Once known as 'East House', the last house at the east end of the Temple has undergone significant alterations over the years. Above is a painting from the mid-1960s by Derek Hansen showing the house in a transition phase - between the original traditional weaver's cottage of the mid-1800s and the extended modern home that it is now (see below). The 1960s version of the house had already seen a series of windows added to the east-facing gable end. Originally, there were no windows on the east side - as can be seen in the John Blair paintings of circa 1910 further below.
​

The above pair of images show the east end of The Temple circa 1900 (above) and 2019 (below). The scene is largely unchanged - bar the alterations to a number of the buildings and the lack of boats at this end of the beach these days. However, evidence does remain to this day of the use of the sandy gap between the rocks by fishermen. Below is a close up of an old mooring ring (in foreground).

Maps of this area show the narrow but useful gap between rock strata in line with the end of The Temple - showing why boats were once a common feature here. 
​

​The houses in the centre above, with the red roofs can be dated to 1857. The building named 'Seabrae' has the inscription shown below. 

Following the previous two posts - Sentimental Journey and A Postman's Lot - this post looks at a third short film made by the late Ernest Mackie. Another collection of postie-related antics, 'Carry on Postman' can be viewed here.

If you are trying to work out where in Largo is featured from 1:39 into the film, don't even try.....it's 7 Bowling Green Street in Methil (with Denbeath Miners' Welfare Institute at the street end). However, the vast majority of the filming takes place in Lower Largo with post mistress Elizabeth Grassick and postmen Wattie Blyth, Edward Stephen, and Ernest Mackie himself, in the lead roles.

Does anyone recall any Ernest Mackie films other than these three? Do you have a copy of them?  Anyone willing to assist with finding, converting to digital and sharing more of these gems, please do get in touch. 

The short films made by Ernest Mackie brought much pleasure to the local community - both back in the 1960s when they were first made and for many years afterwards at community screenings. An earlier post shared the railway-themed film 'Sentimental Journey'. This film - entitled 'A Postman's Lot' features the Lower Largo Post Office staff, along with several locals playing cameo roles (not to mention pet dogs!) and can be viewed here. Brilliantly humorous and entertaining, this film also provides a unique snapshot of life in Largo at the time. 

Let's not forget the talent of Ernest Mackie, the film maker, who died last year and all of the willing participants that took part in this film - particularly post mistress Elizabeth Grassick and postmen Wattie Blyth and Edward Stephen. What fun they must have had coming up with the sketches and practising acting them out. Can you identify the various homes featured?

A few stills from the film are shown below.

Above is a circa 1900 photograph of some fence building work at Craigie Bank (116-118 Main Street Lower Largo). This image is now part of the University of St Andrews Photographic Collection. To the immediate left in the background is the house now known as 'Friday' (108 Main Street). Then left of that are the now flatted dwellings of Whin Brae (the upper dwelling at number 104) and Bay Nook (the lower flat at 106 Main Street). All of these homes have undergone alterations since the time of the photograph.

The overlay image below puts the photo into the wider context, looking from the sea back at Main Street, with Cardy House out of shot to the right, in a 1940s view.
​

Below is the sea-facing side of number 108 in the 1970s (courtesy of Canmore).

Below is the seaward elevation of numbers 104 and 106, showing its circa 1940s extension to the right.

Below are present day images of Whin Brae and Bay Nook from the street-facing side.

A comparison of Crusoe Buildings (on the right, looking west) - with a circa 1900 view at the top and a contemporary view below. Not much changed? On closer inspection the Crusoe Buildings have undergone a fair amount of remodelling over the last 120 years, with significant changes to the window arrangement and an attic conversion. It was modernised and reconstructed in 1936 according to the newspaper archives. Recent years have seen further renovation. Happily, the statue is unchanged - although it did enjoy a holiday in Glasgow in the 1980s.

Capturing this view without cars featuring in it, is impossible today and no longer does the road feature physical evidence of horses. A new window has appeared in the gable end of neighbouring number 97. The church bellcote has gone and indeed the church building is no longer in use as a church. 

​Below some small details are picked out. Note the child at the door of the former 'Very Crafty' shop. The buildings once housed a Barber's Shop (see announcement from 13 June 1912 Leven Advertiser further below).
​

Before you read any further - any idea where this Lundin Links butcher was located?



This particular butcher shop predates the building of the Leven Road shops.



