George Hunter was a Scottish painter - one of the Scottish Colourists - whose work was characterised by the bold use of colour and loose brushwork. He was born on 7 August 1877 to Rothesay chemist William Hunter and his wife Jeanie Stewart. He was their fifth child. George spent the first fifteen years of his life in Rothesay, where he developed a passion for drawing from a young age.  Early in 1892, two of George's older siblings died while still in their early twenties. Later that year, William, Jeanie and their three surviving children emigrated to California.  They initially settled on an orange grove 50 miles east of Los Angeles, where they enjoyed the change of climate. Two or three years later they moved to the city but in 1899 all except George returned to Scotland.

George moved to San Francisco, where he began using the name 'Leslie' for the first time. There he became a member of the bohemian community of artists, writers and poets. His earnings from work as an illustrator for magazines and books paid for a visit to Paris in 1904. This trip inspired him to try his hand at oil painting. Back in San Francisco, in 1905, he compiled a portfolio of work to be exhibited the following year in what would be his first solo exhibition. However, this would never come to pass, as all of his work was destroyed by the fires that followed the 1906 earthquake in the city.

This was a disaster for Hunter and led to his return to Scotland. He settled in Glasgow later in 1906 but continued to make visits to France from time to time (except during the First World War when travel was restricted). Hunter developed a group of friends based on the east coast of Scotland, who introduced him to Fife. The county's rural architecture and colourful landscapes became an important source of inspiration to him. Ceres and Lower Largo in particular were favourite haunts. In a letter to one of those friends Hunter wrote "Fife is ever a delightful thought on my mind with its beautiful valleys and villages".

Above is 'Cottages and Landscape, Fife' dated 1923-24, which is in fact Drum Lodge looking east.

Above is 'Largo, Fife' (undated) showing Main Street, Lower Largo, looking east where Horne's Buildings now stand on the left and the right turn at White Cottage is off picture to the right.

Above is 'Largo Harbour' dated 1925.

Above is 'Figures on the Pier, Largo' undated.

Above is 'Mill, near Largo' dated 1924, depicting the flour mill at Lundin Mill - not far from another of his subjects, Dunkirk Cottage.

Above is 'Cottages Under a Railway Bridge' (1924) featuring the railway viaduct, cottages and the oil and cake mill. 

Above is 'Boats, Lower Largo' dated 1926, looking west from close to the Orry.

So it was the early to mid years of the 1920s that Hunter frequently visited Largo. This was the same period of his life that he became increasingly associated with the other three Scottish Colourists: Samuel Peploe, Francis Cadell and John Duncan Fergusson. There were also trips to mainland Europe throughout the 1920s. In 1929, while in the French Riviera, Hunter suffered a breakdown and was brought back to Scotland by his sister to recuperate. Despite a period of recovery, his health deteriorated soon afterwards and he died in 1931 in Glasgow aged 54. Exhibitions of his work continued after his death and his art still commands huge interest today.

Ebenezer Coutts was born on February 1744 in Tillicoultry to Robert Coutts and Elizabeth Thomson. Coutts came to Largo in the 1760s and on 20 December 1769 he married Magdalene Lundin, who was the seventh child of James Lundin and Magdalene Condie. The Lundins were living in Drummochy before Ebenezer Coutts arrived there and owned the salt works and associated collieries. It may have been that Coutts initially came to Largo to work for James Lundin. However, several years after arriving in Largo, Coutts became factor to the Earl of Leven.

This was the era of the 6th Earl of Leven, David Melville, shown in the images above. Note that this was still a time when men wore coats, waistcoats, breeches, stockings and buckled shoes (and wigs for formal occasions). The 6th Earl was born in Leven in 1722 and died in 1802 in Edinburgh. Among Ebenezer's duties as his factor were to continue the overseeing the salt works at Drummochy (where he also lived), paying and overseeing other estate workers, showing lands to let, managing sales of the produce of the estate (including sea marle, flax, salt and coal) and arranging shipping out of the 'Port of Drummochy'. He would also have collected proceeds from estate sales and kept accounts . At some point Coutts also become Bailie in Drummochy (i.e. a civilian officer who administers the law at a local level). This is mentioned in the excerpt below about his wife from the 'History of the Clan Lundy, Lundie, Lundin'. The record of their marriage is also shown below.

