The house marked above with an arrow is St Margaret's on Victoria Road in Lundin Links. The first owner of St Margaret's, and the adjacent Mount Vernon (with the turret) from their completion in 1897 was Liverpool-born David Simpson. At the time of the 1901 census, David and his wife Mary were living in St Margaret's with their two infant daughters, while Mary's 73-year-old mother Jane was next door at Mount Vernon. Jane ran Mount Vernon as a boarding house with two of her other daughters, Isabella and Lucy and two grand-daughters.

Soon afterwards, the Simpsons moved out of St Margaret's but continued to own the house and for a time it was rented to Annie Wemyss Bell, widow of Dr James Murray Bell. In 1906, the Simpsons sold St Margaret's to John Cairns. John had been born in Innerleven in 1865 to coal master David Cairns and his wife Agnes Dryburgh. His father David had an interesting background which influenced John's career path.

​In 1864, David, together with his brother James Cairns and brother-in-law Lawrence Bowman, leased Muiredge Colliery from the Wemyss Estate and began speculative mining operations at the abandoned shaft there. Hitting a coal seam at Muiredge, the trio went on to sink the Denbeath, Isabella and Rosie pits, building up a very profitable enterprise. David took charge of the shipping and sales of coal and started a shipping company, so it was not surprising that his son John, after an education at Clifton Bank in St Andrews, became a shipping agent at Methil Docks.

For a time, John Cairns lived at Bellevue Cottage in Buckhaven. In 1892, he married Christina Jamieson Rodger, the eldest daughter of Captain David Rodger and his wife Mary Gillies. By the time of the 1901 census, John and Christina were residing at Carberry Street in Methil, along with three children and a domestic servant. The family moved to Lundin Links in 1906 - the year after the death of coal master David Cairns (who had long since retired to Crail). The excerpt below from the 2 February 1905 Leven Advertiser reflected on the legacy of the three men who had taken a chance on reopening the Muiredge Colliery some four decades earlier.

Around the same time as the death of David Cairns, the lease of the collieries from the Wemyss Estate ended. John Cairns shifted his occupation from shipping agent to trawler owner - which is how he was described as in the census of 1911. At that time, John and Christina were still at St Margaret's, along with their youngest child and one servant. Between 1907 and 1913, John owned three steam trawlers: Benton Castle (SA 1), Amroth Castle (SA 8) and Manorbier Castle (SA 25), pictured below. The SA registration relates to Swansea, where they had been purchased from. As John Cairns was in partnership with a James W Petersen from Edinburgh, the trawlers fished out of Granton.

It seems that John retired from the trawling business before the outbreak of the First World War. In his retirement he enjoyed membership of Lundin Golf Club, as well as showing dogs and breeding pigeons. His son David was awarded an MBE in the 1919 Birthday Honours in recognition of distinguished services rendered during the war (see 9 June 1919 Courier item above). The 1921 census found John and Christina living at St Margaret's with four of their children, aged between 15 and 25 years old. John Cairns died on 12 January 1928 at St Margaret's at the age of 62 after a few days suffering from pneumonia. The notice below appeared in the 13 January 1928 Scotsman and the obituary further below in the 21 January 1928 Fife Free Press. Christina died on 27 December 1930. Their son John subsequently lived at St Margaret's.
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This view featured on a postcard that was posted on 8 July 1963. The view is familiar and much-photographed but the addition of several cars and a few people in the foreground adds to the interest. There's a man pushing a young child in a pushchair, with grandparents following behind, plus an eclectic mix of vehicles, including a motorbike and sidecar. A bus is passing behind the Fish Restaurant that was run by the Forte family.

Known locally as Granny Forte's chip shop or Granny Greasers, this food outlet was a fixture of the village for several decades from the 1920s. Constructed on the site of old outbuildings, the fish shop first appeared on the valuation roll in the mid 1920s, when the building was owned by Rachel Williamson of Coventry Cottage (daughter of Alexander Williamson the plasterer) and the tenant was Daniel Forte. By 1930, the Fortes had bought the fish restaurant premises which was demolished in the 1970s.

