Category: Houses

From Children's Home to Hotel

9/10/2026

Continuing the series of posts charting the history of Aithernie House (now the Old Manor Hotel), we pick up when Aithernie was leased to Margaret Paxton to run as a children's home. The spacious building with its broad southern outlook across the Forth was ideally suited to Miss Paxton's purpose, with its four public rooms (all facing south), ten bedrooms, three bathrooms, electric light, modern central heating and a wash house with laundry. The large gardens were another reason for Miss Paxton choosing the property. The children would spend a lot of time outside in the fresh air and sunshine, as the image from the brochure for the home, shown above, illustrates.

In December 1936, Margaret had written to Sir David Russell to say that she was "very anxious to start a children's home in Largo" as "there is no place in Fife to which necessitous children may be sent and there is a very great need for such a home". The venture seems to have done well until the outbreak of war brought the pressures of food rationing, the need to meet blackout requirements and air raid precautions, staffing shortages and financial issues. The health of Miss Paxton was also a concern.

Early in 1943 the home had to close for a six-month period. This had come about because Margaret had suffered a breakdown, having had do the cooking and attend the children at night, on top of her usual role as superintendent, due to ongoing staff shortages. By 1944, Miss Paxton's health was still not good and staffing issues were serious. In 1945. it was noted that several valuable subscribers had been lost by death and that staffing difficulties persisted. The following year, 1946, after nine years of operation, the home had to close for good. During its existence, Fife Children's Home had cared for between 500 and 600 children between the ages of 2 and 10 years.

During the decade that Aithernie had operated as a children's home, over in Leven, a new hotel had become established. A new company had been formed to equip and run the former Braeside House (shown on the map above) as a hotel. The Leven Beach Hotel opened in 1937 with all mod cons, including hot and cold running water, central heating radiators and electric lighting. The 24-room venue also featured a sun porch, oak panelled hall, tartan carpet, a grill-room restaurant and a garage at the rear to accommodate 16 cars.

Such was the success of Leven's Beach Hotel, that the company behind it - Beach Hotel (Leven) Limited - sought to open a sister venue. Aithernie House fitted the bill in terms of both its size and facilities, as well as its views over Largo Bay. The company bought Aithernie and received its hotel licence for in November 1947 (see below from 1 November Fife News).

As the notice below from the 7 July 1948 Leven Mail shows, the Lundin Links Beach Hotel opened on Saturday 10th July 1948, offering lunch, afternoon tea and dinner. So began the building's new life as a hotel, which continues to this day, almost eighty years later.

Soon the new hotel had expanded its offering to include dancing, weddings, parties and other social functions (see 4 November 1950 Fife Free Press above). Christmas dinner also became a regular fixture. The advert below dates to 1958.

Dinner dances became a regular Saturday night event and many local clubs and organisations held their social nights in the hotel. Both the Leven and the Lundin Links Beach Hotel were a popular choice for wedding receptions and Golden Weddings alike. The full page feature above for both the Leven and the Lundin Links Beach Hotel dates to the late 1960s and was part of the 'All About Fife' Summer Guide.

Over the decades that the building operated as the Beach Hotel there were of course improvements and the facilities kept up with the time. The notice above from the 9 October 1974 advises of a short closure for redecoration. The advert below appeared in the 25 June 1976 Fife Free Press. By this time, the days of the Beach Hotel, Lundin Links were numbered. A change of name and style was just around the corner. More on that to follow.

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The Russell Family at Aithernie House

2/10/2026

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The previous post covered the history of Aithernie House up to 1921 census. Later that same year, the house was sold to paper manufacturer David Russell (pictured above). He had been born at nearby Silverburn in 1872. His father, also David Russell (1831-92), had bought Silverburn in 1854 and began a flax processing operation. He later went on to set up Largo Oil and Cake Mill and also branched out into papermaking, with a partnership in the mills at Rothes and Auchmuty with his Tullis relations.