​In 1771 Ebenezer and Magdalene's first child Robert was born in Drummochy and was baptised on 30 August 3 days after his birth. He was named after his maternal grandfather Robert Condie. His uncle Robert Lundin, a 'Sailor in Drumochy', was present at the baptism (see baptism record below). Daughter Magdalene was born in 1733 (died 1819) and then Elizabeth in 1775 (died 1794). 

Living at Drum Lodge from around 1799 and possibly closer to Drummochy Harbour prior to that, Ebenezer was perfectly positioned for his role as Overseer for the Drummochie salt works. The advert below from Caledonian Mercury of 21 March 1774 shows him as contact for any Master Salter of good character looking for employment. Records were kept on the character of salters due to the temptation to illicitly draw off salt during the manufacturing process in order to sell on this highly valued and taxed commodity on the black market.

The adverts below from the 19 July 1775, 3 April 1776 and 12 June 1779 Caledonian Mercury detail the trade in 'Shell-Marle' which was used as a fertiliser and was "handled with more ease and less risk then limeshells". Soil fertility was an issue at this time and shell marle was recommended for overused and depleted soil. However, its prolonged use, without stable dung also being applied, was later found to push exhausted soil beyond repair, leading to the phrase "marl makes rich fathers and poor sons".

Ebenezer was also involved in 'flax raising' as can be seen from the list below of premiums charged to those involved in this industry across Scotland (12 Dec 1785 Caledonian Mercury). He is listed fourth from the top right along with three other Largo men. Also below is the list of those charged 'horse tax' in 1797, with Ebenezer Coutts appearing seventh on the list and as having one horse.

Ebenezer Coutts lived out the remainder of his life at Drum Lodge (pictured above). By the time of his death there on 17 December 1822, aged 78, he was a widower with no surviving children. His wife Magdalene had died in 1810. His son Robert had died before that in 1803 aged just 31. Robert became Reverend Robert Coutts, and was a minister in Brechin at the time of his death. Prior to becoming a minister, he had for a spell held the chair of Mathematics at St Andrews University. Latterly, Robert had suffered from consumption and came to Largo shortly before his death to visit his father and for a change of air but passed soon afterwards. A man of notable intellect, a book of his sermons was published posthumously and he was still being talked about 70 years later when the Brechin Advertiser (28 October and 18 November 1873) printed a two-part appreciation of his life (excerpt of which is shown below). 

A silhouette image of Robert appears in his book of sermons and is shown at the foot of this post. Silhouette or profile portraiture was the popular way to recreate an image of a person before the invention and widespread use of photography. Robert left behind a wife (Janet McCulloch, daughter of a Dairsie minister) and an infant son named Ebenezer. Six months after his death, his daughter Magdalene was born. Sadly his young son died in 1805, aged 3 years, at Dairsie Manse. His daughter survived into adulthood but died young, like her father, of consumption. A section from the sketch of Robert's life confirms that both root and branches of the Coutts family were now ended.

Drum Lodge is situated on the south side of Drummochy Road facing the sea. A 'category B' listed building since 1984, its listing describes it as follows:

Late 18th/early 19th century, 2 storeys and attic 3 bays with late 19th century rear wing and alterations to south front. Harled mainly with painted margins. South front ground floor alterations comprise central door in moulded and segmentally pedimented doorpiece, flanked by canted windows with balustrades. Some 12-pane glazing remains. Straight skews, end stacks, slate roof. Rear wing with gabled dormerheads.

Unsurprisingly, the origins of Drum Lodge are linked to the adjacent former salt pans at Drummochy. Salt works overseer and factor to the Earl of Leven, Ebenezer Coutts, was the building's first occupant. It was probably built in the late 1700s and its original name was 'Drummochie House' (see 1850s map below). It was suitably positioned between the salt pan house (later a joiner's workshop) to the west and the salt girnel (later known as the Net House) to the east by the harbour.

In addition to the handy location, the house's extensive view of Largo Bay would have proved useful to the first occupant Ebenezer Coutts in his wide-ranging role as factor to the Earl of Leven (more on that in the next post). Coutts died in 1822 and, for a spell after that, Cupar-born George Miller seems to have occupied the house. In 1856 'Drummochy House' was put up for sale (see advert below from 13 March Fife Herald). Note the 'well-stocked garden' and the 'Park of Land' that would later become Drum Park. 

