By 1871 John Miller was established as a cork cutter in Upper Largo, now with 7 children, 4 of whom were born in Largo. A decade later and he was still described as a 'cork top manufacturer' and had one further child. At some point, the Millers became involved with the Independent Order of Good Templars' Robinson Crusoe Lodge. John held various offices and appeared often in the newspaper archives as attending various meetings and events in connection with the movement. It's interesting that a bottle top maker, with connections to the brewing industry, went on to live by "total abstinence enforced by a life-long pledge, and the absolute prohibition of the manufacture, importation and sale of intoxicating drinks as beverages". The above programme for the local lodge from the "Good Templar Guide: North-East Fife District 1898-1904" notes John E. Miller as the Secretary at the time and shows that he and his wife were responsible for a number of the functions listed.

By 1891, John's occupation had evolved slightly to 'wood top manufacturer'. This was likely partly due to a general trend away from the use of cork to other materials for bottle closures but may also indicate that he wanted to cater for temperance drinks rather than alcohol. Below are images of a cork top (left) and a wood top (right). By this time, fellow cork cutter Edward Johnston had become bankrupt and had left Largo. John survived the changing fortunes of his trade but supplemented his income by having three boarders living in his household. Ten years later, aged 70, John Miller continued to host three boarders and was described as a 'wood top maker'. 
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John Edmonson Miller died on 19th June 1905 at Law Cottage, Upper Largo - his death registered by son James, who lived very close by at Broomfield's Buildings. As far as I can tell, this ended many decades of bottle top making in the Parish. Modern innovation had by then changed practices completely. Ebonite or Vulcanite screw stoppers (patented in 1880) were advertised as superior to corks due to the ease of opening by hand (no need for a corkscrew), robustness (won't break like a cork could), airtightness (contents won't go flat) and reusability (if used many times were a fraction of the cost of cork). India rubber was heated in a process called 'vulcanisation' to create a mouldable, durable material that was used for bottle stoppers for decades. The adverts below show these stoppers, which fitted into an internal screw thread in the bottle neck, in detail.

Back in the nineteenth century (and likely before then too), one of the occupations carried out in Largo was cork cutting. Among the men who described themselves as 'cork cutters' over the years were John Ballingall, Edward Johnston, Henry Kirk, John Edmonson Miller, Thomas Rankin and James Rodger. In addition, there were several boys employed to assist in this line of work.

Henry Kirk was a cork cutter based on the upper part of Kirkton of Largo's North Feus, shown in the above postcard image. At the time of the 1861 census Henry Kirk employed '1 man and 1 boy' in his cork cutting business. He was listed in the 1862 Westwood Directory (above) under 'miscellaneous'. It's likely that the cork cutters' main output would have been stoppers for bottles and other containers, such as the stoneware containers shown in the advert below for Henry Kennedy and Sons of Glasgow.

This increase in production could well be linked to the opening of Cardy Net Works in 1867. Floats would have been required for the edges of the nets and cork was the material of choice for that at the time. In 1876, the Johnston family moved to a property on the south side of Upper Largo's Main Street. They named their home 'Norwich House' after Edward's home town. The house (later changed to 'Norwich Cottage') is shown in the centre of the map below.

Robert Gilchrist was born in Largo in 1840 - the youngest son of Elspeth Selkirk and James Gilchrist (a hand loom weaver at the Temple). His was one of several houses at the Temple at the time that included a 'weaver's shop' as part of the property. In 1859 Robert joined the 'Lundin Mill Total Abstinence Society'. This was a prelude to his long-term involvement in the Good Templar movement. Although he was away from home when the charter was signed for the institution of the Robinson Crusoe Lodge of the Independent Order of Good Templars in 1872, he joined a few weeks later.

Over many years, Robert filled all of the offices at the local lodge as well as many at East Fife District Lodge level. In 1879 he was elected to lead the latter - a role he carried out by travelling around the district on his pony trap. Eventually, he served on several committees of the Grand Lodge, rising to its Assistant Grand Secretary. The "Good Templar Guide: North-East Fife District 1898-1904" stated that "the bicycle was neither fast nor fashionable in those days but with his pony, to and fro throughout the district he went, instituting new, resuscitating dormant, and encouraging existing lodges".

On 11 March 1861 Robert Gilchrist (then a post messenger) married Jane White (daughter of mason Robert White, who was partner with Archibald White in a well-known local building firm). The couple settled in Lundin Mill and Robert himself soon joined the building trade. By the 1871 census the pair had three children - Catherine, Elspeth and James. A decade later, in 1881, Robert was an established builder and his son was his apprentice. The family were living in Emsdorf House and, on the day of the census, had a 'Scottish Coast Missionary' staying with them as a visitor (no doubt in connection with the Good Templars). 