David Russell the younger was the third son. While eldest brother George went into farming, David followed their father into papermaking. Tullis Russell would become one of Scotland's largest paper manufacturers, a major new plant having been built between 1910 and 1912. David married Deborah Alison Blyth (known as Alison) in 1912. They settled in Rothes House - the mill-owners house at Rothes Mill - on the banks of the River Leven at Markinch. Rothes House is shown on the map below from that era, in the lower right hand corner. The couple had their first three children while living there: Catherine (1913), David (1915) and John (1918).

The reason behind the family's move to Lundin Links is revealed in the book Sir David Russell: A Biography by Lorn Macintyre:

"...because of its closeness to the River Leven, Rothes House was proving an unhealthy place to bring up a family, and the Russells never seemed to be clear of colds"

Aithernie House was for sale in 1920 and would of course have been well-known to David, being only one mile east of Silverburn, where his widowed mother was still living. However, he considered the asking price of £8,000 too high. Eventually the Russells took Aithernie on a six-month lease with an option to purchase the house at the end (which they eventually did at the reduced price of £7,000).

Aithernie House at the time was described as having "an extension by the fashionable Scottish architect Sir Robert Lorimer" but "in very poor condition externally". Nevertheless, Aithernie was "a spacious family home of seven bedrooms plus servants' quarters, lit by an oil engine" and as a bonus "it had a tennis lawn for the children and a south-facing verandah where they could take the air".

At Aithernie House, the Russells had two further children, Sheila (1921) and Ann (1924). In a small snapshot of life at Aithernie, the Biography by Macintyre recalls how:

"On the wireless at Aithernie on Friday 30th April 1926 David Russell heard the proclamation by the King, bringing into force the Emergency Powers Act of 1920, giving the Government and the authorities special powers of search, arrest and even imprisonment. The following day, when the girls at Aithernie celebrated May Day by washing their faces in the dew, the coal owners countrywide locked out the miners who refused to go into the pits to work on the owners' terms."

On Monday 4th May the General Strike in support of the miners began and soon coal supplies at Aithernie were running out. Worse was to come the following year when a tragic event took place at the house. The gardener there, William Dunbar, who was somewhat obsessive about keeping particular flowers for Mrs Russell "went into a depression" when a maid innocently picked some. He was found dead in the engine room in the garden, as the 25 June 1927 Leven Advertiser below recounts. The family felt that "the sunlight had left Aithernie" and moved into Silverburn.

David Russell had been a philanthropist in many ways during his life and one example was in connection with Aithernie House after the family had moved out. Aithernie was leased to Margaret Paxton of nearby Homelands to run as a children's home. The first of its kind in Scotland, the home provided accommodation for young children whose parents could not look after them. The children who came to live there spent as much time as possible outdoors in the grounds, even often eating meals outside. The photograph of the house above dates to that time. David was knighted in 1946 in the New Year's Honours List for his many public services. Sir David Russell died on 12 May 1956 in the house he was born in at Silverburn.

Sir David Russell by Walter Stoneman - bromide print, 13 March 1946 (NPG x185070) © National Portrait Gallery, London

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George Lumsden at Aithernie

25/9/2026

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The last of the original residents of Aithernie House, Miss Mary Dalyell Haymes, died in 1898. The house became the property of the teenage Miss Mary Lillias Rigg, daughter of James Home Rigg (who was the cousin of Mary Haymes). Miss Rigg did not live in the house and, when she was 21, Aithernie was offered for sale (see 1 July 1903 Fife Herald below).

On this occasion the house did not sell. Eventually, the following year Aithernie House was sold to George James Lumsden (1865-1953) of Freuchie, pictured above. The sale was reported in the local Largo news in the 25 June 1904 Fife News below. George was the second son of Thomas Lumsden of the long established linen weaving firm of Walter Lumsden and Son. In 1860, Thomas Lumsden had set about building the 160-loom power loom factory - the Eden Valley Linen Works in Freuchie.