John Anthony Macrae bought the house and it soon became known as 'Drum Lodge'. Macrae was a Writer to the Signet (solicitor) based in Edinburgh. He had an interesting background - more of which another time. The house was likely used as a summer residence. Macrae had got to know Fife in his student days at St Andrews University. The imminent opening of the railway line would have been another factor in his purchase. Note also the mention of the house's outbuildings in the advert below - the gig-house, stable and barn. These 'offices' are shown in the image further below, prior to their conversion into a dwelling a few years after this black and white photo was taken in 1975.

When John Macrae died in 1868, his son Colin George Macrae (also a Writer to the Signet) took over ownership and retained it for the next three decades. As well as no doubt using the house as a summer residence, he often rented it out for long periods. Fellow Edinburgh solicitor, Fife-born David Lyell, was resident for a spell in the late 1890s. Macrae sold Drum Lodge to Andrew Peebles in 1899 - see snippet below from the Dundee Advertiser of 11 October.

Peebles had bought the property as an investment. As he was still working at the Duke of Northumberland's Albury estate, he rented Drum Lodge out. Around 1902 to 1904 the Paxton family (later of Homelands) lived at Drum Lodge. Their two middle daughters of four were born at Drum Lodge: Margaret Baird Paxton on 17 February 1902 and Isabella Carse Paxton on 22 June 1904. The Paxtons then moved to Elphinstone on Crescent Road in 1905 before purchasing Homelands in 1908. In 1908 at Drum Lodge the extensive grounds were developed, when Walter Horne erected two terraces of houses at Drum Lodge - known originally as 'Drum Lodge Park', it is now simply 'Drum Park'.

The next tenant was Mrs Isabel Anstruther Thomson, widow of Colonel John Anstruther Thomson of Charleton and Carntyne (who had died in 1904). She was at Drum Lodge through the 1910s with her daughter Rachel until her death in 1918. Proprietor Andrew Peebles had died in 1912 and so Drum Lodge ownership had passed to his widow Phoebe. She continued to own and rent out the house. Miss Rachel Anstruther Thomson was  tenant until 1923 when she married Michael Willoughby Gordon-Cumming and settled in Crail. 

With 10 days to go until Largo Arts Week, here is a rather nice piece of art dating back around 75 years. Featuring boats tied up at Largo Harbour, the old salt girnel (later net house) can be seen in the background to the right, with fishing nets hanging up to dry alongside it. The drying nets and net house also featured in the older painting featured in a post last November (shown below). 

Coming back to the watercolour above - this was painted by James MacLaren. According to various on-line sources, MacLaren was "an accomplished oil painter and watercolourist" based in Glasgow, who exhibited mainly between 1881 and 1917, including 17 works at the RSA. He produced many harbour scenes and serene landscapes and showed "a sincere understanding of light and composition". 

A note on the back of the painting states that a former owner "watched the artist painting this". If the early 1940s date is correct then this painting would have been painted late in the life of the artist. Perhaps it was painted a little earlier. Largo has of course long inspired artists and the upcoming Arts Week shows that it continues to do so. If you have the chance to visit between 20th and 28th  July, why not go along and discover the talented local artists of today?

www.largoartsweek.com

Below is a detailed description by John Band of flax cultivation and processing, and the history of this particular site. To open this document as a PDF please click here. Note that 'retting' (the soaking of the flax in water) was a key part of the process. An example of a 'retting pond' (a small natural or artificial body of water used for the prolonged soaking of flax straw, in order to soften the woody tissue and enable the fibres to be separated) can still be seen at Silverburn Park.

Next, the drawing below shows scale plans of the 'heckle house' building, showing the probable use of the space within it at the time of the flax spinning operation and describing the initial steps in the process. To open this drawing as a PDF, click here. 
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​Finally, for this post (a part two is to follow), the drawing below features a ground floor plan for the main mill building and outlines the next stages in the process. A PDF of this can be opened by clicking here. In the next post, the actual 'spinning' part of the process will be detailed, along with the subsequent winding and drying, as well as much more information about the buildings at that time and the industry in general.
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The above painting by German-born artist Eugene Dekkert was recently sold mislabelled as 'St Monans Harbour'. Many will recognise it immediately as Largo Harbour. The same view is shown below from both c1900 and the present day. One key feature is missing from the painting, however. There is no railway viaduct. This is not because the painting pre-dates the building of the railway line. In fact, it has been deliberately left out - no doubt to create a nostalgic view of old Largo.

