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).

The above photograph was taken by the late Robert Carswell Paxton of Homelands. It may have been taken around 1902 when the Paxtons settled in Largo (initially staying at Drum Lodge). This is still in the days of the wooden footbridge (see left of image) which preceded the building of the road bridge. Incidentally, the photograph of the first car crossing the road bridge is also thought to have been taken by Robert Paxton, who must have been quite a keen amateur photographer.

The detail below shows a team of three painters working on the exterior walls on what appears to be a bright sunny day. Alexandra House (now the site of Lower Largo's one remaining shop) can be seen to the left of the Crusoe. Further below is detail showing Bridgend House, the Railway Inn and Belmont Temperance Hotel (in an elevated position to the right of the bridge over the railway line). Miss Mary Carswell was proprietor of the Belmont at the time of this photo. I wonder whether she may have been related to Robert Paxton's mother Janet Carswell. At the foot of this post is an advert from 1908 for the Belmont Hotel when the proprietors were the Misses Sawyer.

The previous post looked at the life of William Ritchie - founder of The Scotsman newspaper who was born in Lundin Mill. His elder brother John Ritchie was also involved in the newspaper from the beginning. Soon after William died in 1831,
John relinquished the haberdashery and drapery trade to fill his late brother's shoes, devoting his time, finances and efforts to the newspaper. Within a few years he acquired the shares held by others, and became sole proprietor of the ‘Scotsman.’ Under his direction, on 30 June 1855, the paper first appeared as a penny daily. 

However, it is John's early life which is of significance to those interested in Largo's past. John had been born in Kirkcaldy on 3 February 1778 but within a year or two the family had moved to Lundin Mill in connection with father James's occupation as a flax dresser. At the age of nine, John (pictured above) was sent to service on a small farm further north in Largo Parish. He appears to have been there for at least eight years, as by the age of 17, it is recorded that his pay there was £1 per annum in addition to his keep. Later in life he wrote extensively about his years on the land. His recollections provide a valuable insight to the life of an agricultural worker in Largo in the 1790s. What follows are excepts from a piece he published in The Scotsman of 8 April 1857, entitled "Scotch Farming and Farm Living Sixty-Five Years Ago" - some reminiscences of the life of men and beasts on a small farm in Fifeshire in the end of the last century.
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The reminiscences relate to the small farm to which "at the age of nine years, I was sent for service". The farm was approximately 80 to 100 acres and "nearly entirely arable, in the neighbourhood of Largo, and within a mile and a half of the coast. The farm establishment consisted of the farmer, his wife, a lad about seventeen, a maid and a boy – to wit, myself.” The farm is unnamed but the 1775 Ainslie map above shows rural Largo Parish at the time. Ritchie continued:

“All worked and eat together, and all slept in the farmhouse which consisted of but one room and a kitchen. The stock consisted of three farm horses, four milk cows, six young cattle and a pig. My work was in summer to rise at five in the morning, take the cattle to field, bring them home again about eleven – when they remained for about three hours, during which time I had to clean the byre; then again to field, where we (that is, I and the cows) remained till eight o’clock, when I had to furnish my charge with supper and bedding.”

In terms of food, Ritchie informs us that:

"This was humble and varied little throughout the year. Generally everyone partook of food together and from the same dish. Breakfast was oatmeal porridge. Eggs were produced but only for selling and never consumed on the premises! Dinner was always barley broth with plenty of cabbage or green kail, sometimes a little pork or a salt herring being added….beef or mutton never being seen in the house.”

“We had bread in abundance; a healthy and substantial mixed bread of oat, pease and barley meal, baked in the house, flour bread from the baker’s never being thought of. At night we had again porridge, or in winter, potatoes and milk. On Sundays the master and mistress indulged themselves in a cup of tea. We were true teetotallers – I never saw or heard of spirits, wine or even beer in the house. We made our own candles but were more indebted in the dark nights to the splint coal.”

