Following on from the demise of Largo Station, let's look at the final days of Lundin Links Station. The demolition of the station buildings at Lundin Links can be accurately dated thanks to a preserved paper trail. On 26 November 1971, the Fife County Council Master of Works acknowledged receipt of an application from Lundin Golf Club to demolish the station buildings (see below). The site of the station was adjacent to the golf course and some time after closure of the railway line, the Club purchased the disused site. 

The application appears to have been acted upon swiftly, as the note below dated 1 December states that the station buildings have been demolished and that the levelling of the site is underway. 

So after a spell of lying derelict, the station buildings were removed and the whole station site absorbed into the golf course. The location where the station buildings stood is now a course maintenance area, alongside the 17th fairway, adjacent to Links Road. For images of the station after closure but before demolition please click here and also here. Below is a photograph of the part of Links Road (once known as Station Road) where the station once was. Memories of the station or its demolition would be very welcome - please comment or get in touch through the 'contact' link.

This set of four poignant colour photographs show Largo Station mid-demolition back around 1970/71 (can anyone put a precise date on this?). Many thanks to Russell McLaren for kindly sharing these images, which were taken by his father. The family lived overlooking the station and were regular users of the train service. The photographs are taken from Station Park looking towards the sea, with the original 1857 station building in the foreground (partially demolished) and the later 1894 building on the far platform. Prior to demolition, the buildings had been stripped of valuable materials such as the roof tiles. Having closed in 1965 (the final passenger service running on 5 September) the station had sat derelict for a few years. By 1968 discussions had begun on converting the Largo Station site into a car park, with a view to reducing congestion on Main Street. This eventually came to fruition and the car park remains in use to this day. 

Below are a couple of images of Largo Station while still in use. Operational for more than a century, the station was once know for its well-kept gardens and attentive station masters - a great facility for locals and the start and end point of many a day trip and holiday. If you have memories or images of the station - please do get in touch. In the next post - details of the demolition of Lundin Links station.

The previous post bid a fond farewell to the retort house of the Largo Gas Works, which was demolished this week. This follow-up looks firstly at the long-gone neighbour to the retort house - the gas holder. It will also touch on some of the uses made of the former retort house once it ceased its original function. The above postcard view shows the cylindrical gas holder sitting to the left of the retort house and above the caravan site. These gas holders were a common sight around the country in the past. The drawing below, produced by John Band, shows how the style of holder found at Largo worked. To see this as a PDF please click here.   

The gas holder disappeared from the landscape in the early 1960s, while the retort house lingered for much longer because other uses were found for it. Its original tall chimney was reduced in height early on but the chimney stump can be seen in many images of the building. One of the well-known functions of the building was that it housed the air raid siren on its roof. The 18 November 1939 Fife Free Press recorded the installation of the siren, although plans to site it on the 'chimney stalk' must have changed at the last minute, as it was actually put on the opposite end of the roof (as pictured below - see images before and after the air raid siren was added). The siren was activated via the telephone line of Jean Philp at nearby Mill Cottage. After the war ended, the siren was still sounded regularly for many years to check it was still in working order.

The various uses of the gas works buildings and grounds over the years included fish curing, undertaken by the Melville family. The site was also used by motor hirer John Hay to store his buses. Clunie and Melville the slaters and plasterers also had premises here. Caravans parks have been located on both sides of the retort house over the years. Another well-remembered use of the main building was to garage Douglas Miller's vintage vehicles. The gas showroom and office was converted into a house (named Friday Cottage) around 1965. 

The chimney stalk was possibly taken down after damage in the hurricane strength winds of early 1968 as it appears in some late 1960s photographs but is gone by the early 1970s.

​Anyway, the site has served the community well over many decades in a range of guises and now it moves on to the next chapter in its history. Five new houses are due to be built here.

If you have a memory of the gas works site and its various uses - please comment.



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This week saw the demolition of a Largo landmark - the Largo Gas Works retort house. Many were fond of this industrial building, while others found it an eyesore. But over the century and more that it was there, in its prominent elevated position above the harbour and viaduct, it caught the eye of locals and visitors alike. In order to mark the end of its existence, this post will look in detail at the site, its history and the internal workings of the building. The annotated site drawing below and the floor plan and section drawings further below have been created by John Band. 

