Saturday 19th November 1949 saw the opening of Ellen Batty's Drapery Shop at 35 Main Street, Upper Largo. The shop sold clothing for ladies, gents and children, as well as toys and general 'fancy goods'. The shop building had already existed for decades by this time, having for a long time housed a butcher with slaughterhouse attached. 

Records of a 'flesher' at the premises go back to at least the 1850s when Alexander McGregor ran the business with wife Isabella Morrison and her brother Robert. By 1881, Alexander's son Andrew McGregor had taken over, working alongside his widowed mother. However, ten years later, it was another son - Alexander - who was running the business with his mother.

Around the turn of the century the business was taken over by William Bousie Simpson (himself the son of a butcher) who ran it for decades until his death in 1932. William's wife was Helen Henderson - hence the adjacent house was name 'Helenslea'. Helen moved to Durham Terrace in Lower Largo after WIlliam died (also calling her house there Helenslea) and her son James took over as butcher in Upper Largo for a spell. In the late 1940s, Mr R.T. Walker was butcher here but in 1948 and again in April of 1949 the family were hit by two tragic events and the butcher business ceased.
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Continuing on from the previous post, let's compare the 1885 parade route (on the day of the unveiling of the Robinson Crusoe statue) with the present day equivalent views. Above shows the 'Labour Always Conquers' banner which was situated at Largo St David's Church (seen on the left edge of the images). The buildings on the right (Comely Bank and Balfour Cottage) are unchanged. However, on the left side, after the church, a new addition has appeared since 1885, in the form of 'Downfield'. This building contained five dwellings, three on the ground floor and two on the first floor, and was constructed c1890. Beyond that is Court House, then Doctor's Wynd, Goodsir House and Bonny Bay House and Bakery.
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The next arch was sited just before arriving at the statue itself and bore the motto "Robinson Crusoe now we see good and great at last". The images above feature on the left 93-97 Main Street with the Crusoe Buildings beyond. On the extreme right is 'Seabeach' followed by 'Balguthrie'. The evergreen-covered platform can be seen on the centre left of the 1885 photograph. This is where the unveiling ceremony took place and where many speeches were given on 11 December that year.
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Moving east beyond the statue, the next arch and banner were positioned just before Cardy House and the tight corner down to Cardy Works. Naturally this one stated "May Cardy Works Flourish". The gate pier of Craigiebank is on the far right with a weaver's cottage beyond. On the left side of the street are the buildings of the former Loomshop Studio and then 'East End Cottages' or 'Braehead' (now known as Cardy Crossing Cottage). The trees behind the wall of Cardy House today look like they could be the original ones seen on the old picture.

Finally, once the ceremony around the unveiling of the Robinson Crusoe statue was complete and the dignitaries were ready to set off back to Largo Station, a final message hung stating "Will you no come back again". This comparison photo is perhaps the view that reflects the most change over time. The boats hauled up on the left hand side are now replaced with cars. The viaduct no longer has railway traffic travelling over it. The mill building seen below the viaduct arch is gone, along with the footbridge seen in front of it in 1885 (crowded with people for the special occasion). The Railway Inn is ever present though and was in the hands of the Bunns in 1885. The whole affair must have been quite a spectacle and wonderful to witness, although strange that a cold and short December day was chosen for such a red letter day for the community.

This beautiful letterhead is for the Lundin Links business of Adam & Co. Painters, Paperhangers and Decorators.

John Adam was born in Lundin Mill on 12 August 1872 to Agnes Adam. His birth was attended by Margaret Bethune and is recorded in her register of deliveries. Around twenty years later, John established his Lundin Mill house painting business, following spells of apprenticeship in Leven, Dumbarton and London. By 1901 he was an employer and he and his mother were living at his uncle's house (George Adam) which was called 'Bridge Place' but is now 2 Largo Road. His business was based at Milburnlea (4 Largo Road) next door.

In 1909 he married Christina Smith of Balmullo at her home - Upper Wellfield in Balmullo. Christina was the daughter of a stone mason. A witness at the marriage was James Dallas (a relative of John's and a stone mason from Lundin Mill). It seems likely then that the pair met through John's work as a painter and his connections with others in the building trade. ​John and Christina named their house, at the junction of Mill Wynd and Largo Road, 'Wellfield' after her former home. 

As well as building up a large painting business with several employees, John Adam was ​Chair of Largo Parish Council for six years (and a member for twelve years) plus was a member of Fife County Council. He and his wife had four children - Isabella, Agnes, John and David. Christina died in 1929. John (pictured below) died suddenly in 1932 aged 59. At the time of his death the Scotsman newspaper (27 May) noted that John "took a great interest in Largo Parish and especially in the harbour improvements there". Meanwhile the Dundee Evening Telegraph mentioned that "for over a score of years he was a member of the Golf Club Council and held for considerable periods the convenership of the Green and House Committee. He was also a keen curler".
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The ornate letterhead reflects a business that was doing very well in an expanding village. Note the detail below, with the selection of fine brushes and the palette within the design suggesting a high level of skill. As a master painter of the period, work may have included the mixing of bespoke paints, adding ornate decorative features, sign-writing and gilding. Notice also the 'telegraphic address' - showing that this letterhead predates the widespread use of telephone.