This description tallies with the records in the 1792 Old Statistical Account of Scotland where the extract below from Largo Parish also describes typical meals.
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The seasonality of life was also chronicled by John. At harvest time, he explained “I might assist in “leading-in” the corn – building it on the cart and forking it from the cart to the stack – and taking up and carting home the potatoes." Meanwhile "the master took the heavy part of the outdoor work – ploughing, sowing, &c – the lad assisting in driving out manure and the like; in winter the lad was mainly employed in thrashing, while in summer he was much employed in pulling thistles from the fields in crop, which were used as food for the horses.” Crops consisted of oats, barley, potatoes, turnip and red clover. "Throughout the year the mistress and the maid were occupied in milking the cows, churning, making cheese, &c; hoeing and other outdoor work in summer; in harvest in shearing; in winter mainly in spinning, all the clothes of the family, woollen and linen, being spun by them. There was then no spinning of fine yarns by machinery."

The meagerness of personal possessions was also conveyed by Ritchie: 

"My master’s best coat served him for the whole of his nineteen year’s lease of the farm. The winter evening’s were spent in the kitchen, mainly by the light of the fire, helped by parrot coal….While the women span, the master knitted stockings, the man-servant mended his shoes or stockings or any other like work, while I usually read aloud for the general benefit. Our stock of literature was scanty, consisting, besides the Bible, of some old sermons, a copy of Boston’s Fourfold State, Hervey’s 'Meditations among the Tombs'* and an ample stock of old stories and ballads – the latter being the joint property of the maid-servant and myself.”

“We had family worship every evening, the hour of which, as well as that of bedtime, was a little uncertain, owing to there being no watch or clock in the house. In the winter nights we could only judge the passing of time by the quantity of yarn spun by the mistress of maid, or by the length added to the stocking which the master was employed in making – which was rather an unreliable standard as he sometimes took a nap. When the weather permitted we regulated ourselves by the progress the “seven stars” made over the pent stack. For summer, I constructed a sun-dial by a rather unscientific process. Getting a loan of a tailor’s watch, I drew a line across a large whinstone by the shadow of the sun every hour from seven in the morning to eight at night, which answered the purpose remarkably well.”

*James Hervey (1714-58) was a writer of devotional texts. His popular 'Meditations Among the Tombs' was published in 1746 and it was often reprinted. The subject of the book is death, and the author dwells particularly on the grief caused by early death, and on the eventual re-uniting of the parted in heaven. Below is an illustration from this book.

After several year working on the farm at Largo, John Ritchie returned to the place of his birth, Kirkcaldy, to become a handloom weaver. This led to his eventual move to Edinburgh around 1800 to set up as a draper and haberdasher. By the time that The Scotsman newspaper was established in 1817, he had a flourishing business. John Ritchie (shown below as a young man) spent 53 years at the newspaper. ​He lost his wife in 1831 (the same year that he lost his brother) and never remarried. He entered the town council of Edinburgh in 1844, and was a magistrate of the city from 1845 to 1847. In 1849–50 he was chairman of the Chamber of Commerce. He was one of the founders of the United Industrial School. He died on 21 December 1870, at the age of 92. ​

His obituary in the 22 December Scotsman stated that he maintained associations with Largo Parish throughout his life "to the benefit of the poor of the place to the end of his life, long after all other links of connection had been snapped". He certainly bequeathed to us a graphic pen-picture of conditions on a small Largo farm over two hundred years ago - in doing so demonstrating that he had great powers of observation from an early age.

Above is the nameplate of the original Scotsman newspaper, taken from its very first edition published on 25 January 1817. It's a publication that we are all very familiar with. A lesser known fact is that it was all started by a man born in 1781 in Lundin Mill. Initially a weekly newspaper, it was launched by William Ritchie and Charles MacLaren. Born out of frustration with, and as an alternative to, the existing papers, The Scotsman set out to offer impartiality, independence from the establishment and to stand against privilege and corruption.

William Ritchie (pictured in the portrait below) was the son of a flax dresser named James Ritchie, who had moved from Kirkcaldy to Lundin Mill shortly before William's birth. Following a childhood in Lundin Mill, William moved to Edinburgh aged 19 and became a solicitor. In addition, from the age of 17, William had written short pieces for various publications including the Scots Magazine. In Edinburgh he was a member of 3 different debating societies where he displayed characteristics of "nerve, directness and simplicity, facility of elocution, great promptitude of thought, frequent appeals to general principles, and an ardour, which sometimes rose to transient bursts of passion."