As the first drawing below states, the site for the gas works was selected due to its proximity to the railway station and to the buildings that it was going to supply. The works began operation on 20 April 1909. Remarkably, they only operated as originally intended for approximately 16 years, as around 1925 the Largo operation went into liquidation and was absorbed into its Kennoway-based sister company. The inset advert from the 24 May 1926 Dundee Courier gives notice of the pipe laying work to enable gas to be supplied from Kennoway to Largo.

To see the above site drawing as a PDF, please click here. 

If you have ever wondered what originally went on within the retort house and what the process of producing gas involved, then the document below will provide the answers. In order to appreciate the detail within floor plan and section drawings, please open this as a PDF. The Largo operation was typical of small gasworks of the time.

Below is a photograph showing the gas works (partly obscured behind the viaduct) during its short period of operation. This image is pre-1914 as the old wooden footbridge is shown and the existing road bridge is not. The chimney of the retort house is visible in the distance, overlapping with the chimney of the oil and cake (formerly flax spinning) mill which is slightly closer to the camera. Note also the gas lamp visible on Drummochy Road in front of the house to the left of the picture. There is another on the pier.

In the next post there will be some follow-up on the gas works site, including detail on the gas holder that once stood alongside the retort house, the changing uses of the retort house building over the years and the important role that the building played during World War Two - accompanied by some more photos.

A view looking east along Upper Largo's Main Street, taken from alongside the Upper Largo Hotel (on the right). The hotel was known as 'The Largo Hotel' at this time - as can just be made out on the nice piece of vintage signage advertising McEwan's shown in detail below. The hotel has a long history and has had a few name changes over the decades. 

Opposite the hotel, on the far left above, is the garage which was once owned by David Ramage and then by Jimmy Purves. This image must have been captured not long before the house next to the garage (with 'no parking' daubed on the wall) was demolished and alterations were made to the garage. The building housing the garage was built around 1843 and was originally the Free Church. 

The above excerpt from an 1866 map features the 'Oil Mill Lands' of Largo, including the three key components of the mill featured in the three previous posts. From left to right the three mill buildings hugging the east side of the Keil Burn just as it curves down towards the viaduct are the gasworks/forge; the main mill building (including water wheel house); and the former heckle house building where oil refining took place.

The map gives a good indication of the extent of the oil mill lands and an idea of how important the enterprise must have been to the local area. A significant proportion of the local working population would have been employed there during its years of operation. And periods of closure - temporary or permanent - must have had a big impact on individuals relying on the work. In addition, secondary employment would have been brought about by the mill. A list of suppliers and contractors to the mill has been created by John Band and can be viewed as a PDF by clicking here.

Some of these suppliers were local to Largo Parish. For example, the cleaning of the dam, which was required on an annual basis, was sometimes undertaken by James Anderson. James was born in Largo circa 1808 and at the time of the 1861 census was living in Kirkton of Largo with his wife Ann. His occupation was 'labourer' and his immediate neighbours included a shoemaker, a joiner, a blacksmith and a saddler. As a labourer, James must have undertaken a range of jobs but maintaining the cleanliness of the mill dam must have been a particularly strenuous and mucky job, involving the removal of leaves and other debris and dealing with the build up of deposits. 

​Brothers John and Alexander Mitchell of Lundin Mill, undertook alterations to the mill buildings. The men - born 1801 and 1807 respectively - were stone masons by trade and were among the six children of Allan Mitchell and Agnes Crawford. Both had daughters employed by another important Largo industry - David Gillies's net factory. Another local stone mason that had worked on the mill building was Alexander Tivendale. His daughters were linen weavers.

Archibald Bremner is recorded as having undertaken joinery work connected to repairs to the mill. In the 1861 census he is noted as a 'carpenter employing 5 men and 3 boys'. Born in Ross and Cromarty, the son of a millwright, Bremner married Elizabeth Orford in Kingskettle in 1851 before moving to Largo shortly afterwards. His daughter, Margaret, was born in 1854 and went on to set up and run the Lundin Links Post Office for many years. Archibald died in 1870, aged only 43.

Samuel Melville was a tinsmith and plumber, born in Haddington, East Lothian. Based for many years at the Shorehead in Leven, at the time of the 1861 census he was noted as employing 4 men and 4 apprentices. He died at his Shorehead home in 1863 - see below from the 30 May Dunfermline Saturday Press.

Finally - for now - the 'cake bag supplier' noted in the list of contractors as 'E. Birrell', could well have been Elizabeth Birrell. She was a linen weaver in Lundin Mill in the 1861 census but a worker in the oil mill in Largo by 1871. Could this unmarried lady have used her weaving skills to make cake bags to supplement her income?

