springing up along the Fife coast around this time, including at neighbouring Elie and Pittenweem. The images below show the similar style of the Elie structure (top) and the Largo granary. 

In 1846, George Duff became ill and eventually died of consumption (tuberculosis). His wife Ann, moved up to Kirkton of Largo to run the inn there, while the inn at Lower Largo harbour was advertised for let (see below from 30 April Fife Herald). It transpired that the man named in the advertisement, village grocer Alexander Selkirk, took over the lease of the eleven-apartment inn. He continued to rent the inn from the Largo Granary Company for many years. 
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Meetings of shareholders and tenants of the Largo Granary Company often took place in the inn (now sometimes referred to as 'Selkirk's Inn'). The 13 December 1855 Fifeshire Journal above details one such meeting. On this occasion, the focus was on the imminent arrival of the railway. The success of the East of Fife Railway was toasted at the event and those that had not already subscribed to the scheme were encouraged to do so. Note also the reference to the Crimean War and British allies France and Sardinia. The principal tenant at this time was Robert Hutchinson of Kirkcaldy. In 1830, at the age of 21, Robert Hutchison opened an account in the name of Robert Hutchison and Company and began trading in wheat, barley oats, flax, butter and flour. By 1856 the company would own all the land in East Kirkcaldy where the present flour mill now stands.

The arrival of the railway and the increasing popularity of Largo as a visitor destination would have further boosted the inn. In the 1860s and 1870s, David Russell of Silverburn, owner of Largo Mill, was a major tenant at the granary. He used the building to store imported seed for crushing, as well as oil and oilcake for export. At some point around this era the granary seems to have acquired a third storey in the form of an additional loft space.  

Alexander Selkirk died in 1867 aged 67 and the advert above for 'inn to let' dates to the 30 Jan 1868 Fifeshire Journal. Shortly after this, James Gilchrist is recorded as the innkeeper at the harbour. His mother was a Selkirk too. I strongly suspect that James could he have introduced the Crusoe name to the inn. The name first appears around the mid-1870s. It was in 1872 that James's brother Robert Gilchrist was involved in the creation of the Robinson Crusoe Lodge of the Independent Order of Good Templars. Clearly the family were keen to commemorate their Selkirk relative and make use of the well-known Crusoe name.

James Gilchrist died in 1873. His wife Margaret appears to have been in charge for a short while but in 1875 the tenant innkeeper was James Methven. The next innkeeper, John Forrester, had the inn for a much longer period. The next post in the series will pick back up by looking closely at his time in charge of the inn - now styled the Crusoe Hotel (see advert below from the 2 April 1875 East of Fife Record).
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Above is a 'then and now' comparison of the corner of Hillhead Street and Emsdorf Crescent in Lundin Links. The top image features the former shop, as it was in the 1940s, during the tenure of James Terris Turbayne. He was proprietor from 1920 into the 1950s. The ground floor was in fact two shops - the grocer to the right, and the fruit and confectionery shop to the left, each with its own entrance. Previously, the corner shop had been David Lindsay's grocery and the smaller shop had been the chemist belonging to Peter Cowie.

The black and white postcard image is entitled "St Helen, Lundin Links", as this is the name of the home above the shops. The upstairs dwelling was built above a pre-existing single-storey shop during David Lindsay's time. Helen was the name of the mother of David's wife, Isabella Horne. The Lindsays also had a daughter named Helen (known as Nelly) who died in 1901 aged 12. A further dwelling behind the shop was named Nellfield.

The building set back to the right of the shop was likely the original stable and cart shed connected with the business, at a time when grocery deliveries were fulfilled by horse and cart. By the Turbaynes time, the shift to motor vans had taken place and one can be seen in the 1940s image. The advert for Turbayne's below states "orders called for and delivered daily by motor van".

Round to the right of the front door to the grocer shop is an external sign for the Woodburn Laundry (for which Turbayne was an agent). Above is an advert for the same from 30 March 1935 St Andrews Courier. This facility was in St Andrews and boasted "open-air drying - right on sea front". Below is a photo of the actual laundry, adjacent to the Lifeboat Station at St Andrews (image courtesy of University of St Andrews, Special Collections). 

Close inspection of the Turbayne postcard photograph shows that there is a person tucked in at the left side of the motor van and that a selection of wines and spirits are on display in the shop window facing the van. The crates and boxes stacked up outside the shop may have just been taken out of the van, ready to restock the shop shelves. The person doing the unloading appears to be hiding from the photographer.
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The two adverts below illustrate the range of wines and spirits that were stocked by James Turbayne once he had secured his license in Lundin Links. He also stocked soft drinks such as the aerated waters produced by Leven based Christopher Adamson.