After training at the Mulheim Technical Weaving School near Cologne, George Lumsden and his brother John took the works over from their father. The pair eventually introduced new machinery and expanded the business. On 4 June 1891, George married Eveline Blanche Clayton in London. They went on to have three daughters - Eveline (1893), Muriel (1894) and Enid (1901).

A couple of years after purchasing the house, the Lumsden family added a substantial extension to Aithernie, to the east (seen to the right of the aerial image above). This east wing was designed by designed by Sir Robert Lorimer in 1906. Being added more than forty years after the original house was built, the architectural style was slightly different. The rooflines feature Lorimer's trademark curved, sweeping profiles - as opposed to the sharper angles of the original Victorian wing.

While resident in Lundin Links, George Lumsden began a long association with the Boy Scout movement. He was Chairman of the Committee that formed the troop of Scouts at Lundin Links. This coincided with the building of the Montrave Hall, very close to Aithernie House on Leven Road. The piece above covers the opening of the new hall (30 July 1910 Fife News), where George Lumsden presided over the occasion. Below is an advert for an evening's entertainment in the recently opened hall only days later in aid of the Lundin Links Boy Scouts (3 August 1910 Leven Advertiser).

In fact the Largo Scouts comprised two patrols based in Lundin Links and a further two patrols at Upper Largo. The latter met in the former Largo Field Naturalists' Museum (originally the old schoolhouse on North Feus). The contents of the old museum were relocated into the rear of the new Montrave Hall. The 13 July 1910 Leven Advertiser below describes the key individuals involved in the establishment of the movement in Largo. George Lumsden went on to become Scouts County Commissioner and ultimately he was awarded the Silver Wolf - the highest scouting award - in 1938.

The 1911 census reveals that the Lumsden household at Aithernie House included a footman, cook, housemaid and kitchen maid. The gardener, now James Brown, lived in the adjacent lodge house with his family. In spite of becoming very involved in the local community, the Lumsdens left Aithernie House in 1914. In fact, the family made the reverse move of the original Aithernie occupants. The Lumsdens moved into the Misses Rigg's former family home - Tarvit House, outside Cupar.

George Lumsden continued to own Aithernie House, renting it out. At the time of the 1921 census, the sixteen-roomed house was occupied by Christina Young, six members of her family, a visitor and six servants. A gardener continued to live in the lodge house and a chauffeur lived in the adjacent offices. Later that same year, a new family moved into Aithernie House. More about that in the next post.

Meanwhile, after fourteen years as tenants of Tarvit House, the Lumsdens purchased that property, in 1928, from a member of the Rigg family (see below from 28 January 1928 Fifeshire Advertiser), cementing the connection between Tarvit and Aithernie.

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Life at Aithernie House

18/9/2026

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Aithernie House (also spelled Athernie House) was the original name of the Old Manor Hotel, built in 1864 for the Misses Rigg of Tarvit. A mansion house with extensive grounds of approximately five acres, the main features of the property are annotated on the map below.

1. Aithernie House
2. Aithernie Lodge
3. Outhouses and Laundry (pictured below)
4. Stables
5. Gardens with Glasshouses
6. Steps connecting terraces of the garden

The property was entered via the driveway adjacent to the Lodge where the gardener Andrew Arnott lived with his family. Between the outhouses and stable was a courtyard. The outhouses included a washing house and laundry, as well as specific storage spaces for coals, for lamps, for boots and for brushes and tools.

Inside the main house there was an Entrance Hall with parquet flooring, Drawing Room, Library, Dining Room, Music Room, West Bedroom, East Bedroom, additional bedrooms, North Box room, bathrooms, linen cupboard, Butler's Bedroom, Cloakroom, Kitchen, Scullery and Larder. In addition, there was a Lumber Room (a storage space for items not in use) and a Bird Room (which would either have been a dedicated space used for displaying and studying natural history collections of taxidermy birds, or an area dedicated to keeping live exotic and songbirds).

