However, Mr Stewart's years in charge at the school were not all plain sailing. In 1888, the School Board of Largo "expressed dissatisfaction" with the poor report of the H.M. Inspector regarding Lundin Mill School and requested a re-examination.  The Board felt that the inspector had been "on the warpath" and that his findings should be questioned. Three years later (and after 24 years in post) Stewart was threatened with dismissal following another less than glowing inspection.  The St Andrews Citizen of 19 November 1892 reported upon this under the headline "Indignation Meeting of Largo Rate Payers". The chair of the school board had moved to dismiss Mr Stewart, however, the rate payers overwhelmingly supported their school master and called a public meeting in the Temperance Hall. There was "a crowded attendance of upwards of 200, including a number of ladies". Members of the school board were specifically asked to attend but only two of the five did so.

The meeting questioned whether Mr Stewart was to blame for the bad report.  One of the causes had been non-attendance. Another had been the condition of the closets. Someone commented that "Mr Stewart was never meant to be a scavenger", prompting laughter. There were suggestions that reports regarding Lundin Mill were "exaggerated and made as black as possible".  Sentiments were expressed that a "good old faithful servant" should be given a "fair chance" and the school board (having been elected to represent the rate payers) take responsibility of some of the shortcomings.  It was agreed that the school board should be asked to withdraw their resolution to dismiss Mr Stewart and a deputation of fifteen men was selected to meet with the board within the week.  The meeting was followed by some drama, as the newspaper article concludes...

"At the close of proceedings, a large section of the youthful portion of the community paraded the village with a lay figure attired in a "surtout" coat and a satin hat covering a profusion of long hair. On the breast was a large placard bearing the words "Peacock Clipshear". The processionists carrying lighted torches attracted much attention, and, after promenading the principal thoroughfares, they burned the effigy at the east end of the village."

Another effigy was burned outside Kirkton School the following month, where the school board were supposed to be meeting to decide the fate of David Stewart. As it turned out, the meeting did not go ahead as all but one member of the board had resigned. This time the effigy was carried amid taunts of "Sudden death of the Clipshear", "through the streets of the Upper and Lower villages. Then it was taken to the sands and burned. A force of police was in the village but their services were not required."  Well, David Stewart survived this episode and by 17 December, the St Andrews Citizen reported that "a movement is on foot to give Mr Stewart, the much respected teacher of Lundin Mill School, a presentation." He continued in post for another 12 years, passing away in the school house on 26 September 1905 at the age of 60. The Edinburgh Evening News of 28 September noted that he had been "the most brilliant student of his year at Moray House Training College". He was also Secretary of Lundin Golf Club and Session Clerk at Largo Kirk.  The esteem in which he was held was demonstrated in 1906, when a "massive monument" was erected in Largo cemetery in the memory of the late head teacher. As the Fife Free Press on 23 June stated...

"It bears the following inscription:- "In loving memory of David Milne Stewart for 37 years headmaster of Lundin Mill Public School, who died 26 September 1905, aged 60 years, highly respected and deeply regretted by a wide circle of friends, and by the community in which he lived for so long". The stone is of Rubislaw granite, with an open book resting on a fern. There are four blocks of granite at the corners of the ground, joined by an enamelled chain. The sculptor was Mr Murdoch of Kirkcaldy, and the monument has been erected by Mr Stewart's family and many warm friends drawn from a wide area."

David Stewart's wife, all five children, and their spouses, now share his grave and headstone.

The image above of the old Lundinmill School dates to the first decade of the twentieth century, before extensions were added to the front of the building. It gives a good impression of how the school itself and the schoolmaster's house (to the right) were fully integrated.  There would have been an internal door allowing the teacher residing in the house to access the school directly.  The school building was originally split into a boys' half and a girls' half - with two entrances, two playgrounds divided by a wall and two outdoor toilet blocks. There was an entrance from the vennel behind the school, into the playground as well as the front entrance from Crescent Road. 