The previous post covered the life of Largo-born Alexander Ballingall, who spent most of his working life as an acclaimed artist in Edinburgh. Alexander and his elder brother engraver William Ballingall were well-known for their artistic accomplishments. However, these were not the only creative members of the family. John Ballingall their younger brother was also an accomplished painter, although art was not his main occupation. John worked in Largo as a cork cutter. The above artwork entitled "Entering Port" is an example of his work. It features Largo Harbour and Pier and several fishing boats. Like his brother Alexander, John frequently opted to portray marine and fishing scenes.

John was born in 1859, the ninth of the ten children of weaver and amateur astronomer William Ballingall senior and his wife Jane (Jean) Wilson. While the majority of his siblings moved away to Edinburgh for work, John remained in Lower Largo. At the time of the 1881 census, John was a journeyman cork cutter (perhaps having learned the trade from one of the other local cork cutters in Largo such as Edward Johnston or John Edmonson Miller) and the only of the siblings living at home with his parents. As a cork cutter, he likely had close ties with both the fishing community and the net factory.

In 1883, John married Annie McIntosh in Edinburgh and she joined him in Largo. The first of their eight children, William, was born the following year but he sadly died aged just two and a half. By the time of the 1891 census, there were four children in the household and John's occupation was described as 'cork manufacturer'. At this time, the family were living in part of Goodsir House. 
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Although John had probably always painted, it was during the 1890s that John's artwork received more attention. Several of his known paintings date to this decade - for example the work "Sailing Boats at Moonrise" above is clearly dated 1894.
It was also in 1894 that John featured in the newspapers when a message in a bottle he had set off on the sea at Largo on 22 November 1893 washed up five weeks later in Norway. Mid-November 1893 had brought the worst storms for many a year to the east coast and loss of life had been great (well over 200 persons). John had reflected upon the disaster with his young sons and had decided to send off a letter, along with his card and instructions for the finder. He was also moved to offer a watercolour painting with proceeds donated to the Lifeboat Institution, who had saved many lives during the storm. Full details are below, from the 20 January 1894 St Andrews Citizen. Note that the bottle has been corked and wrapped in cork. 
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John's role as an artist must have flourished, as the notice below from the 7 January 1897 Leven Advertiser below tells of the exciting news that he had moved to "new and commodious premises opposite the U.P. Church" where there was a large exhibition room for his oil and water-colour paintings. This premises was at Forthview Place in the part which would later become the Leven Reform Co-operative Society shop. In 1898 he also had a seascape displayed at the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh.

The previous five blog posts have charted the history of the Lundin Links Hotel, from its 1900 opening to the more modern era of the 1960s. The years from the 1970s to the present day will remain fresh in the memories of many, if you have your own memories or photos that you would like to share, and add into the archive of the hotel's history, please do get in touch, either by commenting on this post or hitting the 'contact' link on the sidebar (or footer on mobile version of site). The black and white images of the hotel above and below date to the mid-1970s and belong to the Canmore collection of Historic Environment Scotland. J.W. Mathison was still in charge at the hotel at this time. He advertised Christmas Dinner in 1975 at £2.50 plus VAT per head. A night's accommodation was £5.25 for a single room and £8 for a double.
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Above is a typical advert for the hotel from 1980, setting out the entertainment for the week ahead. A mix of private functions, music nights, high teas and bar lunches would have been typical of the time. The price of £1.75 for a full supper with live music sounds like a good deal. Early in the 1980s the Jurecki family, who also had several other local businesses in both Lundin Links and Lower Largo over the years, ran the hotel. The adverts below date to 1982 and you can see the 'under the care of M. J. & R. Jurecki' note on all of these. Also notice the reference to 'our new Papillion Restaurant' and the 'Double L'.
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​A longer spell of ownership occurred between 1991 and 2002 when Ian Ladd and Lyn Barron-Ladd owned and managed the Lundin Links Hotel. Stating that they wished to appeal to both local clientele and those from further afield, in 1992, they embarked upon an extensive facelift for the property. The ground floor was redesigned to create a new restaurant and to double the size of the bar area - which was renamed the 'Side Door Bar', following a naming contest. A dance floor, CD juke box and pool table were installed. The reception area was moved and a new replica arched doorway was created by John Donaldson the joiner. The images below, which appeared in a full-page advert in the East Fife Mail, illustrate the changes. The downstairs restaurant initially specialised in Tex-Mex food.

​The final owners, from 2010, were Claire and Martin White. The hotel finally closed its doors in January 2014. ​It was incredibly sad to see the hotel slowly deteriorate over the years that followed. Without wishing to dwell on recent events, the final photographs below show the hotel boarded up and then its remains after the fire that took place on 17 August 2022 (and before the demolition which began on 1 September and was carried out by Austin Wilkinson Demolition). A distinctive landmark for almost a century and a quarter, the hotel may now be physically gone but the good times that it provided will live long in the memories of a great many people.
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