The ladies of the house - Mary Rigg, Margaret Rigg and Mary Haymes - would have dressed much like the ladies in the contemporary photograph above. Living with them, there were a number of domestic servants in the main house. These included a Ladies Maid, Cook, Laundry Maid, House Maid, Table Maid, Groom and Message Boy (or Post Boy). In the early days of Aithernie House the Post Boy was Cupar-born John Anderson, who among other duties had to "look after the ladies' pony and basket phaeton". It must have been quite a sight for the residents of old Lundin Mill to see the ladies in their finery being driven through the streets in their neat little carriage, as they went to the Free Church in Upper Largo or made social visits around the community.

The inventory of the house, recorded at the time of the death of Mary Haymes, further paints a picture of life at Aithernie House in Victorian times. There was, for example, a bust of the late father of the Misses Rigg - James Home Rigg. The ladies also possessed their late father's armchair, tea table, reading desk and Bible, suggesting that they placed great importance on his memory. There was a grandfather clock, many candlesticks, several writing tables, bookcases full of books, leather chairs, wicker chairs, drawings and photographs (including of the ladies themselves at different ages) and home made items such as a "needlework cushion" and "a teacloth sewn with carnations at the corners".

Music must have been important within the household. There was a piano, a harmonium, harmonium chair and "a black box of music". The ladies hosted many a soiree, including a particularly special celebration to mark the coming of age of their nephew James Home Rigg. The piece below from the 19 October 1876 Fife Herald describes the "rejoicings" that took place in the house, when "flags fluttered gaily in the breeze from several points of Athernie". The ladies "discoursed a few select pieces on the harmonium and pianoforte" and sang several songs and ballads. The evening was declared "the happiest night that had been spent under the rooftree of Athernie".

There is also a sense that the house decor changed with the seasons, with mention of items such as the "square carpet that does down in the winter" and the "light summer curtains". The gardens too would have had a seasonal cycle and the household soon became involved in local horticultural events. In their first full year living in Largo Parish (1865) the MIsses Rigg attended the third annual Floral and Horticultural Fete put on by Largo Field Naturalist Society at Keil's Den.

By the 1868 annual show, the produce of Aithernie House was being exhibited at the event, along that of Largo House, Charleton Estate and Charles Jenner of Edinburgh (a friend of show organiser Charles Howie). One of the entries from Aithernie House was "an enormous melon" - a product of their glass houses (see 13 August 1868 Fife Journal below).

Mary Rigg died in 1883 aged 72 years, while Margaret Rigg died aged 80 in 1891. Their niece Mary Dalyell Haymes carried on living at Aithernie until her death on 23 June 1898 at the age of 53. For many years beforehand she "had to be wheeled in an invalid chair and suffered much physical pain". In her will Mary Haymes stated "I wish that the two carrying chairs and wheeling house chair also bath chair with India rubber tyres to be sent to General Ratcliffe for the use of the Inmates of the Midland Counties Incurable Home Leamington".

It was fitting that the last surviving occupant of the original Aithernie House household - an "esteemed lady" who had followed the "noble example of her aunts". - continued to give to other even after her death. As 29 June 1898 reported at the time, Miss Haymes had...

"...long been identified with every Christian and charitable work in the Parish, and although for many years she had had to be wheeled in an invalid chair and suffered much physical pain, she was unremitting in her exertions both for the temporal comfort and spiritual welfare of the people, and seemed never to weary in her labour of love. For nearly 30 years she had personally conducted a mother's meeting, besides lending valuable aid in the formation and promotion of a mission Sabbath school in Lundin Mill. She did much for the temperance cause, and was a member of the Lodge of Good Templars."

Still today, glimpses of the original Aithernie House can still be seen, both outside and inside the 162-year-old building.