Above is a piece from the 24 November 1883 Fifeshire Advertiser describing the celebration following completion of building work on a new farm steading at Pratis led by Robert Gilchrist. In 1885, Gilchrist was convener of the committee responsible for the events associated with the Crusoe Statue unveiling.  The following year, he completed the building of the Good Templar Hall (later known as the Crusoe Hall). Over the next three decades Robert continued in the building trade, still residing at Emsdorf House, playing a significant role in the development of Lundin Links, along with fellow builders such as Archibald White and Walter Horne. He was the builder of the Simpson Institute in Upper Largo, opened in 1891. His daughter Elspeth married painter Robert Blair Forrester in 1893. In 1894, Robert Gilchrist and Son were the builders of the striking Colinsburgh Town Hall. 

In 1911, Robert and Jane Gilchrist celebrated their ​Golden Wedding. Two of their children and seven grandchildren were present. Their daughter Catherine had died in 1889 aged 27. The 15 March 1911 Leven Advertiser gives an account of the event below, along with further details of Robert's life. He was chair of the Parish Council, an elder of the Parish Church, President of Largo Curling Club and active in the bowling and tennis clubs. However, he was best known for his tireless work in connection with the temperance movement. Robert Gilchrist died, aged 85, at Emsdorf House in 1926. His wife Jane had predeceased him in 1913.
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The above photograph will bring back memories for many who remember the shop at the west part of what was Defoe Place (now 3 Main Street), Lower Largo. Thomas Potter had the shop prior to Max Jurecki and this picture shows him standing at its door. There are some great details in this image. Note the advertising signs at each end of the premises - promoting 'Golden Virginia' hand rolling tobacco on the left and 'Wall's' ice cream on the right. Above the door is 'Player's Cigarettes' sign and to the right of the door an advert for 'Ilford' film.

This building housed the village Post Office for many years prior to this time, with three generations of the Welsh family running it. It was still the Post Office at the time of the photo, as can be seen from the sign to the left of the door. This was the standard old sign displayed at all Post Offices. The same one hung on the wall of Miss Bremner's Post Office in Lundin Links and is shown in more detail below. The Lower Largo Post Office later moved along to 91 Main Street.
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Postcards were clearly a big seller at this shop with an elaborate outdoor display board showcasing 'Valentine's' postcards. You can almost work out which vintage postcards are on show from the detail below from the photograph. There is a selection of novelty postcards in the lower right corner of the display (Scottie dog, lucky heather, etc). Hundreds of visitors must have purchased and sent postcards from here.

The Daily Record newspaper headline board has the enticing headline "Meet the Beatles in Person!" (dating the image to after they rose to fame in late 1962). The shop also had a Public Telephone (see sign above the door). I wonder whether that facility pre-dated the telephone box at the Orry. Finally to the right of the picture is a wonderful vintage car with the registration OSP 4. Does anyone recognise it?  Please share any memories of this shop if you can by commenting. Changes to the property over the years shown below.
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These two Lundin Links street scenes featured on a multi-view postcard. The above (circa 1908) is the junction of Leven Road, Emsdorf Street and Links Road, looking down towards Peacehaven (originally Mr Gerrard's Villas) in the centre distance. It's a busy scene filled with people (not cars like today) plus a horse and cart. An aproned man is pushing some provisions in the direction of the cart - perhaps ready for the daily delivery of grocery orders from one of the shops. A lady with children is walking down near Crescent Road, while some very smartly dressed women are passing by Hogg's Pharmacy. Might they have been heading to the Lundin Links Hotel from the railway station? The Pharmacy and its neighbouring buildings replaced old cottages in 1903. The year 1903 also saw the telephone arrive in Lundin Links - note the huge telegraph pole on the right of the shot.

The second scene takes place at the junction of Crescent Road, Leven Road and Woodielea Road (not a place to linger in the middle of the road these days). Note the contrast between the playful school girls headed in the direction of Lundin Mill School and the prim looking ladies facing the camera, crossing the main road. The house on the corner to the right is Aldersyde (then occupied by the Gullands). There is a notice attached to the railings of this house - maybe advertising the Gullands' business along the street. Next to Aldersyde is Heatherlie. It's fun to imagine who all the people in these images were and what they were all doing on that one day from a bygone era.

