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:
​
"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.

The opportunity to try making salt from sea water, following the same technique used for centuries up and down the Forth coastline, presented itself recently. Here is an illustrated step by step guide to the process, from water collection to the creation of fine sea salt, as it might have been done at the salt works at both Drummochy and at Viewforth. 

90% of Scottish salt was made along the edges of the Firth of Forth and in the late 18th century Fife's best salt was said to come from three works: "Drummachie, Largo and St Monance", largely because of the salinity of the water they were able to draw on ('The Salt Industry and its Trade in Fife and Tayside' by C.A. Whatley).

The 1/3 scale custom-made salt pan shown in the photograph was made for the 1722 Waggonway Project and it is based in the garden of Cockenzie House in East Lothian. A traditional salt pan was typically 18ft x 9ft and 18 inches deep.

The stainless steel pan above (which would have been iron in the past) sits above the furnace, in which wood was burned throughout the process (although coal would have traditionally been used). Industrial salt pans would have been within roofed buildings to protect the salt water from the rain, which of course would have diluted the salt water and interfered with the process. Here is the process followed at this experimental salt pan, with numbered illustrations....

​1. sea water is collected from a tidal reservoir in the rocks near the shoreline (often referred to as a 'bucket pot' because originally buckets were used to collect the water - although pumps and windmills were often used later).
2. the water is poured into the pan which is hot from the fire beneath it and evaporation begins.
3. prior to boiling, egg white is added to the warming water in order to gather up any impurities (in the past blood was sometimes used rather than egg white).
4. the resulting scum can then be skimmed off the surface.

Once the water has evaporated to a suitable stage and some calcium carbonate (known as powder scratch) has been removed, more sea water is added and the process is repeated, including the addition of egg whites and skimming off of the scum. Further sea water is added two more times and the process repeated so that four boilings are carried out in total. With each boiling the salinity of the water in the pan becomes more concentrated. All the while, the furnace has to be attended to (historically six or more tons of coal were used to produce one ton of salt). Finally, after around 8 hours (or 24 hours on a full size pan) the water fully evaporates, leaving salt crystals on the pan surface.

The images below illustrate:

5. calcium carbonate separating from the water
6. a salt crust appearing on the surface while the remaining water simmers below
7. the residual water evaporating through cracks and holes in the salt crust (furnace heat is low at this point)
​8. the hot salt being drawn to the sides of the pan to drain briefly before being transferred into baskets and stored in the girnel (storehouse). 

The whole process done in this replica 1/3 size pan took eight hours and yielded 4 kg of salt. The process was clearly inefficient - using huge amounts of fuel and requiring much human input. It's not surprising that salt production took a downturn by the early 19th century. The arrival of imported rock salt and the repeal of salt duties in 1823 sped up the decline. Once a necessity of life - to preserve fish and meat and help people to survive the winter months - and a significant industry on both side of the Forth - the salt industry is an important part of Scotland's (and Largo's) history. 

The above early 1930s view of Largo Pier has many points of interest. Starting on the left hand side, there is the Railway Inn with a group of three people standing beside it - the youngest of whom is looking up towards the photographer on the viaduct. The Crusoe Hotel has its fairly short-lived flat roof on the seaward side, while on the near side there are noticeboards on the walls behind the steps (perhaps advertising the summer entertainments) and five barrels.

The Pier Pavilion is prominently located on the wide part of the pier. Although no show is in progress, it does look like something is planned for later and there are plenty people milling around. Between that and the road bridge is the little ice-cream hut run by the Fortes. An advert for 'Rowntree's York Milk Chocolate' hangs on the side of the hut. Rowing boats for hire are tied up along the pier.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the road bridge (see below) is a different scene- with many fishing nets out drying around the Net House in the distance.  In the foreground are the roofs and chimneys of the Drummochy houses. Further below is the whole scene put together. This was not long after a major restoration of the pier after storm damage in 1926.

Do you recognise this Lower Largo house?  Back in the long hot summer of 1972 'Rhinivie' (now 2 Seatoun Place) was under construction - the good weather enabling it to be complete by October. The brick layers that worked on this house also worked on the new Lundin Mill Primary School the following year.

Rhinivie was named after a croft up in Bettyhill near Tongue on the north coast, which was once owned by a former Drumeldrie woman and was extended by Robert Band, who went on to build its Largo namesake. Both houses are situated close to where a river/stream meets the sea. Below are more images of the house during an earlier stage in the building process. Note that the top left picture shows the roof of the public conveniences featured in the previous post (marked with arrow).