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The Origins of Aithernie House

11/9/2026

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The circumstances which led to the building of Aithernie House (now the Old Manor Hotel) began with the death, at Tarvit House outside Cupar, of its proprietor James Home Rigg on 30 May 1862 at the age of 79 years. James had been predeceased by his wife and all but two of his many children. Indeed his only son, Patrick, had died the previous year aged 44. As the article below from the 5 June 1862 Fifeshire Journal explains, the estates of Tarvit and Downfield passed on to his grandson and namesake, six year old James Home Rigg.

These events left the late James's two surviving daughters Mary (aged 50) and Margaret (aged 48), in need of a new home. The unmarried sisters had been guardians to their niece Mary Haymes (now aged 20) since the death of her mother, their sister Helen. The three ladies would have a new mansion house built in Lundin Links, on a plot close to the western edge of the Lundin Estate. Adjacent to Sunnybraes Farm, the site of their new home was close to the ancestral home of the Rigg family - Aithernie Castle (also sometimes spelled Athernie or Ethernie). The 1775 map below shows the proximity of Sunnybraes and Ethernie.

Architect Campbell Douglas (1828-1910), pictured above, was selected to design their home. Douglas was the son of a church minister who had left the Established Church at the Disruption to join the newly formed Free Church (a denomination in which the Misses Rigg and Miss Haymes were also active). At the time, his architectural practice was almost exclusively employed in the design of churches and large houses.

The contractors who turned the architectural plans into reality were largely drawn from the Cupar area. The builder was John Honeyman, a builder with half a century of experience who was responsible for many of Cupar's principal buildings, as well as several mansion houses in the district. He was also the lessee of a large quarry at Cupar Muir. Painting work was carried out by longstanding Cupar firm Sharp and Duncan. The joinery (or wright work) was done by Thomas Foulis Ballingall of Leven, who had a property in Lundin Links very close to Aithernie House. Inspector of the works was William Younger of Ceres - an experienced wright who had worked with John Honeyman on previous projects, including the new church at Springfield. Aithernie House's extensive grounds were laid out by Alexander Thomson, the gardener from Tarvit House.

When Aithernie House was close to completion in the summer of 1864, a dinner was held within it for the contractors involved. Taking place just prior to the three ladies moving in, the occasion was described in the 23 July 1864 Dundee Advertiser (below). The 21 July Fifeshire Journal also reported on the event, describing how the drawing room and library were opened for the reception of the guests and "a hospitable table was spread".

The assembled company reportedly did justice to the "most excellent repast". It was also noted that a special toast was raised to the "aged housekeeper, who had been with the family upwards of half-a-century". This was Kemback-born Anne Rintoul, who would die four years later at Aithernie, aged 85 years. The Fifeshire Journal declared the "new mansion-house of Athernie" a "structure of great beauty and chasteness".

The map below shows the entire grounds of Aithernie House, including its Lodge House (to the left on the roadside) and its offices and stables (on the top right), as well as the extensive terraced grounds running down towards Lundin Links station, which had opened seven years earlier in 1857. The elevated situation of the main house took advantage of the panoramic views across Largo Bay. In the next post - life at Aithernie House once the Misses Rigg and Miss Haymes had moved in.

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Whinstone at Massney Braes

28/8/2026

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To follow on from the previous post about Massney Braes, the map below from 1853 clearly shows a significant area of "whinstone" on the shore to the west of the braes. This rocky outcrop, also seen in the photograph above, provided a ready supply of dense, hard-wearing stone, which proved to be ideal for in the construction of houses and other buildings in local area during the nineteenth century.

The term 'whin' has long been used in Scotland to describe any hard dark rock. There are competing theories which attempt to explain the origin of the word. One relates to the abundance of gorse bushes close to certain areas of whinstone - as these bushes were also known locally as ‘whin’ bushes. in fact, the phrase "benty, tussocky and ripe with whin" was the famous historical description used to describe the rugged, natural terrain of Lundin Golf Course in its very early days. 'Whin' in that case referred to gorse.

