Category: - VINTAGE LUNDIN LINKS AND LARGO

VINTAGE LUNDIN LINKS AND LARGO

James Macmaster RSW RBA (1856-1913)

27/6/2026

The above painting, entitled At Largo Bay, is by James Kennedy Macmaster, who was born on 10 March 1856 at Mill Street in Catrine, Ayrshire to woollen draper David Macmaster and his wife Jane Reid. The piece is dated 1889 and depicts the old shorefront buildings close to the Crusoe Hotel, which were demolished around 1890 to make way for "Edina View", "Rock View" and "Beach House" (new developments created by Andrew Selkirk (1836-1909).

MacMaster's mother was widowed soon after the birth of youngest child James and when she in turn died in 1868, twelve year old James, went to live with four of his mother's unmarried siblings, including her brother John Reid - a cotton manufacturer - at Shawlands. After John's death, James continued to live in the household of his uncle Robert Reid (a wine merchant) and aunts Elizabeth and Janet. By the census of 1881, James was 24 years old and described as an Artist Painter Landscape.

Soon afterwards, James relocated to Fife, inititally living in Kilconquhar. On 25 June 1884 James married Cellardyke-born Euphemia Nicol in St Monans, The couple settled in St Monans and went on to have three children during their time there - Euphemia in 1887, Robert in 1889 and Jane in 1892. In 1885 James was elected to the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour and to the Royal Society of British Artists in 1890. The Macmaster family were recorded in the 1891 census at Station Road in St Monans where James was described as a Marine and Landscape Artist. In 1891 one of his pieces was bought by the Prince of Wales. During his time in Fife, James painted many local villages including Cellardyke, Anstruther, St Monans, Pittenweem, Crail, Elie, Dysart, West Wemyss and of course Largo (some detail of which is shown below).

The above 1889 watercolour of Largo Bay was not the first time that Macmaster had captured this view. A very similar piece from 1884 was created for the Dundee Fine Art Exhibition and was noted in the 26 December 1894 Dundee Advertiser below. This was named The Birthplace of Alexander Selkirk - Robinson Crusoe.

By 1897, James and his family had moved to Ayr and the census of 1901 found them at Monument Road in Ayr. By 1911, they were at 36 St Leonard's Road in Ayr and that is where James died on 5 April 1913, aged 57 years. The piece below is from 7 April 1913 Dundee Evening Telegraph.

Alexander Selkirk's Gun - Part 3

16/6/2026

On 11 December 1985, precisely a century to the minute after the unveiling of the Robinson Crusoe statue, the Alexander Selkirk Museum was opened in Lower Largo. The image above from the 12 December Scotsman shows TV personality Tom Weir next to a plaque which we had unveiled. The accompanying article noted that a couple of key artefacts were absent from the museum's collection. One was the sea-chest which was (and still is) held at the Scottish Museum of Antiquities (now the National Museum of Scotland). The other was the flintlock gun, which was of unknown whereabouts.

It was this article and the specifically the words "it is the gun which the family would most dearly like to get hold of" that prompted journalist Rick Wilson to set off on a mission to track Selkirk's gun down. In fact, his subsequent investigations identified three different guns with supposed links to 'Crusoe'. One was the gun known to have been in Lower Largo until around 1800 when it was sold to John Lumsdaine of Lathallan (read about that here). Another was a gun with a carved butt that emerged in the 1880s when a gentlemen contacted the Largo Field Naturalists' Society about it (read about that here). Then a third gun emerged from Rick Wilson's efforts.

While following the trail of guns one and two, Rick Wilson received a tip-off about an article in Sporting Gun magazine about a gun with a possible link to Robinson Crusoe. He contacted the magazine editor, who put him in touch with the author of the piece. Eventually the weapon in question was traced a Mrs Florence Osbourn of East Dereham, Norfolk. Her late husband had purchased the gun around 1953 from an antique shop in Newmarket, paying only a couple of pounds for it. After some negotiation, this gun was purchased for the Lower Largo Museum. The photograph below shows Ivy Jardine, the driving force behind the museum, holding the gun. The detail further below shows the name roughly carved in capital letters: ALEXR SELKIRK. Apparently on the reverse it read 1705.