The proprietor pictured (with a tool of the trade in hand) was Andrew Robertson. He was born in Leven in 1849 and that is where the story begins.  Below is an extract from the 1862 Westwood's Parochial Directory for the counties of Fife and Kinross, showing the bakers in Scoonie. At 4 Forth Street is master baker Andrew Robertson. He and his wife Ann Scott were the parents of the Andrew Robertson pictured above. Another baker in Leven at the time was Andrew Thomson - a man who would, soon after the Westwood's listing was published, relocate his business to Lundin Mill. 

The Thomsons and Robertsons were close and when Andrew Thomson moved his bakery to Emsdorf Street around 1865, the eldest son of Andrew Robertson the Forth Street baker (Robert Robertson) took over Thomson's vacated premises on Leven High Street. Robert Robertson's remained a thriving business there for decades and is pictured below circa 1908. So the with eldest son of Andrew Robertson senior following in his father's footsteps, the younger sons followed different career paths. One became a joiner, while Andrew junior trained as a flesher. 

Andrew junior started out in the butcher business in Inverkeithing where he was based for several years.  In 1870 Andrew Robertson married ​Elizabeth Douglas of Lundin Mill, daughter of linen weaver James Douglas and his wife Isabella Peebles. They were married in Lundin Mill by Largo minister William Davidson. There seems a strong possibility that they met through Andrew Thomson the baker now located in Lundin Mill, a community predominantly of hand loom weavers.

By the census of 1881, Andrew and Isabella had moved from Inverkeithing to Dunfermline and had four children. Ten years later they were still running a butcher in Dunfermline and their family had grown. By 1901, their son Andrew had joined the butcher trade and they remained running the business in Dunfermline. Meanwhile in Lundin Mill the butcher was David Simpson. He had a house, shop and slaughterhouse on Hillhead Street. However, in 1895 he fell to his death from the railway viaduct at Lower Largo, aged 49. His wife Janet continued the business until 1907, when she retired. The notice below from the 18 September 1907 Leven Advertiser shows both her message of thanks to the inhabitants of the district for their support and Andrew Robertson's announcement that he would be taking over the butcher from 24th September. Furthermore, Mrs Simpson auctioned off some of the contents of her home (Croft House, Hillhead Street) including a talking parrot.

So, the photograph at the very top of this post was taken on the west side of HIllhead Street at Croft House (number 5). The photograph dates to very soon after Andrew Robertson had taken over from Mrs Simpson. He ran the business for a number of years before retiring. Once retired he still owned the business but let it to Thomas Henderson, butcher. On 18 May 1916, Andrew Robertson died aged 65. This prompted the demise of the Hillhead Street butcher business and Thomas Henderson sold off the plant, fittings and other belongings of the shop (see foot of this post). Thereafter the village was served by G.W. Douglas the butcher on Leven Road (who also had a branch on Leven's Forth Street, which is where this story began).

Update 27/01/2020:

To clarify the location of Robert Anderson's Butcher Shop, see 1893 O.S. map below. It was adjacent to the slaughterhouse on Hillhead Street. This street was once (surprisingly) considered the main area for shopping:

https://lundinlinks.weebly.com/blog/hillhead

This circa 1905 postcard view looks along Emsdorf Street from the front door of David Lindsay's grocer shop at the junction of Hillhead Street. In the immediate foreground to the left is an old wall (long gone) and to the right, up high, a street lamp holder. Also to the right, on the ground, are a wooden barrel and box, typical of the era. Back in the 1970s local resident Esther Menzies recalling this shop said:

"Mr Lindsay sold everything nearly - bran, parings, oatmeal, dried big cod, doormats, salt herring from a barrel in front of the counter and of course the ordinary groceries not packaged as they are today."

She commented upon how this area was really the hub of the village with Cowie the chemist next door and Robert Forrester's painter and paperhanger shop opposite. There were other businesses both on Hillhead and Emsdorf Streets. 

​The above guide on where to get your ration book is from the Leven Mail of 31 May 1944. There were two locations in Largo Parish at that time: the Simpson Institute in Upper Largo and St Margaret's Garden Room in Lundin Links. The latter was a private house on Victoria Road. This house (now known as Strathearn) was owned by Mrs Jean Gaskell - born Jean Helen Rintoul, sister of Leonora Rintoul. In 1946 was St Margaret's Garden Room was still the ration book collection location. Jean also ran a Sunday School from this venue in the 1940s. St Margaret's is indicated by the arrow on the left of the image below.
​

By 1947 the Lundin Links ration book venue had changed to Lundin Ladies Golf Club House and it remained so for some time - see notice below from 6 April 1949 Leven Mail. Note that a Lower Largo collection point had been added at St David's Church. ​

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.