A second postcard view below was likely photographed on the same day and is part of the same Millar & Lang M&L National Series. This one was posted on 11 July 1963, just three days after the postcard above. Both of the senders of these postcards talk of having a good time in Largo in spite of changeable weather. 

The small, low building in the centre of the image above is 18 Main Street in Upper Largo. For many decades this was an inn or public house - known as Dall's Inn then later Cumming's Inn, The Inn or Auld Hoose. For many decades in the late 19th century into the early 20th century, James Cumming, was the proprietor. His life was an eventful one in which he combined the roles of publican and blacksmith. The map below dates to 1912 and shows both the smithy that he operated at the corner of Church Place and North Feus, and his public house (marked P.H.) on the south side of Main Street.

James Cumming was born in Largo around 1852 to stone mason William Cumming and his wife Sarah Meikle. When William died in 1865 at the age of 45, he left behind a widow and several children, some of whom were still infants. The previous year, William's stepfather, innkeeper James Dall had died and so the Cumming family took over the license for Dall's Inn - with widowed Sarah becoming the license holder and eldest daughter Eliza working alongside her.

Second eldest child, James, was away from home by time of the 1871 census, working as an apprentice mechanic in Milton of Balgonie. When Sarah then also died in 1872, the public house license in Upper Largo was transferred to Eliza, aged just 22. She also had four younger siblings aged between the ages of sixteen and nine to care for. In 1873, Eliza married a shepherd, Peter Robertson, at Largo Kirk and they went on to have two daughters, Helen and Sarah - one named after each grandmother.

Tragically, in 1877, Eliza also died, prompting her brother James (who had now lost his father, mother and oldest sibling) to return to Largo. He took over the public house license which had previously been held by his step-grandfather, his mother and his sister (see below from 18 October 1877 Fifeshire Journal). Younger sister Sarah now acted as housekeeper, within the household that was headed by James and also comprised younger brothers Robert (a joiner) and Alexander (a painter), as well as two young nieces, Helen and Sarah.

James would stay at the heart of the community in Kirkton of Largo for the remainder of his life, living at the inn, latterly known as Auld Hoose, and having the dual occupation of Publican and Blacksmith. As a master blacksmith, James was a regular entrant at the East of Fife Agricultural Show. He was awarded first prize in the Best Shod Farm Horse category most years between during the 1880s and 1890s. Reports of his prize-winning are shown below, from 21 April 1887 Fifeshire Journal and 20 April 1895 Fife News, respectively. He also was a frequent winner at Largo Horticultural Show for fruit and vegetable growing. By 1891, the household had reduced to James, his sister Sarah and just one of his nieces.
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​On 20 December 1895 James married Mary Brown in Colinsburgh. Their only son William, who later became a blacksmith like his father, was born in 1899.
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In 1897, the gas works site was put up for sale and James bought it at a knocked down price (see 17 Sept 1897 East of Fife Record below). The following year he erected new stables on the site and permitted the Largo Water District Committee to store tools there for a small rent. A few years later James moved his entire blacksmith business to new premises in this vicinity.
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Meanwhile the Cumming's Inn continued to operate and hold local functions such as the Largo Burns Club supper in 1912 (see 1 February 1912 Leven Advertiser item below).​
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​James Cumming died on 4 March 1919 at Auld House aged 67 years. The notice above appeared in the 22 March Fife News. His widow Mary had the public house certificate transferred into her name (see below from 19 April 1919 Fife News) and she continued as license holder at the inn until her death in 1926. Her son William subsequently had the license transferred to himself but in 1928 it was allowed to lapse when he decided that the family would finally leave the trade.