From the start, there was some doubt over the authenticity of this gun. Experts from both the National Museum of Scotland and the Scottish United Services Museum at Edinburgh Castle had reservations about its age. When the small museum at Largo closed, the gun was offered to both the National Museum of Scotland and Christie's saleroom. Both declined to take the gun, as it was concluded that it could not be genuine. In Rick Wilson's 2009 book The Man Who Was Robinson Crusoe, it states that "there is some talk that it now resides in Germany". Indeed the gun was placed in Hamburg, Germany, where it was photographed in 2018 by travel blogger Eugene Kaspersky - see image below from his blog at https://eugene.kaspersky.com/

The third gun - probably still in Germany - is quite clearly different in design to the first gun, pictured below from its time at Lathallan House in the mid-1800s. Described as "a very long-barrelled brute with a wedge chopped off its butt", this musket could well be the one that accompanied Alexander Selkirk the island of Más a Tierra (Robinson Crusoe Island) between 1704 and 1709. Sadly, decades have passed since its whereabouts were known.

So, today, the situation remains much the same as the time when the article below appeared in the 6 January 1983 Hull Daily News. The Hull Docks Museum was searching for gun number one (the one pictured above), while the Clapham Antiquarists' Society were looking to track down gun two. Neither had success and it's ironic that today the only gun with known whereabouts is gun number three - the one with the least credibility. Perhaps revisiting the story of the three Selkirk guns in these days of the internet may yield some new leads. If you know something - please get in touch!

Alexander Selkirk's Gun - Part 2

12/6/2026

The previous post traced the history of the gun once possessed by Alexander Selkirk. This gun was potentially with him during his four years and four months on the island of Más a Tierra (Robinson Crusoe Island) between 1704 and 1709. Brought home to Largo, it remained with the Selkirk family until circa 1800 when it became the property of the Lumsdaines of Lathallan, remaining in their family until going up for sale at auction in Edinburgh in 1895. The buyer of the gun (described as very long-barrelled brute with a wedge chopped off its butt) was Mrs Hulda Whyte of Philadelphia, USA.

The motivation behind her purchase is unclear but the gun duly made its way across the Atlantic. Research into what happened next was carried out in 1976 (at the time of the Crusoe 300 celebrations) by Douglas Wright - a director of Keep Scotland Tidy, former soldier and history buff. He found that Mrs Whyte had sold the musket on to Mr Louis Schmidt, manager of Cafe Ostendorff German Kitchen on Market Street in Philadelphia.

This eatery was famous for its display of guns and taxidermy. The postcard image above shows the restaurant's Old Gun Exhibit. One of the guns in this image may well have been the musket of Alexander Selkirk. Ostendorff's (seen below just left of centre) closed around 1920 when the prohibition laws were enacted in Pennsylvania. However, Mr Wright's investigations suggested that the gun collection was still on display in Philadelphia at the time of the 150th anniversary of the USA, a century ago, in 1926.

Wright's research found that the gun was next given to the Mayor of Philadelphia, who in turn presented it to the British Ambassador to the United States of America Esme Howard. Howard was Ambassador from 1924 to 1930 and visited Philadelphia on 1 June 1929 to unveil a granite memorial cross dedicated to the memory of British veterans buried in the area. With the death of Esme Howard in 1939, the trail of this (likely genuine) gun goes cold. A plea in the 19 August 1976 Dundee Courier below, instigated by Douglas Wright, suggests that it may have moved to London Museum for a Daniel Defoe exhibition prior to being list.