​Back circa 1910, when the shops at the west end of Emsdorf Street were still relatively new and deliveries were still made by horse and cart, someone decided to capture on film a fairly typical delivery to Brown's Fruiterer and Florist. Making the delivery are Robert James Dall and his son William Richard Dall. Robert had been gardener at Strathairly for several years by this time and probably regularly brought some of his produce to Brown's.

The reason for the photograph could well have been because the Dalls were about to emigrate to Canada. Father Robert travelled first in the November of 1910. He established himself in Vancouver. In 1911 16-year-old son William, along with brother Robert, set sail from Glasgow to join their father. William was described on the passenger list as a gardener. The following year Robert's wife Elinor and daughter Grace also emigrated to Canada. The family remained there for the rest of their lives.

Receiving the delivery, and standing in the doorway of the fruit shop is more than likely Alice Brown - niece of Jimmie Brown whose name is above the door and who ran a market garden at Hatton Law. Alice would have been aged around 21 at the time of this photograph. Next door to the left are the shops of the Young family (a stationers and newsagent shop to the left and an outfitter to the right). These shops were owned by Christina Young. The young male and female posing outside these shops are likely two of her children. She had two daughters, Janet and Annie and one son, John. The three would have been aged around 18, 15 and 16 respectively at this time. All of these shop keepers are pictured below in more detail. Note the collarless shirts in the outfitter's window and the notice advertising the Pierrots in the fruit shop window.

The Dalls must have taken this photograph with them as they embarked upon their new lives in Canada in order to remember their old life back in Largo. And fortunately for us today it provides a little insight into typical daily life back in 1910 Lundin Mill.

By way of a follow-up to the previous post about Somerville the Grocer, it's worth highlighting a little piece of architectural detail that is very familiar, as we walk over it all the time. The Leven Road shop still has its original panel of prismatic lights on the pavement in front of the shop window. These were designed to allow sunlight into the cellar below before the days of affordable electric lights. The prism shape on the underside (see examples below) allows light to be reflected sideways under the main building rather than just straight down.  It may also have been that goods could be delivered through the panels flaps (see image further below). 

The Lundin Links panels were manufactured by T. Hyatt & Co of Farringdon Road London. Over time some prisms have become cracked and others damaged through wear and tear - being replaced with tiles and cement as the natural light is no longer relied upon to illuminate the space below. The prismatic light concept featured in many architectural products of the time - some examples of which are illustrated in the advert below.
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The above circa 1907 photograph is a fairly early image of Somerville the grocer on Leven Road, Lundin Links. However, by the time this photograph was taken the name above the door had already changed from 'J. Somerville' to 'Andw. A. Somerville' as father (John) had recently handed over the reins to son (Andrew). The image below shows the original sign. In fact the young man in the door of the older image below could well be Andrew Allan Somerville himself as he was born in 1884 and so would be in his late teens at the time of this picture.

Andrew started work in his father John's grocer shop at Leven's Shorehead in 1898 at the age of 14. The following year John had plans drawn up for a new shop in Lundin Links and it opened in 1900. Andrew moved from the Leven shop to the Lundin Links one on 1 June 1900. When he reached the age of 21, he applied for his wine merchant license and the name above the shop was changed to his own (in 1905). Andrew held that license for 52 years, until he retired in 1957. Andrew was in the Black Watch volunteers between 1914 and 1918 drilling every Sunday morning on the Lundin Ladies Golf Course and was an A.R.P. warden and head fire master during the Second World War. He also took a keen interest in golf, curling and bowling and was a senior elder at Largo Parish Church.

An image of John Somerville's Leven shop can be seen further down this post. The Somervilles have also been covered in an earlier post on this site. The Somerville name remained above the Lundin Links shop into the 1980s - well after the death of Andrew in 1961. After a spell in use as an office, the shop premises has recently reopened as an up-cycling shop. The shop (pictured at the foot of this post) is now called 'Hamish and Baby Monkey' and is well worth a visit.

The photograph above was taken during the 1900s and is from the collection of George Washington Wilson & Co images held by the University of Aberdeen (ref: GB 0231 MS 3792/C5555). The Post Office building is largely unchanged to this day but the long-gone huge telegraph pole is strikingly in this old view down Links Road. The notice below, from the 6 June 1896 Fife Free Press, announces that the Post Office authorities had given approval for a branch Post Office at Lundin Links.

In fact plans had already been drawn up for the building itself over a year earlier, as the original architect drawings are dated May 1895. This time lag, plus the fact that the plans were entitled 'Shop and Dwelling House for Miss M Bremner' (with no mention of a Post Office), suggests that it was not known with certainty back in 1895 that this building would in fact go on become a Post Office, as well as a shop.