The piece below from the 10 August 1922 Leven Advertiser tells of the memorial  placed in memory of James Cumming at Newburn Cemetery some three years after his death.  
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A recent photograph of the memorial is shown below. The inscription reads:

In ever loving and affectionate remembrance of my beloved husband James Cumming.
The day will dawn when the Lord shall be mindful of his own.

Further below are a couple of more modern day photographs of the building that was so well known to James Cumming and that was once a long-standing public house that was run by at least six different members of the same family.

Rossini Place in Lundin Links, as it was in 1893, is highlighted on the map above in red. This section of Emsdorf Street comprised ten dwellings - a row of five on either side of a courtyard. For decades these dwellings were all owned by one individual and rented out. These buildings likely date back to the creation of the village of Emsdorf back around 1800.

​Emsdorf village took its name from a battle that took place during the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) - a struggle for world supremacy between Great Britain and France which is considered to be the first global conflict in history. Read about how that became connected to the Lundin Estate here.

Some of the Rossini Place dwellings can be seen on the far right of the 1890s photograph below, with the hand barrow on the pavement outside and the uneven-looking roof tiles. This image is looking east towards the old Pump Green with its stone wall, and to David Lindsay's grocer shop on the corner of Hillhead Street.

After the younger James Thinn's death in 1891, ownership of Rossini Place passed to his son John Thynn, until he in turn died in 1897 at the age of 47 years. Rossini Place then came into the ownership of George Clark, the Lundinmill-born stone mason mentioned in the previous post about Braemar. Below is an extract from the 1905 valuation roll for Largo Parish where the tenants of the ten properties are listed.

George Clark continued to own the properties at Rossini Place (shown above in the 1930s with an arrow pointing to the vennel access point to the rear properties) until his death in 1931, which occurred at the Rossini Place dwelling that he kept for his own use. This was not usual residence (which was in Leven) but it could have been a decision to return to the place of his birth at the very end of his life. The properties subsequently passed to his stepson William Brown, then a publican at the Crown Bar on Kirkcaldy's High Street. During the decade of Brown's ownership, the properties did undergo some renovation work as the 6 June 1936 Fife Free Press notice below informs us.

By 1950, however, the dwellings of Rossini Place were in decline. They remained under the ownership of the trustees of late William Brown (who died in 1940), and at this time, three of the dwellings were empty having been condemned. By 1960, the new owner of the properties was Mary K. Browning. In 1973, she received planning permission to create lock-up garages, with rear access from Links Road lane. The 24 October 1973 East Fife Mail reported that this was at a cost of £1,000. In recent years, there have been further alterations at the site.

The aerial image below shows the footprint of Rossini Place in recent times, marked by a dashed red line. One mystery remains - why was this place given the name Rossini?  Answers, or even just theories, would be very welcome!

The late Victorian villa on Crescent Road in Lundin Links pictured above was originally named Braemar and, interestingly, its origins are intertwined with the Railway Inn in Lower Largo.

Long before the dwelling was built, Kirkcaldy-born George Brown and his Kinghorn-born wife Agnes (nee Mitchell) ran the Railway Inn. George had followed in the footsteps of his father William Brown, a Leven-born spirit merchant. He had married Agnes, a housemaid, on 23 February 1886 in Kirkcaldy by which time George was already inn-keeper at the Railway Inn. The notice below appeared in the 27 February 1886 Fifeshire Advertiser.
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It was the Clarks who secured this triangular feu - one of the earliest to be taken up in this phase of development. Subsequently the villa named Braemar was built upon it and the family of three moved in upon completion. Perhaps, being a stone mason, George Clark, was directly involved in the construction. By the summer of 1896, the property was being let to summer visitors - see example below from the 8 August 1896 Fife News, when the McCraig family from Edinburgh were staying there. So, to an extent, Agnes was continuing in the hospitality business that she had become used to as an inn-keeper's wife.