Although a city dweller for most of his life, Ritchie greatly appreciated the rural landscape, as MacLaren also remarked "I never knew an individual who loved the beauties of nature with so intense a feeling. Fine scenery operated on him like an enchantment". Ritchie was also a philanthropist who took a particular interest in improving the police system in Edinburgh and who campaigned for the reform of prison conditions. He took a particular interest in debtors prisons. The piece below from the 25 Jan 1917 Scotsman helps to explain why this was an issue that he felt strongly about. 

Does anyone remember welcoming in 1975 at The Law? This advert from the East Fife Mail tells us that Jimmy Spowart played the organ there every night during the festive season....

Back on the first day of 1896, the "time-honoured custom" of the Largo Brass and Silver Band playing around the three villages was still being observed (East of Fife Observer 3 January). That year the band (led by George Houison) made a special visit to the home of Johnny Laidlay at Strathairly. The Laidlays entertained their tradespeople, servants and friends to a Christmas treat that same festive season. Thomas and Sarah Wishart were likely guests at that event, as they met at this time while both working on the estate. 
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The top advert dates to 13 July 1899 (Leven Advertiser) and the second advert dates to 1904 (East of Fife Record 1 July) and features Largo Motor and Cycle Engineer T.G. Wishart. One of Wishart's creations was the 'Largo' brand of cycle which he made himself. He bought, hired out and taught people how to use bicycles - later moving also into the sphere of motor cars. ​Thomas Graham Wishart was born in 1871 to John Wishart and his wife Elizabeth Henderson.  John was gardener at Airth Castle who regularly won prizes for his fruit growing. The family lived at Airth Castle Stables. After a spell at Shanwell House in Kinross, the family moved to Largo in the late 1880s.

John Wishart bought an acre of land at the east end of Kirkton of Largo to set up a market garden. Meanwhile, Thomas began a joinery apprenticeship at Strathairly. From a young age Thomas demonstrated a flair for engineering. At the age of 16 he had exhibited a design for a steam engine at Dundee Industrial Exhibition. In 1890 he patented a design for an improved speed regulating governor attachment for a steam engine. At the time of the 1891 census, Thomas was living with his parents and working as a joiner.

In 1896 he married Sarah Lee whom he met at Strathairly where she was a domestic servant. The same year Thomas's father John died. Around this time Thomas began to manufacture cycles at the Upper Largo site and, by the census of 1901, he was described as a 'cycle maker and electric bell fitter'. He was living with wife Sarah and their two sons (John and James - named after their two grandfathers). The advert above from 1904 details that types of services offered by the business.

Outside of work, Thomas was an avid curler. With his expert input, the curling pond behind the Simpson Institute was lit in 1905, using electricity generated by an engine he had specially adapted (see 29 Dec East of Fife Record piece below).
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​Thomas Wishart was also the Secretary of the Largo Brass Band before the First World War. In the previous post, mention was made of how Wishart drove around the streets of the Parish advertising a bazaar in aid of the band in 1909. The article below from the 21 October East of Fife Record tells us a bit more about the car in question. Wishart had rebuilt an old Decauville car - making it more powerful, adding new features and causing "quite a sensation".
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In 1911 Thomas described himself as a 'Motor cycle engineer'. Around this time he joined Largo Parish Council. In 1915, aged 44, Thomas enlisted for the Great War effort becoming an electrician in the Army Service Corps. He spent time in France and became a Sergeant in 1918. When the war ended, Thomas was part of the Army of Occupation in Germany. While in Cologne in 1920 he was a passenger in a motor accident which resulted in two months in hospital and ultimately an end to his military career.