Perhaps originally Miss Bremner was simply re-locating her grocer shop from Largo Road to Leven Road (taking advantage of the westward growth of the village) and it was only some months later that the opportunity arose to incorporate a Post Office and to become Post Mistress. The Post Office function became operational from 1 October 1896 and as the notice below indicates it was "hoped that a telegraph office will long be added to the post office". 
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Turning attention to the single-storey building behind (to the left) of the Post Office - a comparison of  its appearance upon construction (it was built at the same time as the main P.O. building) and its appearance several years later, shows a few differences. The earlier right hand image below shows the rear building with 3 doors (from left to right these gave access to a general store, a coal store and a passage between these outbuildings and the main shop - see extract from architect drawing below).

After the alterations (see later left hand image), the left hand door remained but the second (coal store) door had been made into a window; a new door had been put in to the right of the new window and the passageway door had become another window. Presumably, this was to make the 'telegraph office' (later known as 'telephone exchange') better integrated with the main Post Office (rather than separated by a passage) and to allow light into what was now a working area where staff would eventually work shifts connecting phone calls.
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The telephone came to Lundin Links late in 1903 (see above newspaper snippet from 19 Sept Fife Free Press that year). The Post Office itself took the phone number 1. 
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The above notice from 15 June 1929 Fife Free Press outlines plans to extend the telegraph line from Links Road towards Lundin Links station. Below is some general information about how telephone lines and exchanges worked.

The telephone exchange moved out of the building adjacent to the Post Office around 1950 and shifted again in 1971 to it current location on Cupar Road. 

John McNicoll Nicoll was born in Kirriemuir in 1872 - son of land steward James Nicoll and his wife Agnes Roberts. By the census of 1891, aged 18, John was a grocer in Leven, Fife. In 1897 he married Catherine Mitchell in the Star Hotel in Leven (Catherine's father James was the proprietor of the hotel). By 1901 the couple were living in Forth Street in Leven and John was a 'Licensed Grocer's Assistant'. Soon after this the couple moved to Ladybank to run a licensed grocer there.

However, in March of 1905, a well-established licensed grocery business in Lower Largo was advertised for sale (see advert below from 18 March Dundee Courier). The following month,  John Nicoll transferred his license from Ladybank to Lower Largo (to the licensed grocer shop at Appleton on Main Street). At the time of the 1911 census, John, Catherine and 2 children (James aged 7 and Agnes aged 3) were living there. The photograph above shows John Nicoll outside the shop circa 1907, not long after the Nicolls took up occupancy. Note the spades hanging next to Mr Nicoll and the sailing boats in the upper right window.
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The shop advertised itself as a grocer, wine merchant and house agent (it kept a list of houses for let). As was the norm then for a grocer, orders could be placed for home delivery. The Nicolls ran the shop until John Nicoll's death on 24 January 1921 aged 48. Later that year Henry Alexander took over and remained there until the early 1940s. Catherine Nicoll lived in Lower Largo until 1951 - passing away at 'St Catherine's' at the age of 79. Son James (pictured) moved to Shanghai in 1928 to take up a position with the municipal police there (having served 3 years in the Metropolitan Police beforehand).

This 1976 photograph shows the 'Opel Kitchens' showroom at 4 Emsdorf Street in Lundin Links. The shop had originally been James Brown's fruiterer and florist. The Lundin Links Pharmacy is just visible to the right. Opel Kitchens was there for a number of years before the building was converted into housing. The up-to-date photo further below shows the premises on the left of the Pharmacy. I imagine a few local households had a fitted kitchen arranged through this showroom - any memories welcome!
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Born on 19 November 1857 in Edinburgh to ironmonger James Douglas and his wife Catherine Watson, George Watson Douglas had the original butcher shop at the Leven Road row of shops in Lundin Links. The above photograph shows the shop a few years after it first opened (circa 1899) when George was in his forties and had already had a butcher shop at Forth Street in Leven for some time. The image shows a very traditional butcher's window display, typical of the days before refrigeration and pre-packaged food. Much of the produce would have been locally sourced - some perhaps arriving at this butcher shop from nearby farms via the slaughter house on Hillhead Lane.

Half carcasses would hang from large metal hooks suspended from the ceiling. The shop's internal walls were lined with tiles. Fresh sawdust would have been spread daily on the floor. Salt and spices would have been used to help preserve certain meats. The advert below reveals that the specialities of the business (and presumably what many locals and visitors were eating back then) were "salted and spiced rounds, pickled tongues, sausages and Douglas's far-famed corned beef". 

Many people would shop on a daily basis for meat. The advert further below mentions that "orders called for daily and promptly delivered by van". This shop was built with both a cellar and an outside store (across the rear courtyard) - both of which offered some cooler storage space. The 'back shop' just behind the shop space would be used for preparation and had a large sink on the back wall. The gate to the right of the shop (out of shot) would have been in constant use with incoming and outgoing produce. Although George Douglas died aged only 45 in 1903, the family business continued here in Lundin Links for some time and for even longer in Leven.

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