Built in 1857/8, the school building had to be expanded at various points.  There was an addition made to the school in the late 1870s and in 1910 the front extension seen below was added. At the time, the new frontage provided a new entrance, a cloakroom, a store, a W.C. and a "teacher's retiring room". I have never seen any photographs of the inside of the building during its time as a school, however, a small insight comes from the following newspaper account of the school board's discussions from 1874. The 11 June Fife Herald states "the clerk submitted his report on the state of the maps in the schools, and was instructed to procure maps of Europe, Africa and The British Isles for Lundinmill School...". This conjures up images of walls covered with large maps and other educational visuals, perhaps alongside a globe, an abacus, and a large blackboard.

The Durham Hall, on Durham Wynd in Lower Largo, was originally built as a school circa 1860 as a replacement for an earlier school which was located on what is now the Temple car park.  After it ceased to be a school, it seems to have eventually become quite run down.  However, thanks to the efforts of locals, including many local tradesmen, it was repaired and refurbished in the 1950s.  By August 1957, after it had been acquired by the Largo St. David's Church, it was reopened as a hall.  One of the first events held in the revamped hall was Woman's Guild sale of work.  As the photograph below shows, the event was very well attended.  The Leven Mail of 14 August said that...

"...even this new hall wasn't quite large enough to hold the enormous crowd that turned up for the sale.  Besides being packed to capacity inside, there was a queue many yards long outside waiting to be allowed in - and there was a slight drizzle of rain; that's how enthusiastic these Largo and Lundin Links people were to support their church."

The sale was opened by Mrs A.H. Muriset (of the Lundin Links Hotel) who was introduced by Rev. George Watt.  Mrs Muriset remarked that many people, like herself, would remember the hall as a school, and later as an A.R.P centre during the war.  Rev. Watt apologised for the ongoing work at the entrance to the hall, where drains and water pipes were still being laid.  He joked that he hoped no one had fallen into one of the many holes in the ground that remained around the entrance.  The hall has continued to be well-used by the community over the past 50+ years.  If you have memories of events held here, please comment.

Back in 1974, at the time of the transfer of Lundin Mill Primary School from its mid-nineteenth century building on Crescent Road to its new circular, semi-open plan facility in Pitcruvie Park, a Mrs Esther Menzies took the opportunity to remind people why the school was named Lundin Mill (and not Lundin Links) Primary.  When she watched the new school being built, she found herself thinking "I hope they stick to the old name".  Of course, the old name was kept, but nevertheless Mrs Menzies wanted to ensure people were aware of what the village used to be like before its early 20th century expansion.  She wanted to explain how small the village used to be and what daily life was like.....before this knowledge was lost.  She was canny enough to record this valuable insight, and her recollections were published over 3 editions of the East Fife Mail in mid-1974.  

Forty years have passed since Mrs Menzies wrote her account and I think her memories need to be retold.  Life was very different pre-1900 - no cars, washing machines, supermarkets or well-organised street names with numbered houses.  Let me take you into a horse-based world of communal bleaching greens, a plethora of village shops and very descriptive local names for streets and areas.  The hub of Lundin Mill, according to Mrs Menzies, was the area shown in the image below - where Emsdorf Street, Road and Crescent converge with Hillhead Street and Woodlands Road.  No longer the epicentre of the village, this space would once have been a hive of activity.  In the next couple of posts, we will look at how the patch of green grass in the picture below would once have been much larger and busier, and how Hillhead Street was once to Lundin Links what Princes Street is to Edinburgh! 

This slightly grainy 1980s aerial photograph shows both the old and new Lundin Mill Primary Schools (marked with red arrows).  The 1850s built school on the left is surrounded on all sides by housing, although it would have been open space to the south when first built.  The new school (to the right) has much more grassy open space around it.  The tree-lined Keil Burn runs close by to the north and east.  The present school is also sited more centrally between Lundin Links and Lower Largo - the two main villages which it serves.  As the present school is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, past pupils and staff are invited to contribute memories, photos, etc to be shown at planned events, see East Fife Mail article for details...

http://www.fifetoday.co.uk/news/local-headlines/lundin-mil-celebrates-landmark-occasion-1-3383467

Times have changed greatly and the design of the existing school is very different to the old.  Originally, at the Crescent Road School, boys and girls would have had separate entrances and separate playgrounds.  The diagram shows how the layout of the old school grounds used to be.  The numbers represent the following:

1. Schoolhouse          2. School Master's House
3. Front Entrance      4. Rear Entrance from vennel
5. Boys Playground  6. Girl's Playground

A wall would have divided the two playground zones and each area had its own toilet block and bike shed.  The school master's house would have been internally connected to the school itself.