A second gun with claims to belong to Alexander Selkirk emerged in the 1880s. While the first gun (with traceable links to the Selkirk family) was at still at Lathallan House, the Largo Field Naturalists' Society received an interesting letter dated 20 February 1882. The 6 April 1882 Fifeshire Journal below explains. The letter was from a gentleman in Sidcup, Kent who had bought a gun with the following carved into the stock:

A. Selkirk Largo NB 1701

..along with other words and imagery such a thistles and a seal. The letter writer recognises that there was a gun at Lathallan and suggests that Alexander Selkirk may have owned more than one gun - making it still possible that his (second) gun had a genuine connection. Note however that the man he had bought it from had no backstory to the gun, having bought it "merely as an old gun".

This carved gun was assessed as potentially genuine. It was surmised that Selkirk could perhaps have left it at his London lodgings. It was given to the Antiquarian Society of Scotland. The Field Naturalists visited there to make sketches of its carvings. Those sketches were then displayed at their museum in Upper Largo (the former school on North Feus). The piece below from 1 January 1886 East of Fife Record tells us that the gun subsequently moved to the British Museum.

However, the gun did not remain at the British Museum for long, if it was there at all. As it was later claimed that the porter at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford sold it to collector of antiquities Randolph Berens of South Kensington later in 1882. This was the story that appeared in The Golden Penny (a prominent illustrated weekly magazine published in London), in the 5 September 1903 issue. Berens, pictured below (at a later date in the 19 November 1919 Daily Express), explained that he had been touring museums in search of objects to acquire, when the porter alerted him to a gun which was he had in his lodge and was available for sale.

Upon the death of Berens, the carved gun was put up for sale at Sotheby's and sold in May 1924 for £250. The buyer was antiquarian bookseller Charles J Sawyer of Grafton Street London. As the 24 May 1924 Fife Free Press below shows, the gun was now asserted to be "the authentic weapon carried by Alexander Selkirk during his four years' exile". The earlier information from the gentleman in Sidcup seemingly lost and forgotten (i.e. that this was a different gun to the Lathallan one and that he had been sold it by a person to whom the gun had no meaning nor provenance).

Sawyer subsequently put the carved gun up for sale in December 1925 asking for £500. It too reportedly was sold to the USA, where its subsequent journey is unknown. If anyone reading this has information about either the first (likely genuine) gun or the second carved gun illustrated above - please do leave a comment or get in touch.

With two guns of interest lost in the mists of time, what of the third gun unearthed in the mid-1980s by the investigations of journalist Rick Wilson?

More on that to follow, linked to the opening in 1985 of Alexander Selkirk Museum in Lower Largo.

Alexander Selkirk's Gun

5/6/2026

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'.

Colporteurage

14/5/2026

The word "colporteurage" was defined in the 10 October 1861 Fife Herald as "the spread of Bibles, and religious tracts and books, by means of hawking them". This system of distributing such materials began to be formally organised in Scotland around 1855, facilitated by bodies such as the Edinburgh Religious Tract Society and the Religious Tract and Book Society of Scotland. By 1861, there were 130 colporteurs throughout Scotland and eight of them were based in Fife.

The colporteur was remunerated partly through the proceeds of his sales and partly through a subscription paid by the District in which he worked. The word colporteur itself is thought to originate from 18th-century French, combining "col" (neck) and "porter" (to carry) in relation to an itinerant peddler who carried books, etc. in a holder over their neck or shoulders.

In 1864 the Largo District appointed its own colporteur and this was Robert Strang, the father of one-time Largo Station Master William Strang. The piece below from 7 May 1864 Dunfermline Saturday Press reports on his removal from Wellwood near Dunfermline, where he had been a miner, to Largo. Initially, he lived in Lundin Mill with his wife Mary and young son William.

When Robert's only son William found employment with the railway around 1872, the family moved to Temple Railway Cottage. Robert became a member of Largo School Board and Treasurer of the U.P. Church, during the time of Reverend David Malloch. After sixteen years as Largo's colporteur, Robert Strang retired, due to ill health. The 28 February 1880 Dunfermline Saturday Press informs us of a presentation held to mark his retirement, noting that prior to coming to Largo, Robert had worked for 26 years for colliery owner Thomas Spowart in Wellwood.