An example of a dwelling built from Massney Braes whinstone is Bourtree Brae House on Crescent Road, pictured above. This house was written about in the 1868 book entitled "Villa and Cottage Architecture: Select Examples of Country and Suburban Residences Recently Erected" published by Blackie & Son, which states:

"The external walls are two feet thick, and built of whinstone rubble. obtained by breaking up the boulders strewn along the shore of the firth".

The book goes on to note that, in contrast, the architectural details of the house (sills, lintels, wall corners, etc) were made of freestone from Grange Quarry at Burntisland. The hard whinstone was difficult to dress into shaped blocks and so a different stone that was easier to work was used for the finer detail. The warm, dark brown stone found on the beach close to the Lundin Golf Club certainly appears a close match to the house façade and in this example, the material had very little distance to travel from source to final destination.

Stone was still being taken from this stretch of beach by stone masons decades later. In 1880, legal action was taken to stop Thomas Tivendale, mason, from "taking stone for building purposes from the seashore opposite Mr Macrae's property". Mr Macrae was Colin George Macrae W.S. of Drum Lodge.

In the absence of a clear origin of the name 'Massney' in relation to the Braes, I often wonder whether it might derive from the word 'mason' as the brae was used by the stone masons of days gone by to move building materials off the beach. Opinions welcome on this idea - or evidence of an alternative meaning to the name.

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Alexander Selkirk's Birthplace Visitor Book

17/7/2026

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There have been a few depictions of the original cottage in which Alexander Selkirk (the inspiration behind Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe) was born. The one above is by Largo engraver William Ballingall from his 1872 book Shores of Fife. For decades after the death of Selkirk in 1721, folks would come from far and wide to visit this cottage, meet his relatives and view some of his surviving possessions. For a spell there was even a visitor's book, for those paying a visit to leave their name and details of where they had visited from. This book, which is preserved at the National Library of Scotland, is linked to a well-known Scottish painter.

Like many artists, Kenneth Macleay (1802-1878), pictured above in a calotype by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, visited Largo and the wider Fife coast. When MacLeay and his family visited Selkirk's birthplace in the summer of 1859, his wife Louisa gifted a smartly-bound book to be used to record visitors to the birthplace. At this time, it was 80-year-old Catherine Gillies, the great grand niece of Alexander Selkirk who acted as keeper of his artefacts. John Selkirk (Catherine's father) was the son of Alexander Selkirk, who in turn was the son of David Selkirk (or Selcraig), the eldest brother of the famous Alexander Selkirk.

Kenneth McLeay was born in 1802 in Oban - the son of a doctor. Receiving his early education at Crieff, he came to Edinburgh in 1814 to study at the School of Art at Picardy Place. In 1826 he was one of the artists who founded the Royal Scottish Academy. Securing the patronage of the Queen, he created life miniatures of nearly every member of the Royal family. Chiefly a watercolour portrait painter, he produced both miniature and full size portraits. He later became a professional photographer. The above piece from the 21 December 1863 Daily Review mentions an example of one of MacLeay's Royal commissions.

MacLeay was in his late 50s when the family visited Largo in 1859, just two years after the arrival of railway which made the village more easily accessible. The image above is the first page inside the visitors' book. The inscription reads...

Presented to Mrs Gillies, the great grand niece of Alexander Selkirk - The World famed "Robinson Crusoe" of Defoe, by Louisa MacLeay, wife of Kenneth Macleay R.S.A. 20th July 1859

Louisa MacLeay was the daughter of Sir James Campbell of Ardkinglas and Craigforth. Perhaps a fondness of Defoe's novel motivated her to donate the visitor book. Eight days later on 28th July, Kenneth, Louisa, several of their children and members of their wider family all left their names in the book (see below). This included family members from Louisa's side - the Campbells and Callanders - one of whom, Alexander Callander, served in Her Majesty's Indian Forces.