The census of 1901 finds George, Agnes and William at Braemar, where George is still described as a stone mason. However, the three would soon be living somewhere else - the Railway Inn. The licensee had changed a couple of times at the inn since Agnes had left in 1892. When the Railway Inn came up for sale in 1906, Agnes Clark decided to buy it. Her son William, who had been born on the premises, became barman and she was landlady. George switched occupation to Insurance Agent, according to the 1911 census. By 1921, Agnes and George were still at the Railway Inn and George was now described as a 'spirit merchant'. Stepson William Brown was now the tenant at the Crown Bar at 181 High Street, Kirkcaldy, where he remained for decades. The name A. Clark can be seen on the sign on the gable end of the Railway Inn in the photograph below taken on the day the first car drove over the road bridge at Largo Harbour on 3 October 1914.
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Braemar was put up for sale when the Clarks moved to the Railway Inn. The advert below dates to the 14 February 1907 Leven Advertiser. The next occupant was Dr John Jamieson physician and surgeon. He was noted at the house in the 1911 census, with his wife Emily Clayton Jamieson and 3 year old twin daughters Jessie and Elizabeth, plus one servant. They retained the house name Braemar.

Around 1915, the house name changed from Braemar to Dundarroch - the name by which the villa is still known today. For many years it was occupied by Andrew Somerville, who I was interested to learn had a passageway made between the house and the back of his grocer shop on Leven Road.

​George Clark died in 1931 at Rossini Place in Lundin Links, although by then his usual residence was Murrayville on Links Road in Leven. Agnes Clark returned to her native Kinghorn, living at King's Drive in a home named Braemar - a name which that house there retains to this day. The notice below is from 4 November 1939 Fife Free Press.

The above annotated photograph of the golf links looking east towards Lundin Links was taken by Adam Diston, a Leven-based photographer. The picture was included in the publication British Golf Links: A Short Account of the Leading Golf Links of the United Kingdom by Horace Hutchinson published in 1897. The snapshot must have been captured around 1895/96, as Westhall is visible but is standing alone. This was the first villa built on the "new feus" at the time. The 8 December 1894 St Andrews Citizen reported the construction of this house as "a handsome villa, built for Mr Masterton, Largo, at Lundin Links, is approaching completion. This is the first house erected on the new feus." It was followed within months by the house and shop built on Golf Road for golf club maker David Patrick.
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Looking a little more closely, above, at the buildings in the scene, you can see Lundin Links railway station on the far left, then Haworth in the centre perched prominently on higher ground framed by the right slope of Largo Law. To the right of that, it is possible to make out the newly completed houses in front of the dark trees of Fir Park. These are The Chestnuts, Rowan Cottage and Beechwood. Note that none of the houses on Leven Road east of Woodielea Road have yet been constructed. They would follow in 1898. On the extreme right of the above cropped image is the partially-completed row of shops, which included Miss Bremner's Post Office (and her home Parkside above it), George W. Douglas the Butcher (with his home Whitelea above) and Andrew Somerville, Grocer.

Continuing along the line of buildings, to the right of the shops is the house then named Braemar (later named Dundarroch) which was built for George Clark, stonemason. This feu was on a corner plot behind the row of shops, in the area marked '2' on the map below. Further right is the semi-detached pair of Fir Park and Braddan and then Elphinstone (all seen in the image at the foot of this post).

We can then see Melville Cottage (now Old Calabar) before Westhall in the foreground (located at '3' on the map below) which obscures school and schoolhouse. To the right of Westhall is Bayview Cottage (now Oldfield), Murree Lodge (now Glenairlie) before an extension was added to it, followed by Bourtree Brae and Sea Cliff and West Cliff. Note the absence at this early stage in the growth of Lundin Links of Lindisfarne or St Margaret's, Mount Vernon, Aird Bank and St Catherine's. There is a suggestion of some building activity in the photograph, however, indicating that these dwellings would soon become part of this scene. The map below also marks the approximate spot at '1' from which Adam Diston took this photograph. If anyone has seen a clearer version of this image, or has other photographs from this era - please leave a comment.