Dekkert was born in 1865 - eight years after the opening of the railway line. He came to live in Scotland and lived in first Glasgow and then the East Neuk of Fife in the early 20th century. He and his wife Emma were living in St Monans at both the 1901 and 1911 census. The fact that he lived there, along with the fact that he often painted the harbour at St Monans probably accounts for the inaccurate title on the painting above. It was said in 1906 that "the sea is never absent from his work" and that his style was "strongly individual". He had studied at the Academy in Munich as a student of Theodor Hummel.  

Presumably he returned to Germany at the time of the Great War. Later in life Dekkert participated in art exhibitions in Berlin, Dresden and Munich. Many of his works are in international as well as German museums, such as the Neue Pinakothek in Munich. Eugene Dekkert died in 1956.

This wonderful painting by James Riddel R.S.W. (1857-1928), entitled "Auld Reekie from Largo", features the view from an elevated position close to Largo Station looking down over the roof of the Railway Inn to the Net House (surrounded by drying fishing nets) and beyond to Edinburgh. It's an unusual perspective of a familiar place, so to help with interpretation of the painting there is an annotated sketch of the same view below.

The features numbered above are:

1. The Net House                       2. Demolished House (see below)                      3. Largo Harbour
4. Railway Inn                             5. Station Wynd House                                         6. Bridgend House

The 'demolished house' is the dark coloured one to the left of centre in the background of the George Washington Wilson photograph below. Remains of the old wall can still be seen but the site is now used for sitting and enjoying the view (see present day image below).

Returning to the Riddel painting....it featured in the reprint of a book 'Traditions of Edinburgh' by Robert Chambers (published in 1868). Within this book is a reference to the origins of the name 'Auld Reekie', as follows:
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"This highly appropriate popular sobriquet cannot be traced beyond the reign of Charles II. Tradition assigns the following as the origin of the phrase : An old gentleman in Fife, designated Durham of Largo, was in the habit, at the period mentioned, of regulating the time of evening worship by the appearance of the smoke of Edinburgh, which he could easily see, through the clear summer twilight, from his own door. When he observed the smoke increase in density, in consequence of the good folk of the city preparing their supper, he would call all the family into the house, saying : 'It's time now, bairns, to tak' the beuks, and gang to our beds, for yonder's Auld Reekie, I see, putting on her nicht-cap!'"

Although the above postcard is entitled "Woodlands, Largo", it is taken from Largo Pier looking over to the houses of Drummochy. The east end of Woodlands Road features in the background left, above the railway line. Posted on 29 August 1903 in Lower Largo, the sender (writing to a friend in Ayrshire) has clearly enjoyed holidaying in Largo. The photograph, taken a few years earlier, is a George Washington Wilson image. When magnified, there is some great detail of people captured as well as other detail of life at the time.

Note the wide entrance from Drummochy Road right into the harbour, where carts would ford the burn to reach the other side. See also the fishing paraphernalia and the tree stumps and logs lining the pier. At the foot of this post is a zoom-in on the three-storied Drummochy House which has an interesting statue to the right in the garden!

Many thanks to Bleu Ciel Photography for these stunning aerial views. The above image looks across Lundin Links and Largo, looking towards Largo Law and Kincraig Point. While not a 'vintage' view, seeing the villages in a wider context is thought-provoking. The focus of the main developed area is around the water feature of the Keil Burn and the harbour where it flows into the sea.  Wooded areas follow the routes of the Hatton and Keil Burns and the trees of 'Fir Park' really stand out in the centre.

In the foreground above, the westward expansion of Lundin Links fans out from the historic core of Lundin Mill. Meanwhile, the image below features the old heart of Drummochy on the left and Lower Largo on the right. The more modern housing, including Station Park, appears beyond the viaduct and trees, while the newest housing (still under ongoing construction) Of Selkirk Grove can just be seen to the right of that. Upper Largo can be picked out in both images, on the southern slopes of Largo Law. All three villages have grown and developed significantly over the decades. What development might follow in the years to come?

This 1923 postcard depicts nine scenes from Lower Largo, with boats featuring prominently. The image entitled 'Among the Breakers' is particularly dramatic - with an elaborately-rigged vessel coming into harbour amid crashing waves, with a crowd watching its progress from the pier. No doubt this was a regular occurrence in days gone by - the eager wait for boats returning from rough sea conditions. There are a few modern day equivalent views below for comparison.