Of course neither of these buildings was the original school.  A school existed in the old village of Emsdorf before the building of Crescent Road took place.  The wash-house of the house called 'Sea Cliff' on Emsdorf Road had a stone on the gable with 'Emsdorf School" engraved on it.  Old schools also existed in Lower Largo - initially at the Temple and then in what is now the Durham Hall.

Back in September 1973, building work was well advanced on the new Lundin Mill School.  The site had previously been used as a chicken farm.  The above image shows the north side of the school, looking south towards the houses of Woodlands Road, with the school football pitch between the two.  The large house in the centre, partly obscured by trees, was at one time the manse for Largo St David's Church and the new modern houses to the left of it were built in what was once part of the manse's extensive garden.

On 12 September 1973, the East Fife Mail, under the headline "Unusual Design at Lundin Links", described the modern circular layout of the new school, with its six general purpose classrooms set around a central hall.  The new building, started in January 1973, was a replacement for the old Lundin Mill School on Crescent Road (now the library).  The new school cost £138,000.  Pupils moved into the new school building in January 1974, making this year the 40th anniversary of the school being located at its present site.

This photograph dates from the mid-late 1960s when Lundin Mill Primary School was still located on Crescent Road at the site of the present library.  If you can pinpoint the class and/or date or know anyone in the picture, please comment.  It shows the playground behind the school building.  Beyond the brick wall you can see the tops of the buildings on Emsdorf Street.  The small piece of black and white building frontage, just visible in the centre background, is the La Scala cinema. The old school was built in the 1850s and closed in 1974, when the present primary school opened.  The new school building celebrates its 40th anniversary this year.  The old school building continues to house the village library.  Please comment if you have memories of the old school on Crescent Road.

For a long time the first (or in some places the second or third) Monday of the New Year was known in Scotland as 'Handsel Monday'.  The name derived from the custom among people of the working class of asking or receiving gifts or 'handsels' from their better off neighbours and from each other on that day.  Once a very important holiday, the occasion was gradually superseded by Christmas and New Year celebrations.  

Newspaper archives show many references to Handsel Monday in the Largo and Lundin Links area.  In 1839, for example, the 'Largo and Lundin Mill Total Abstinence Society' held their first soiree of the year on Old Handsel Monday in a large wareroom at the mill.  The Fife Herald of 24 January reported on how the "Largo and Lundin Mill Instrumental Band played some of their favourite airs, and some females delighted the company with some excellent songs. Dancing commenced about ten o'clock and was kept up with great spirit until five in the morning."

A slightly less lively event took place on Handsel Monday 1871 in the new Lundin schoolroom.  Opening with the singing of the 100th psalm, the Dundee Advertiser of 5 January described how upwards of 200 attendees listened to an address by Lord Mackenzie reviewing events of the past year before "speaking at greatest length on the war and the Scottish Education Bill".  A series of other speakers followed him, covering a range of topics.

In 1872, local children attended a 'Christmas Treat' in the Lundin Mill School-room, according to the Fife Herald of 2 January 1873. Hosted by the Misses Rigg and Miss Haymes of Aithernie (now the Old Manor Hotel), this was an evening of 'splendid Christmas entertainment'.  Built in the late 1850s, the old Lundin Mill School on Crescent Road (pictured below) is now the local library.  However, back in 1872...

"The school-room was tastefully decorated for the occasion...a table...profusely laden with luxuries, in the centre of which stood a beautiful Christmas tree.   All the young guests were entertained to tea, and received a most liberal supply of buns, cookies, oranges, etc.  Suitable and interesting addresses were delivered to the children....The scholars, besides being supplied with so many eatables, received nice presents of books, purses, boxes, etc."

The festivities also involved singing and a 'magic lantern' show.  A magic lantern was an early type of image projector, which used glass 'lantern slides' to project painted or photographic images.  We can only guess at what this particular show consisted of - something educational, humorous or religious?  Perhaps it included Christmas or winter scenes or maybe there were illustrations to accompany a story?  The article certainly conjures up a lovely image of Christmas past and gives an insight into the use of this building almost a century and a half ago.