The 21 February 1880 Fife News below also covered this presentation. Note that, in addition to the work of distributing books and periodicals, Robert Strang would also read and pray with the sick and aged people as part of his mission as colporteur.

The role of colporteur for Largo District continued for many years after the retiral of Robert Strang. The 1881 census tells us that Alexander Duffus fulfilled the role for a spell. A decade later in 1891, it was James Suttie who was the colporteur. The 14 June 1892 Fife News below had an advert for the dwelling house in which Suttie had lived until he left the area in 1892.

Above is an article from the 12 July 1900 Leven Advertiser and the local colportage society. It is interesting to see the widespread support for the Society by local landowners and by multiple Church denominations. At that time it was James Harris who held the position of Largo colporteur. He served on the Parish Council and remained in post until 1903. Briefly, a Mr Prentice filled the position, coming from Galashiels (see below from 29 May 1903 East of Fife Record), but within a few months he had in turn been superseded by Forfarshire-born James Martin (see 17 Sept 1903 Leven Advertiser further below).

James Martin was still colporteur for Largo at the time of the 1911 census. Then aged 53, he lived in Broomfield Buildings in Upper Largo with wife Annie and 4 of their eleven children. By 1924, there was a colporteur by the name of Rankine covering a much wider area - "from Largo to Auchtertool", according to the 11 November 1924 Leven Advertiser below. This suggests that the demand for such an occupation had waned - a trend that likely continued over time, as social, economic, and technological shifts rendered the traditional colporteurage model obsolete.

Coals and Oats Deliveries via Largo Station

8/5/2026

The previous post described the life of William Strang, former station master at Largo Station. William had a remarkable career on the railway, which began as a junior clerk at Largo from a very early age (12 or 13). He was appointed Largo's station master in 1877 when the Leven and East Fife Railway was amalgamated into the North British Railway. He would only have been 17 years old. Previous station master Thomas Davie had been badly injured in an accident - described below from the 1 April 1876 Fife News. The postcard message above about dates to the year of Strang's promotion and was written on 22 December 1877 at 52 High Street Leven by Christopher Adamson.

Adamson went to to manufacture aerated waters but at the time he sent the message he was a spirit dealer and coal agent. Hence the message, which read:

Dear Sir,
A waggon of coals from Cowdenbeath will arrive shortly, if not already arrived, at your station to my address. Please deliver the same to Mr John Ritchie, Miller, and oblige.
Yours etc C Adamson

No doubt such messages from Adamson in neighbouring Leven would be fairly frequent in his role as a coal agent. Perhaps in later years, once he moved into the business of fizzy drinks, deliveries of those into the stations at Largo and Lundin Links would become regular occurrences. Christopher Adamson, pictured below, went to be Provost of Leven and was prominent in public life in Leven for decades.

John Ritchie, who was the recipient of the coals referenced in the message, was a flour miller at Lundin Mill for many years through the 1870s and 1880s. He was born in Balmerino and had a spell over in the USA before settling in Largo. By the 1890s he was described as a barley miller rather than a flour miller.

William Strang is pictured below, in an image from 3 February 1917 The Railway News which is unfortunately over-saturated. If anyone has a better image of William Strang please get in touch.

Below is another postcard instruction received by William Strang. This one dates to 15 February 1878 and was sent from Hallteasses Farm in Ceres Parish. The message reads:

Please have a truck for me to take 60 bags of oats for Johnston Saturday 16th ins.

Walter Amos

Walter Amos was a farmer of 447 acres at Hallteasses. The term "ins" or "inst" was an abbreviation of "instant" meaning the present 16th and not the one after. This terminology relating to dates was common in correspondence, newspapers, etc in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries when stating past, present or futures dates, for example:

16th inst. = Instant (16th of this month)
16th ult. = Ultimo (16th of last month)
16th prox. = Proximo (16th of next month)

Hallteasses or Hall Teasses is located just north of Woodside, close to the boundary of Largo Parish and can be seen in the top left corner of the map further below.