​When I spotted the above postcard of Largo Villa, Newport, I suspected that there must be a connection to Largo, perhaps involving the people shown in the image.  This seemed even more likely to be the case when the recipient of the card turned out to be Mrs James Gillies of Lower Largo (see below). Fortunately, the postcard was clearly dated and the sender had signed the message, which read:

With invited wishes for your happiness this Christmastide. R. Robertson. Xmas 1904.

So, with a timeframe and a name to go on, here's the story behind the postcard. Robert Robertson was born in Lower Largo in 1858, the youngest of five brothers. The 1861 census shows father Henry Robertson (a tea dealer - although previously a linen weaver) residing on the main street close to the Orry, with his wife Janet Gibb and sons William, Henry, George, David and Robert. The family moved to Dundee when Robert was about nine years old.

By 1871, Janet Robertson had been widowed and was living with three of her five sons in Dundee. William was a 'provison traveller', David a 'grocer' and Robert still at school. Eventually Robert was apprenticed to the grocery trade too and went on to start business with William as wholesale produce merchants under the name of W. & R. Robertson. This partnership continued until 1917 when the brothers retired.

Robert married Mary Ann Young in 1883 and by the time of the 1891 census the pair were living at Largo Villa, which was at Woodmuir Park in Newport, commanding panoramic views over the Tay to Dundee. It must be Robert and Mary that are sitting in the deck chairs in the postcard image, with their housekeeper Isabella Williamson (who was with them for many years) standing in the doorway. The couple had no children.

Long time members of the Rattray Street Baptist Church in Dundee, Robert was a deacon there for over half a century and for a spell also the treasurer. Mary died in 1939. Robert died at Largo Villa aged 87 on 12 January 1946. He left his home and its contents, along with a substantial sum of money, to the church. Largo Villa was joined to the next door house and became a convalescent rest home known as the Robertson Rest Home (see images below) - remaining so for many decades. Robert also left a sum of money to Largo Baptist Church and to a significant range of other causes. Clearly, he maintained his link to Largo throughout his long life, despite having left there as a young lad.
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The image above was one of a series taken by the George Washington Wilson studio to showcase the new buildings of Lundin Links around 1900. As well as this view of the approach to the village from the station, photographs were taken of the newly completed hotel, the smart row of shops, the golf club house and the many new villas. However, a slightly incongruous-looking part of old Lundin Mill can still be seen in the above image if you look closely. 

Shown more closely in the detail below, in front of the Lundin Links Hotel, is a row of old cottages. By the time that this image was captured these old buildings' days were numbered. By 1903, the cottages had been demolished and the corner of Emsdorf Street and Links Road (then Station Road) had been transformed, with the Pharmacy as the centrepiece.

The census information from 1901 and earlier decades, tells us a bit about these replaced dwellings. The cottage at the far west end (to the left in the image below) was unsurprisingly known as "West End Cottage". Next to it was an unnamed cottage occupied by none other than Jumpin' Jimmy Methven. Next came "Ivanhoe Cottage" (its later replacement kept the same name). And finally (just before Bellville) there was "Meldrum Cottage". It was so named because it belonged to Jean Hogg (nee Meldrum) who lived there with her daughter Julia. Julia Hogg later lived in Mill Wynd and met with a tragic death in 1897.
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The view looking along Station Road towards the Lundin Links Hotel was one that was often recaptured over the years and the examples below, taken not long after the one above, shows that the cottages have been replaced with the West Emsdorf Street shops and joined by the eight terraced houses of Park Terrace (now part of Links Road). The four shops and neighbouring tenements were built by Walter Horne and the newspaper piece further below from the 5 February 1903 Leven Advertiser shows that they were under construction early in the year. Later reports tell us that the shops were open by July and that a concrete footpath had been laid in front of them.

The circa 1890 photograph above shows a corner of Lower Largo that has several connections to a man called Andrew Selkirk. The tallest building in the centre background with the many chimneys is Edina View. In front of that is Alexandra House (dark coloured house with three windows visible) and on the far right is the Crusoe Hotel. Between the hotel and Edina View are some old dwellings whose days were numbered when this image was captured. 