The visitors' book went on to be signed by a wide range of people between July 1859 and early 1862. Catherine Gillies (nee Selkirk) to whom the book was gifted, died on 1 February 1862 aged 83 years. Within the year the "quaint old house of her fathers, with its moss-covered thatch, its grey walls and small windows" was pulled down and not long after that the artefacts of Selkirk were put up for sale. However, after a hiatus, names continued to be added to the book up until 1868 - although the later visitors would have seen only the new replacement building and none of the major relics.

Local minister Reverend David Malloch, signed the book twice - first in August 1859, the year before he was ordained as minister of Largo United Presbyterian Church (just along the street from the cottage). He signed it again in 1860 after he officially had taken up his post. Other prominent local figures whose names appear in the book include Colin George Macrae of Drum Lodge, George Todd Chiene, the factor at Lundin House, commission agent Benjamin Philp and David Russell of Silverburn.

Other signatories came from other places across Fife (Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy, St Andrews, Elie, Leven, Buckhaven and Cupar), elsewhere in Scotland (Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Falkirk, Alloa, Inverness and John O'Groats), as well as the wider United Kingdom (London, Norwich, Manchester, Newcastle, Belfast, Cheshire, Surrey and Suffolk). A few even came from overseas - with examples including Germany, Hong Kong, Bombay, the USA and Australia. Some visitors had clearly arrived by sea - such as master mariner George Curties from Sunderland.

Louisa MacLeay died on 1 January 1868 aged 50 years and Kenneth died 1878 aged 76. Their visit to Selkirk's cottage and their generous gesture of gifting the book allows us to have this insight into who was visiting Largo and its Selkirk heritage back in the mid-nineteenth century. In terms of who visited the birthplace in the years before 1859, we can only imagine but with prominent figures such as Sir Walter Scott and his Fife-born publisher Archibald Constable paying a visit, there were no doubt many interesting characters among the earlier visitors.

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Alexander Selkirk's Gun

5/6/2026

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When Largo-born Alexander Selkirk, the inspiration for Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, was marooned between 1704 and 1709 on Más a Tierra (Robinson Crusoe Island) one of the important items he had in his possession was a gun. This musket (a muzzle-loaded long gun) would have been a key tool for survival - providing a means of both a means of defence and tool for hunting food. Also referred to as a firelock or a flintlock, this gun would have had a firing mechanism, whereby a piece of flint held in a clamp would strike a steel plate to create sparks. The sparks would ignite a small amount of gunpowder to fire the gun.

It is presumed that the gun which Alexander Selkirk had with him on the island, returned home with him post-rescue. The question of where it is today, is an intriguing and complex one to attempt to unravel. In the 1980s, journalist Rick Wilson set off in pursuit of an answer to that question. In the resulting article, published in the Scotsman on 2 May 1986, not one, not two but three separate guns, each with a claim to have once belonged to Alexander Selkirk, were traced. The full article can be viewed here. Wilson went on to write the book The Man Who Was Robinson Crusoe (2009) in which there is a more detailed account of his gun investigations.

Eighteenth century sources suggest that Selkirk's gun was, after his death, in the possession of family in Largo. The extract above from a piece in the 1 December 1797 Scots Magazine clearly states that the musket was still in the possession of Alexander's grand nephew John Selkirk, a weaver. John was the grandson of Alexander's eldest brother David. Five years earlier, the Old Statistical Account of Scotland of 1792 for had similarly noted that "the chest and musket which Selkirk had with him on the island are now in possession of his grand nephew, John Selkirk, weaver in Largo".

However, around 1800 the gun left the Selkirk family. The 1803 reprint of Sir Robert Sibbald's A History Ancient and Modern of the Sheriffdoms of Fife and Kinross discusses Alexander Selkirk and the footnote below appears with reference to the whereabouts of his possessions. While John Selkirk was still reported to have the chest, the musket was now noted as "in the possession of a gentleman in the neighbourhood".