He returned to Largo and continued to work as a motor engineer. The business was now styled 'Wishart & Sons', with both sons following in their father's footsteps. Thomas also continued to invent - including the 'Wizard wringer' attachment for laundry, a special trolley for moving pianos and the 'Wizard carburettor'. He also resumed his hobbies including the Curling Club and the Brass Band. In 1928, Thomas was president of Largo Brass Band and both of his sons were members. Sadly, Thomas's younger son, James (who had six years army service during and after the Great War) died in 1927 aged just 28. Elder son, John went on to become a chief electrical engineer and was pictured in the Courier of 6 November 1928 when he took up a new position at Inveresk Paper Works (see image at the foot of this post). He lived until 1982.

Sarah Wishart died in Largo in 1934 aged 67. Thomas Graham Wishart died 26 August 1960 in Collessie aged 89.

For many a decade Largo had its own band. The above image (dated 1890 but possibly a few years later) shows the Largo Silver and Brass Band in uniform (reproduced from the book 'Seatoun of Largo' by Ivy Jardine). An article written about this particular incarnation of the local band appeared in the 29 August 1908 St Andrews Citizen. This piece stated that the band was established "25 years ago" suggesting an 1883 start date. It went on to say that they made their debut on the New Year's Day after their inception and since then had never missed a New Year's Day performance. However, a search through the newspaper archives reveals that earlier bands had come and gone before that 1883 date.

In 1839, the "Largo and Lundin Mill Instrumental Band" played at an Old Handsel Monday soiree organised by the "Largo and Lundin Mill Total Abstinence Society" in the "wareroom" at the spinning mill. The band are mentioned frequently in the 1840s and 1850s including the lacklustre review in the Fife Herald of 15 May 1856 below, where "the attendance was most miserable". This review generated a letter of complaint to the paper soon afterwards suggesting that this was an "attack" on the band due to "wounded feelings". I wonder what the story was there?

A dearth of mentions during the 1860s and early 1870s suggests that the band fell into abeyance for a time. The fact that  special events in Largo were attended by brass bands from nearby places such as Largoward, Leven and Methil supports that theory. However, in 1876 the 'Largo Brass Band' provided the music at a flower show in St Andrews representing a possible come back but it was not until the 1880s that the band seem to have become more consistent and fully established. They were conducted by a Mr Williamson in the mid 1880s and were typically known as 'Largo Brass Band'. At this time, the band also benefited from coaching from Leven's bandmaster - Mr Adamson - in an attempt to get them onto the 'competition list'. Band contests were popular with many Fife bands being regularly involved in these.

In 1899 it was noted in the St Andrews Citizen (1 July) that the band had recently secured a "smart uniform" through funds raised by a prize draw and liberal aid from "shopkeepers and other friends". This suggests that they previously had no uniform and places the image at the top of this post perhaps closer to 1899 than 1890. This was the era when the band were leasing and using a space in the granary building at Largo Harbour as a band room.

For 17 years (from around 1890) the band had been conducted by Leven man Mr George Houison. He led them to the competition victories that gave them the name "Largo Prize Band" for a number of years. He may well be in the photograph above. However, Houison left for Ontario, Canada around the end of 1907 with several other members of his family, some of whom were also band members. The front page advert from the East of Fife Record (6 Sept 1907) details what must have been one of Houison's last engagements with the band.

The band was funded entirely by subscriptions with costs of around £60 per annum in 1908 (excluding repairs or new instruments). At this time it was noted that other bands in the area had "full-plated sets of instruments" and it was thought that Largo should too. A sum of around £200 would have to be raised to make that happen. A bazaar was proposed for the following summer​.