The early 1970s saw a spate of building in the area.  As well as the new primary school, there was the Durham Gardens development, Lundin Sports Club and other individual homes - including the one seen roofless on the left middle ground in the small image below (just off Drummochy Road) taken in 1973. 

The previous post mentioned Walter Guthrie, the sailor-cum-innkeeper of Drummochy.  Above is an advert for his packet service, dating to 1829. Printed in the Edinburgh Evening Courant on 26 February, the advert talks of how he transports goods between Leith and Largo on the 'Elizabeth and Isabella' (a representation of which is shown in the top left). Targeted at the merchants of Cupar and other nearby Fife towns, the offer was to transport goods to Leith, where a Mr Pattinson, wharf owner, would receive them.

Other newspaper references to this particular packet service show that it ran as early as 1824 (when Guthrie was only 17 years old) until at least 1836 when a James Finlay fell from the bowsprit of this packet ship into Largo harbour. Walter Guthrie himself continued his seafaring and goods conveyance for decades longer, although not necessarily on the same boat or on the same route. Pre-railway of course, this type of service offered an efficient means of sending merchandise longer distances.

The Scotland's Places website gives the following description for Drummochy (captured c 1850):

"Drummochy is an inhabited place in the parish of Largo. It was erected a burgh of barony in favour of Walter Lundy by James V on the 22nd of May 1540."

So by the mid-19th century, Drummochy was already a long-established village.  

It's situation in the sheltered Largo Bay, adjacent to the junction of the Keil Burn and the Firth of Forth, on a slightly elevated position, would of course have made it an attractive place to settle. The words at the top of the post are taken from the 1826 'A Topographical Dictionary of the United Kingdom'. This shows that by then Drummochy had not only left behind the old salt industry but that the works and associated harbour had totally vanished. The flax-spinning mill, although on the opposite side of the burn, seemed to be considered part of Drummochy.

The photograph below shows where the old 18th century harbour would have been (marked '1') and highlights the heart of old Drummochy (2). The Scotland's Places transcription goes on to say that c1850 there were around 20 houses in Drummochy, occupied by fishermen and weavers as well as "one public house but no shops or public buildings".

Many of the residents of this tiny village circa 1850 were linen hand loom weavers or employees of the flax spinning mill. Some specific residents - marked on the map below - were:

John Brown (Plot 1 on map below) - gardener
William Balfour (Plot 2) - weaver
Alexander Watson (Plot 3) - tailor
Walter Guthrie (Plot 4) - sailor and innkeeper

Walter Guthrie is a particularly interesting individual. Born in 1807, by 1824 he is mentioned in the Fife Herald's shipping movements as coming in and out of Kirkcaldy harbour on the packet 'Elizabeth and Isabella'. A packet ship was one that regularly carried freight or passengers. In 1836 he is mentioned in the 24 November Fife Herald as being master of the packet 'Elizabeth and Isabella' with mentions of a trip to Leven for tar and another trip to Leith for 3 or 4 days.  In 1841, he was described as 'Pilot Spirit Dealer' - meaning both someone who guides vessels along the coast and the local innkeeper.  In 1851 his occupation in the census was 'sailor' and in 1861 'Seaman - Merchant Service' (again this was to do with the movement of goods). In 1871 he was 'Harbour Master and Vintner'. He died in 1876 aged 68 and was described as a vintner at that time. His parents were Henry Guthrie (a ship carpenter) and Betsy Lundie or Lundin (her parents were Robert Lundin and Helen Briggs) - all part of the clan Lundy/Lundie/Lundin and thus linked to the Walter Lundy noted at the start of this post!

Trying to visualise c1850 life in Largo Parish is a challenge due to the lack of images of the place at that time. The oldest photograph of the area I have seen is the c1870 John Patrick view of the harbour and viaduct at Lower Largo.  We need to rely on engravers and painters for earlier representations,  The above is a wonderful example.  This artwork shows the harbour before the addition of the viaduct and was done by Dr Charles Blatherwick.  

Born in 1826 in Hampshire, Blatherwick studied medicine but was better known for his other roles - author, contributor to magazines, artist and "H.M. Alkali Inspector in Scotland". He lived the second half of his life in Scotland, settling near Helensburgh, where he died in 1895. He was president of Glasgow Art Club, treasurer of the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Water-Colour and had three exhibits in the Royal Academy. This must have been one of his early pieces. It captures the importance of the harbour and pier before the villages changed forever with the arrival of the railway in 1857.

The image was included as a plate within the 1907 book by Andrew Storrar Cunningham 'Upper Largo, Lower Largo, Lundin Links and Newburn'.