The gentleman in question was John Lumsdaine, who had purchased nearby Lathallan Estate to the south of Largoward in 1788. Lathallan is approximately five miles away from Lower Largo and can be seen in the top right of the Roy Military Survey of Scotland map (1747-55). Lumsdaine appears to have been a collector of historical curios. Like many others, he probably visited the Selkirk family cottage in Largo to view the relics of Alexander Selkirk. Perhaps he took a particular interest in the gun and made an offer for it that could not be refused.

When John Lumsdaine died in 1823, the estate of Lathallan passed to his son James. Within months of his father's death, James retired from active service as a Surgeon with the East India Company, and returned to Lathallan. He married Sophia Lindsay on 27 October 1824 and they had four sons: James (1827-1849), William Lindsay (1828-1859), John Small (1830-1860) and Stamford Robert (1831-1878). James died in 1853 and the estate passed initially to William, then John and finally to Stamford Robert. Stamford married Anna Maria Briggs of Strathairly in 1864 and they went on to have a son who died in infancy and then three daughters. The gun likely remained at Lathallan throughout this period.

When Stamford Robert Lumsdaine died in 1878, there was no male heir and his daughters were all young children. For over two decades, the Lathallan Estate was in the ownership of Trustees of the Late Stamford Robert Lumsdaine and was let to a series of tenants including Lieutenant Colonel Francis John Outhwaite, Colonel William Babington and Thomas Jeffrey Esquire. In 1895, the Trustees decided to sell the "fine collection of historical relics and curios" held within Lathallan House. Among them was "the fowling-piece" (an archaic term for a hunting gun) or musket of Alexander Selkirk (see 14 December 1895 Fife News above).

So, in 1895, a century and three quarters after the death of Alexander Selkirk, and around a century after the gun was procured by John Lumsdaine, the weapon left Fife. More to follow on what happened next, including the surfacing of a second gun with claims of association with 'Robinson Crusoe'.

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Victoria House

29/5/2026

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The picture postcard shown above was published by Young, Stationer & Newsagent, Lundin Links. It features Victoria House, which was built by local contractor Walter Horne around 1907 as a boarding establishment. This photograph likely dates to the late 1920s (when the business was known as Swan's Victoria) or the early 1930s when Agnes Peebles Watters (nee Greig) ran the 'private hotel'. By the time that this image was captured, the open verandas originally at ground and first floor level on the right hand side had been closed in to form bay windows.

During Mrs Watters time, the advert further below for the hotel appeared in the tourist guide for Largo area. Within the grounds of the hotel itself, visitors had access to a 9-hole putting course, clock golf and a quoit tennis court. Notice that in the photograph detail below, there is a well-dressed chap with a golf club. He is either having a go at the putting course or a game of clock golf. A tall flag pole can also been seen behind the man, by the fence.

Clock golf or clock putting, was a Victorian garden game that involved a circular arrangement of twelve cast iron numbered markers, resembling the numbers on a clock face. The game was set up with the numbers (often Roman numerals) placed in a circle, to represent each hour of the clock. A hole (target) is placed a few feet off centre, in order to vary the distance from each figure to the hole.

Players take turns putting from each of the twelve positions, starting at 1 o’clock and moving sequentially around the circle (which would ideally measure around 40 feet in diameter). The objective was to get the ball into the hole with the fewest strokes possible from each position. After completing a full round, the player with the fewest total strokes wins. Clock golf was popular as it required minimal space and could be enjoyed by people of all ages.

Quoit tennis was another garden game for 2 or 4 players (singles or doubles) where a court is marked out on the grass and a net put up in the centre. The rules of the game were similar to those of tennis but a rope quoit replaced the tennis ball and hands were used rather than racquets. Quoits were served and returned across the net and points lost for quoits hitting the net or going out of the court.

When guests at the Victoria were not enjoying such garden-based games, they were only a stone's throw away from the beach (with access to the boarding house's private bathing boxes) and from Lundin golf course. In the evening there might be a dance, a whist drive or indoor sports. Entertainment for all the family - happy days!

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John Cairns, Shipping Agent (1865-1928)

17/4/2026

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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.