William Strang (1860-1918)

1/5/2026

Above is a postcard addressed to Mr William Strang, North British Railway, Largo and stamped Burntisland, 8 December 1878. Before we turn the postcard over to read the message, let's learn a little about William who was the Station Agent at Largo Station. He was born in 1860 at Wellwood, a coal mining community to the north of Dunfermline (see notice of his birth below from 14 January 1860 Dunfermline Saturday Post). His parents were miner Robert Strang and his wife Mary Stalker. By time of 1871 census the family had moved to Lundin Mill and Robert's occupation had changed to Colporteur (more about that in a future post). Soon after arriving in Largo Parish, a young William became employed by the Leven and East Fife Railway. From aged around 13 he worked at Largo Station.

When the line was amalgamated into the North British Railway on 1 August 1877, William was appointed station master (also known as station agent). He was still in his teens. The previous station master at Largo, Thomas Davie, had severely crushed his arm in an accident shunting waggons the previous year. Perhaps William had been required to step up his responsibilities at an unusually early age. He remained station master at Largo for about four years.

The 1881 recorded William at Temple Railway Cottage, living with parents Robert (by then retired) and Mary. However, a change was imminent. By the time that William married Christina Welsh on 1 March 1882, he was station master at Guardbridge Station. Christina was the daughter of draper Alexander Welsh, who would later become sub-postmaster in Lower Largo. In fact the Welsh family went on to run Lower Largo Post Office for three generations.

William's career in the railway continued to flourish. From Guardbridge, he had a spell in Edinburgh from around 1885 until 1890, based at Newington Station. In the middle of 1890 he became station master at Dunfermline Lower Station. The piece below from 5 July 1890 Fife News tells of his move back to Fife. He remained there until November 1891, when he went to Linlithgow to be station master there.

Meanwhile back in Largo, William's father Robert died in 1887. His widow Mary was living at Emsdorf at the time of the 1891 census. So both William and his wife Christina continued to have family back in Largo. William's career eventually took the family back to Edinburgh as he became Parcels Superintendent at Waverley Station in the middle of 1893. He acted as Parcels Superintendent for twelve years, until being appointed as traffic superintendent for Fife District in 1905.

he 1911 census described William as District Traffic Superintendent and the family resided at Greenmount Road North in Burntisland, in a house named Wellwood, along with his wife and seven of their children. Their eldest son was also working for the railway at this time. The article below from 26 May 1905 East of Fife Record shows how the new of his move to the role of superintendent was reported back in Largo.

From the role of Traffic Superintendent for Fife District, William went on to be Assistant Superintendent of the North British Railway from 1911 and then Commercial Superintendent from 1917. It was in the latter role that William's life came to an end on 27 September 1918 at the age of 58 following a bout of influenza. The 28 September 1918 Scotsman below reported on his death.

The notice below from the 5 October 1918 Fife News describes how his remains were brought to Largo station, ahead of his burial at Largo Cemetery, where both of his parents were interred. Further below is a photograph of his headstone.

Returning to the postcard from back in 1877 to William Strang from his time at Largo Station - below is the reverse side with the message sent to him from David Russell & Co, Oil Mills, Burntisland. The message reads:

Please inform us what is your rate for coals from Lochgelly?

Staff at Largo Station circa 1923

24/4/2026

The image above was recently donated to Largo Heritage Group. It features a group of staff at Largo Railway Station. The fact that the London and North East Railway (L&NER) name is emblazoned at the top of the image suggests that the photograph was taken soon after this railway company took over the line. The L&NER arose from the merger of six major and 27 smaller railway companies on 1 January 1923. Largo had previously been part of the North British Railway (and before that part of the Leven and East of Fife Railway prior to 1877).

The absorption of the North British Railway into the L&NER in 1923 would likely have required staff to adapt to more standardised working practices. I wonder how those pictured found the transition. The station master at the time was James Hope Young, who was in charge at Largo between 1920 and 1928. He is seated just right of centre (below the letter E) with the peaked cap featuring a flat, sloping crown.