Meanwhile back in Fife, the sport of golf continued to grow and the courses around Leven and Lundin Links were particularly popular. So in 1895 David made plans to return home and had plans drawn up for a new dwelling, with connected shop premises (shown above). The sasine register (land register) entry dated 2 March 1896 below describes the feu which owner of the Lundin estate John Gilmour granted to David Patrick, then of Wimbledon Common. 
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The plot was on what would become Golf Road - described then as "street to the Links by the under Railway Bridge". The railway bridge can clearly be seen in the 1899 photograph below. The year 1896, when David arrived in Lundin Links, is significant because it was the same year as the opening of the new clubhouse at Lundin Golf Club and the opening of the outlet of Alex Patrick's business at Lundin Links.

​Such was the demand for quality locally made golf clubs, that David set up his own club making business, about 100 metres away from his brother's shop and began making clubs in his own name. The photograph below shows two red arrows - the one on the left points to David's premises and the one on the right to Alex's shop (obscured by the club house). 

David and Rebecca named their new home Linksview, and soon other new villas were built in this corner of the village. Note in the image above that a sign stating D.M. Patrick is just visible above shop window and that there is also wording advertising the business under the eave of the gable end. In the 1905 book Rambles in Scoonie and Wemyss by Andrew Storrar Cunningham, the author notes that like his older brother Alex, David Patrick "also has a world-wide reputation" for his clubs. 
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The pair of adverts below both appeared in the 1907 book by A.S. Cunningham, Upper Largo, Lower Largo, Lundin Links and Newburn.

David Patrick remained at Linksview for the remainder of his long life. The 1921 census finds him aged 63 years, still making golf clubs there. In 1923 he laid out the new pitch and putt course at Lundin Golf Club along with Robert Paxton. David's wife Rebecca died in 1933. He remarried in 1935 to Mary Ann McLeod at the Commercial Hotel in Upper Largo. Mary died in 1944 and on 4 August 1948, David passed away at the age of 90 years. His headstone, pictured below, is at Scoonie Cemetery.

Last October a blog post covered the creative enterprise Genesis Creations Limited which was once based in Mill Wynd, Lundin Links - click here to read.

Since the publication of that blog, a copy of a colour product brochure and a documentary-style video have been kindly shared by Tony Harmsworth, who was Managing Director of the company. Extracts from the colour brochure can be seen above and below and the brochure can be accessed in PDF format in full via the links below:

Genesis Brochure Front

Genesis Brochure Inside

Genesis moved into the Mill Wynd Studio in May 1988 and the company grew over the months that followed. Tony carefully put together a video in June 1990 detailing the processes involved in the creation of the Genesis products. The video includes footage of the Lundin Links workshop - both inside and outside - as well as of the office facilities next door at Marlynn Cottage and the production facility at Levenmouth Business Centre in Leven. The film explains that most of the research and development work was undertaken at the studio in Lundin Links, which was originally built as a silversmith workshop for Norman Grant in 1973. The 1990 film about Genesis Creations is available online in two parts - you can view part one here and part two here. 

As the film describes, an original creation typically starts as a piece of wax, which is intricately sculpted using a range of fine tools. This is the 'master' piece from which a silicone mould can then be made. The silicone mould is subsequently used to form the many replicas of each master piece. Each cast copy piece is then treated, ready to be painted by a member of the team of artists. The finished article is carefully packaged before being sent out to one of the many outlets across the UK and overseas. The film concludes with footage from a trade fair in Birmingham, where Genesis hosted a stand.

Within the film, a display of the master pieces can be seen. Carol Lynn Penny the Creative Director, pictured below, is seen at work. Alan Harrower the main castle sculptor talks about the tools he used to create an intricate crystal castle. The process of the creation of moulds is explained and much more. The film is a fascinating insight to the creativity that went on behind the windows of the Mill Wynd Studio and at the workshop in Leven, and provides real sense of the scale of operations and wide range of designs produced.