A Mr J Bisset took over the bandmaster role in 1908 was described as an "energetic and efficient teacher". This was quite possibly John Bisset later of Buckthorns Farm. At that time the band had a number of wealthy patrons and seemed to be in great demand. To advertise their 1909 summer bazaar, the band's secretary Thomas Graham Wishart had his motor car "gaily decorated and...driven round the district advertising the announcing the attractions of the bazaar". This must have been effective as around 700 people attended the event and soon afterwards the band became 'Largo Silver Band'.  Mr Bisset resigned early in 1912 as bandmaster and the position was advertised (see advert below from 10 Feb Fifeshire Advertiser). It was noted that attendances at practices were not good at that time and only a couple of concerts were mentioned in the local papers thereafter before the band took a break during the Great War. ​
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The band had resumed by 1921 and continued albeit with up and downs for many years after that. In 1929 the Leven Mail (19 June) reported that the "exodus of many young players from the district may force Largo Silver Band to break up" but by 1933 the same paper (8 March) stated that the band "now has the financial security to enlarge its scope". There was a simple bandstand on Massney Braes around the 1930s (see images below) where the band gave a popular summer programme of concerts. There was a period of disbandment during World War Two but the band were reported in the 19 June 1946 Leven Mail as playing at the Largo War Memorial. The leader at that time was another Mr Bisset. In this post-war period there was also a 'Largo Pipe Band'. Mention of either band seems to be absent from the newspaper archives after this time. If you know when the demise of the Largo Silver Band came about - please comment.
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This interesting series of paintings of Largo Harbour, signed by David Martin, feature the Crusoe Hotel (and adjacent granary) looking quite different. The landward side of the building is a storey lower than in later times and has a simple and functional appearance. When first built in 1824 the granary building consisted of only two storeys (see advert below from the Fife Herald of 7 October that year). The seaward (inn) end of the building was likely built around the same time - which was also around the time to the establishment of the steam packet services.

Featuring typical granary architecture, with small rectangular windows and a cart opening at ground level, the interior of this part of the building would have been similar to the image below of Dunbar's granary and store. It's easy to imagine the low beamed rooms with their stone walls filled with sacks of grain and other agricultural produce. 
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By the mid-1850s, the focus was on the imminent arrival of the railway. In December 1855, the shareholders and tenants of the Largo Granary Company had a dinner in Selkirk's Hotel (i.e. the Crusoe Hotel - the proprietor at the time was named Alexander Selkirk). The principal tenant of the granary then was Robert Hutchison of Kirkcaldy. [In 1830, at the age of 21, Robert Hutchison opened an account in the name of Robert Hutchison and Company and began trading in wheat, barley oats, flax, butter and flour. By 1856 the company would own all the land in East Kirkcaldy where the present flour mill now stands.] The success of the East of Fife Railway was toasted at the event and those that had not already subscribed to the scheme were encouraged to do so.

The arrival of the railway and the increasing popularity of Largo as a visitor destination saw the area prosper and at some point the granary acquired a third storey - a 'loft' added to the existing 'granary' and 'cellar and stables' . It is unclear what point in time the paintings above represent but certainly the landward end of the building had acquired a third storey by the early 1870s.

The photograph below dates to 1885 and the day of the unveiling of the Crusoe Statue. The outline of the old lower gable end can be made out in the weathered gable wall on the right hand side of the image. Standing on the far right is Sam Gillies, skipper of 'The Brothers' which was lost only a few months after this photo was taken. The Largo Granary Company seems to have wound up around the turn of the century and by 1905 hotel keeper Thomas Lumsden owned the entire building - although part of the old granary building had an interesting use at that time.....more of that to follow.
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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 silver vesta case shown in the image above was one of the prizes given for the competition played on the newly opened Lundin Ladies' Golf Course on Tuesday 12 June 1894. This was the not the course we know today incorporating the Standin' Stanes but the one at Sunnybraes (now part of the main Lundin Golf Club). The piece from the 22 June East of Fife Record below describes the event in some detail, as does the Fife Free Press article from 16 June further below.

The reverse of the vesta case (made by Sampson Mordan and Co of London) is shown below. It is engraved with the words 'Lundin Links Ladies Golf Club June 11 1894' (although the competition appears to have taken place the day after this). It was won by James Wilkie of Leven. James Wilkie was a master builder (like his father George Wilkie before him). Between them, father and son were responsible for many notable landmarks in the area. George was involved in the building of the original Bawbee Bridge at Leven as a young man and James was builder of Linwood Hall. James is pictured at the foot of this post with his wife Mary on the occasion of their diamond wedding in 1938 (2 July Fife Free Press). He died the following year at the age of 85.