James Young is pictured above (from the 7 November 1928 Courier), when he was preparing to leave Largo for Tillicoultry after nine years as Largo station master. The Young family lived in the Station House adjacent to Largo Station. Also recognisable in the Largo staff group photograph is signalman James Melville, who is seated to the right of James Young with a broad smile. He resided at Downfield and would have been in his 40s at the time that the photo was taken.

The 1920s must have been a great time to work at the station as it was during this era that several prizes were won by the staff for best kept station. During the first year under L&NER, Largo won a special prize among 30 eligible stations (see 27 October 1923 Fife Free Press above). Largo Station had a well-tended garden between the signal box and the westbound station building, which once boasted a shell-encrusted Flying Scotsman and similarly decorated sundial (see piece below from 29 September 1928 Fife News). In fact Mr Young made a new centrepiece design each year.

The staff photograph was taken in front of this garden, with the photographer standing on the opposite platform. The location is highlighted with an arrow in the image below. Can you help to identify anyone else in the group photograph? Do you have an ancestor who worked at Largo Station around this time? If so, please leave a comment or get in touch.

In addition to James Young and James Melville, in the 1921 census, there were a number of men living in Lower Largo who were recorded as working for the North British Railway. Some of those may have remained in employment there when the group photo was taken post-L&NER rebranding. For example, the 1921 census included:

Samuel Gillies aged 44, Platelayer, residing at Railway Cottages
Maurice Ballingall aged 30, Railway Guard, residing at Horne's Buildings
Charles Haig aged 63, Signalman, residing at 2 Brae Cottage
Alexander Archer aged 53, Surfaceman, residing at Sunnyside
Walter Guthrie aged 58, Surfaceman, residing at Bridgend House
David Spalding aged 44, Railway Porter, residing at Defoe Place

Some of these men could potentially appear in the photograph, if they continued to be employed by the railway further into the 1920s. Note that platelayers and surfacemen would inspect and maintain the tracks, checking for wear and tear and perhaps replacing rotten sleepers, repacking the stone ballast, greasing points, and tightening bolts. The two terms were used interchangeably although traditionally the platelayer focussed on the track components while the surfacemen had a broader role in maintaining the wider surface including ballast, drains, etc. Perhaps the men in those roles would have worn overalls and flat caps rather than they types of uniforms seen in the photo. If you can shed any light on that, please comment.

The garden at Largo Station continued to be well-tended beyond the tenure of James Young. The image below appeared in the 14 September 1932 Dundee Evening Telegraph and features station master Peter Low, James Melville and Mr Wilson having won best kept station in Scotland!

Busy 1960s Pier

10/4/2026

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.

Gone Away to Glasgow

3/4/2026

The photograph above shows an empty niche at the Crusoe Buildings on Lower Largo's Main Street. Its usual occupant - the iconic statue of Robinson Crusoe - had been lifted off its plinth in October 1987 and taken for some restoration work prior to featuring in the 'Water and Maritime' themed section of Glasgow Garden Festival. Officially approved late in 1984, work to create the 120-acre exhibition site took a few years to plan and create before its run from 28 April to 26 September 1988.

It was the third of five garden festivals to take place in the UK as part of the regeneration of several derelict sites. The other garden festivals were held at Liverpool (1984), Stoke-on-Trent (1986), Gateshead (1990) and Ebbw Vale (1992). Glasgow's festival saw the derelict Princes Dock on the Clyde transformed. The Water and Maritime sector of the exhibition aimed to showcase "Scotland's rich history of maritime trade and exploration" and the Alexander Selkirk story took its place within that,

Crusoe was sited by the Canting Basin - a historic, large square water basin originally built between 1893 and 1896 as part of the Prince's Dock. It was designed for large ships to turn or "cant" before accessing industrial berths. Today, it serves as a scenic, revitalised area behind the Glasgow Science Centre and features floating wetlands. The annotated images below show the area within the garden festival site where the Crusoe statue was positioned, close to a white cottage known as Para Handy's Cottage. At the foot of this post is an aerial image of the site as it is today.