The film also explains how the Genesis Creations story came to an end during a time of recession. It was a terribly sad end to a story of enterprise and creativity and its loss still resonates today. Lundin Links was fortunate to have such an innovative endeavour based in the village. If you worked at Genesis Creations, visited the workshop or own one of their pieces - please share your memories by leaving a comment.
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The building in the postcard image above was known as Swan's Victoria Boarding Residence a century ago. Later divided into the flats of Victoria Court, this building on Victoria Road in Lundin Links was first constructed around 1907, when it was named Victoria House. At that time there was an explosion in Boarding House style accommodation in the village, to meet the demand for seaside and golfing breaks.

Building contractor Walter Horne was the original owner of the building. He sold the premises to Edinburgh baker and confectioner Johnston Wright Swan in the early 1920s. The 2 April 1924 Scotsman advert below describes Swan's Victoria Boarding Residence as "now open". As the advert states, the location of the residence was ideal - close to the station, golf course, beach and other sporting facilities - with the bonus of steam trains passing by the gardens.
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Johnston Swan (who may well be the taller man in the image above) came from a family of bakers and was a prize-winning baker himself. During his tenure, an extension was built to accommodate a cafe and bakehouse. This can be seen below and in the coloured postcard further below. 
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Mr Swan's talents were not limited to catering and baking however. He was also a musician. The piece below from 11 February 1928 Fife News notes his entertaining a company from St David's Church with his Swanee jazz-o-phone one-man band - which comprised no less than nine different instruments!
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The three images above illustrate the changing face of Largo House over the years. First built around 1750 for James Durham (1732-1808), it was his eldest son James Durham (1754-1840) that extended the original mansion to the layout shown at the top in the 1812 engraving. Soon afterwards, in 1815, he had the stable block built to designs by Alexander and James Leslie.

The engraving appeared in the Scots Magazine and Edinburgh Literary Miscellany of 1 April 1812 alongside a brief description of the property. In the engraving, Largo House appears quite stark, without the mature planting around it nor railings around the steps. In fact there are no signs of life in and around the building, aside from the trees in the background. Notice the gate and stone wall to the rear of the house, however, providing easy access to the orchard and walled garden.

The 1812 depiction was drawn by John Burnet and sculpted (engraved) by Robert Scott (13 November 1777–1841) the renowned Scottish engraver. Burnet was one of Scott's pupils. John Burnet was born and raised in Fisherrow in Musselburgh, a village just outside Edinburgh. His father George Burnet was the surveyor-general of excise for Scotland. John received some initial artistic training before taking a seven years apprenticeship with Scott. ​

Robert Scott first became known for a set of Views of Seats and Scenery chiefly in the Environs of Edinburgh, published in 1795 and 1796. He contributed plates for many years to the Scots Magazine, including this one of Largo House (and another featuring Lundin House). Eventually, he obtained a studio at 65 Princes Street in Edinburgh. One of his depictions of Robert Burns is shown below and a link to more examples of his work can be found here.
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Coming back to Largo House owner, James Durham - after the death of his wife Elizabeth (daughter of Colonel Sheldon of Flitwick House) in 1826, James married for a second time in 1827 to Margaret, eldest daughter of Colonel John Anstruther Thomson of Charlton. The pair made further additions to Largo House around 1830 by extending further to the rear of the building. Another significant, if smaller scale, change made during General Durham's era was the addition of a coat of arms to the tympanum on the frontage of Largo House.
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The full heraldic achievement of General James Durham bears two mottoes: Victoria non praeda (Victory not booty (or loot)) above the crest; and below the arms: Per mare per terras (Through the sea, through the lands). Note that in the view of the coat of arms below you can just make out the carved wording underneath which states Genl. James Durham 1830.
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It seems likely that the 1750 date was added at the same time, as the lettering styles appear very similar (see comparison below). The construction of Largo House probably spanned over more than one year, around two and three quarter centuries ago.
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