The above image features the bed of the Keil Burn just north of the viaduct at Lower Largo. In the centre, behind the boat, is one of the oldest parts of the Largo Mill complex. Situated to the left of the main mill, this smaller structure once contained a gasworks, forge and cooperage. Following on from Part 1 and Part 2, this third part in a series looking at the mill, turns the spotlight on this building.

Shown below is a floor plan and a section of this structure as it would have been around 1860. The drawings are fully annotated and linked to a description of the process of gas manufacture. To open a PDF document version of the image below, please click here. 
​

​The second detailed illustrated document below shows the same building in the top left hand corner - shown in section and in relation to the mill dam and sluice. A plan and further details are also provided on the dam, sluice, tunnel, etc. ​To open and view this document as a PDF, please click here. 

The previous post opened a series taking an in-depth look at the former mill close to the harbour at Lower Largo. This post continues the tour of the site. By the time the above photo was captured in the 1930s - by Cowie the photographer - the building was in a ruinous state. However, its condition allows us a glimpse at the interior of the mill. Note in particular how the water wheel house can be clearly seen on the right hand side of the main building. A plan and section of the water wheel house, as it would have been around 1861, are shown in the detailed drawing below, created by John Band. A PDF version of the annotated drawing can be opened by clicking here. 

Looking back at the image at the top of this post, further to the right of the water wheel house, and closer to the foreground, is the former heckle house building. In the spinning mill days, the heckle house was where the first process in the preparation of flax was carried out. However, once the mill had been converted for oil and cake production, this particular building was used to accommodate the oil refining process. The drawing below provides a comprehensive, illustrated explanation of what went on within this part of the mill complex. A PDF of this is available by clicking here. Two further photographs below, show the building in varying states of repair. 

In the next post - a look at the building to the left of the main mill - a particularly old part of the site.

Over the next few blog posts, there will be an in-depth look at the former mill situated alongside the Keil burn, where Seatoun Place was built in the early 1980s. The above image is from the Canmore collection and was taken circa 1890 by the photographer Erskine Beveridge. The history of the mill has been touched upon on this site before - from the early days as a flax spinning mill to its reincarnation as an oil and cake mill and ultimately to a roofless ruin. 

Much of Largo's industrial heritage took place at this site and it is with thanks to John Band that a series of detailed plans can be shared which illustrate the layout and workings of the various elements of the mill. Below is a drawing which overlays the mill buildings, races, tunnels, original sea wall and ford with the present day buildings of Seatoun Place. To view this drawing as a PDF (and to appreciate the detail that lies within it) please click here.

​Having set the scene, let's look inside the main building in the photograph at the top above. The plan below shows the ground floor of the mill around 1861. The fully annotated drawing shows all the key pieces of machinery along with a description of the seed crushing process. To open up this drawing as a PDF please click here.

As many of you will know, the edge runner stones were recovered when Seatoun Place was constructed and still sit proudly at the entrance to the development. Our tour of the mill site will continue in the next post....

The unusual perspective, captured by St Monans-based photographer William Easton around 1900, looks up towards Bridge House on Largo Road with Fir Park behind it. To the right is the rear of the Keilside Bakery (once a brewery and bakehouse).

William Easton was a professional photographer, particularly active between around 1890 to 1920. He often captured life in the fishing villages of Fife, especially St Monans, where he ran a chemist and newsagent business. He died in 1929. In this shot he is standing at water level with multiple higher levels above him at different heights: the sluice and dam; the bridge; the Bridge House and the trees of Fir Park. The Bridge and Burnside also featured on a popular postcard from a similar era. This locality was known as Burnside and behind photographer was a clear view towards the flour mill.  

Looking in more detail at the image (see below), the shop is visible on the ground floor of Bridge House. This was run by Maggie Bremner before she became post mistress at the brand new Post Office on Leven Road in 1896. The Bridge House shop was then occupied by Christina Young before she re-located to Emsdorf Street. The zoomed-in view also reveals that seven or eight people are standing looking over the bridge at the photographer!  

Another detailed view (further below) shows children down at the side of the burn to the right of the main photo. A boy is standing close to the tree at the end of the dam, next to a post which marks the spot where a channel diverts water away from the burn to the flour mill further down-stream, to drive the wheel (the map at the foot of this post illustrates the system).  Also, there appears to be two little girls sitting on the bank of the Keil Burn slightly down-stream. The overall photograph above is a charming and peaceful scene and would make a beautiful painting.