Not long after this, Andrew Selkirk emigrated to New Zealand with fellow Largo man Walter Guthrie. Accordingly to the Leven Advertiser of 31 March 1909 (reporting on Andrew's death), the pair ended up at the gold mines. They found employment making furniture for the prospectors and built a boat with which to ply up and down the river with their wares. They also tried their hands at house building. However, Selkirk's desire to return home brought him back to Scotland within a few years (unlike Guthrie, who lived out his days in New Zealand). In 1866 he married Largo farmer's daughter Isabella Kinnear in Edinburgh. They settled in Leith where Andrew resumed his occupation as an engine fitter. In 1871, the couple were living in south Leith with their young sons, Alexander and John. However, the following year Isabella died from smallpox aged 35 years.

Andrew relocated soon afterwards to Largo, where he married Jane Henderson in 1874. He changed occupation again - this time becoming a salmon fisherman (a job he had assisted his father with over many summers). The 1881 census finds Andrew, Jane, Alexander and John residing at Harbour Cottage, Lower Largo, along with a servant, a lodger and a visitor. A decade later Andrew and Jane are at Alexandra House (perhaps this was Harbour Cottage with a new name). They are still there in 1901 (when Andrew is described as a 'salmon taxman'). The Selkirk family leased the salmon fishing in Largo estate for over sixty years.

House building continued to be an interest of Andrew's and he was responsible for the transformation of the sea front to the east of the Crusoe Hotel around 1890 when he built "Edina View",  "Rock View" and "Beach House" on the site of some old and rundown properties. Forming one long terrace, these properties were built by the time of the 1891 census. The eastern most block was built first and some old photos show it standing next to the very old dwellings that were about to be replaced. Below are a pair of images showing the seafront view before and after the building of Edina View (phase one of the bigger development).  The annotated numbers 1, 3, 4 and 5 show the equivalent buildings in each view, while number 2 shows a fairly basic looking sea defence built in front of building 4, perhaps indicating that these old buildings were considered to be at risk from the sea. The replacement buildings were set further back from the tide.

Andrew Selkirk was very proud of these striking new buildings. The Dundee Evening Telegraph of 24 March 1909 noted at the time of his death that "Mr Selkirk owned much property, which was planned and largely built by himself." Andrew was survived by his sons Dr Alexander Selkirk and John Kinnear Selkirk (a marine engineer). The Lower Largo properties were divided between them. In the 1930s, the Fortes bought Alexandra House from Dr Selkirk and created the Rio Cafe.
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The above announcement appeared in the 6 May 1959 Leven Mail, to share the news that Saunders and Wood had taken over Upper Largo's Central Garage from Harris and Sons (the family who had run it for around four decades). Later the same year, the advert below from 17 June 1959 Leven Mail tells us that the garage offered 'motor sales and services' and that a 'six-seater car' was available for hire.
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However, in 1965, plans were drawn up for the modernisation of Central Garage, which was now in the ownership of  the Harley brothers. Above is the proposed front elevation, featuring new tall windows on the right that would allow a clear view into the car showroom for passers by. The floor plan below has the 'car showroom' marked on the right hand side as well as an angled 'showspace' at the far left, adjacent to the concrete forecourt. The modern garage lasted around three decades before its collapse and replacement with housing.

As a follow-up to the post about Central Garage, the above postcard image (circa 1905) of the east end of Upper Largo's Main Street shows the site of the garage prior to its establishment. The house on the extreme right is where the Harris family lived before moving to Manelian in the mid-1920s. Next door to the left of that are buildings that were also owned by James Harris. These included a laundry, a draper's shop and a saddler's business around this time.

Meanwhile, on the left hand side of the road are an interesting set of businesses with some legible signage visible (see enlarged image below). On the far left of the image is a single storey cottage with a sign on the roof that reads CYCLISTS REST REFRESHMENTS. This may have been associated with the grocer shop which was located in the building around this time. The rising popularity of cycling, as well as the proximity to T.G. Wishart's cycle maker and repair workshop, made it a good business decision to target cyclists in need of refreshment. 

Next door, where the group of children are standing, was Peter Cowie's chemist. Then we come to Robert Melville the plumber (whose sign is visible high on the side of his shop). Beyond that, is Thomas Black shoemaker - some of his signage is still visible on the building today. The final building which can only just be seen at the end of this side of the street, with the group of three people standing by the door (one in a long striped apron), is the butcher. At the time this was run by William Bousie Simpson. Perhaps it is the man himself that stands at the door wearing his butcher's apron.

Clearly everyone was aware of the presence of the photographer when this view was captured. Perhaps it was in fact Peter Cowie the chemist who was responsible for the photograph, as he had a darkroom and sold photography supplies. Maybe he invited his neighbours to be part of the scene. Taken in winter with bare trees and well-wrapped up children, the inclusion of so many local people in the image really adds to its historic value.
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