The previous post touched upon the early history of the village of New Gilston. The above 1930s view of the village shows the Post Office on the right foreground looking west. The Post Office was at the centre of a tragic incident back in 1953. On Saturday 22 August that year a Gloster Meteor aircraft, which had taken off from RAF Leuchars only ninety seconds before, crashed into the Post Office in the early morning around 6 am. The pilot was instantly killed. He was 21-year-old Flying Officer David Ernest Rock (born in Lichfield, Staffordshire in 1932). Amazingly, no one on the ground was seriously hurt. 

The jet which crashed had been flying with a second plane and both had begun to descend from 2000 feet, thinking they were over the sea. In fact they were over the highest village in Fife. The lead aircraft saw ground and pulled up striking some trees and eventually returned to base. The second jet struck the upper storey of the Post Office building and broke up. Occupants of the building, Mr and Mrs Andrew Laing Ramage, had been asleep on the ground floor at the time. ​
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Wreckage was strewn about the village, the blast broke several windows, live ammunition was scattered about, the school roof was damaged and a neighbouring cottage had its chimney knocked off the roof. Andrew Ramage described how he and his wife Christina initially thought that their house had been struck by lightning. When the roof collapsed they were immediately covered in plaster and could not speak for the dust in their mouths. First they tried to get out of the door that led to the shop but found that it was blocked with rubble. Instead they made for the front door but could not get past the flames, so finally they smashed a window in order to get outside, with help from lime quarry worker Alexander Barclay. Their only injuries were cuts from the broken window glass. The only possessions they had left were the night clothes they were wearing.

All but one of the local phone lines was taken down by the accident. The school house line was still intact and was used to call the fire brigade. Engines came from St Andrews, Cupar, Methil and from R.A.F. Leuchars. Mrs Christian Randall, who lived at the school house with her two children took in the Ramages and they three are shown in the photograph below. Firemen recovered very little from the site - only some charred bank notes, some blackened coins and an intact case of 12 bottles of whisky.

On the Monday, Mr and Mrs Ramage moved into a nearby cottage and their friends and neighbours rallied around to provide them with clothes, furniture and bedding. Their shop delivery van survived and was out delivering newspapers as usual the day after the crash - driven by a friend. The image further below shows the destroyed Post Office and workers clearing the crash site. Mr and Mrs Ramage took some time off to recover from their ordeal (which had come only months after they had lost their only son in a motor accident at Teasses Toll). The Post Office eventually moved to the other end of the village, where it was run by a Mrs Winton. 

A view looking east along Upper Largo's Main Street, taken from alongside the Upper Largo Hotel (on the right). The hotel was known as 'The Largo Hotel' at this time - as can just be made out on the nice piece of vintage signage advertising McEwan's shown in detail below. The hotel has a long history and has had a few name changes over the decades. 

Opposite the hotel, on the far left above, is the garage which was once owned by David Ramage and then by Jimmy Purves. This image must have been captured not long before the house next to the garage (with 'no parking' daubed on the wall) was demolished and alterations were made to the garage. The building housing the garage was built around 1843 and was originally the Free Church. 

The unusual perspective, captured by St Monans-based photographer William Easton around 1900, looks up towards Bridge House on Largo Road with Fir Park behind it. To the right is the rear of the Keilside Bakery (once a brewery and bakehouse).

William Easton was a professional photographer, particularly active between around 1890 to 1920. He often captured life in the fishing villages of Fife, especially St Monans, where he ran a chemist and newsagent business. He died in 1929. In this shot he is standing at water level with multiple higher levels above him at different heights: the sluice and dam; the bridge; the Bridge House and the trees of Fir Park. The Bridge and Burnside also featured on a popular postcard from a similar era. This locality was known as Burnside and behind photographer was a clear view towards the flour mill.  

Looking in more detail at the image (see below), the shop is visible on the ground floor of Bridge House. This was run by Maggie Bremner before she became post mistress at the brand new Post Office on Leven Road in 1896. The Bridge House shop was then occupied by Christina Young before she re-located to Emsdorf Street. The zoomed-in view also reveals that seven or eight people are standing looking over the bridge at the photographer!  

Another detailed view (further below) shows children down at the side of the burn to the right of the main photo. A boy is standing close to the tree at the end of the dam, next to a post which marks the spot where a channel diverts water away from the burn to the flour mill further down-stream, to drive the wheel (the map at the foot of this post illustrates the system).  Also, there appears to be two little girls sitting on the bank of the Keil Burn slightly down-stream. The overall photograph above is a charming and peaceful scene and would make a beautiful painting. 

Johnston Wright Swan was born in 1859 in Edinburgh - the son of Janet Wright and George Swan (baker and refreshment room owner). In the 1881 the family were at 'John Knox Coffee House' on Canongate (Royal Mile). A few years beforehand the establishment had caused some controversy when it was reported that "a vandal of a coffee-house keeper who has taken a portion of the house facing the Tron Church has, in glaring black letters on a white ground, painted "John Knox's Coffee House." (The Graphic, 19 Aug 1876).

Aged 21 by the time of the 1881 census, Johnston - the eldest in the family - was a pastry baker at his father's bakehouse, while 15-year-old brother George was a junior baker there. Following the death of George senior, early in 1887 at Sugar House Close off the Royal Mile, Johnston and George junior took over the family business interests between them. Johnston married Mary Brown Wright later the same year, in Dumfries. In 1891, the pair and their two daughters (Janet and Mary) were living in East Adam Street. 

By 1901, Johnston was described as a 'cook and confectioner' at the 'University Hotel' on Chambers Street. The entries above from the 1902 Post Office Directory show the brothers' various establishments in the capital. Throughout this period, over many years,  Johnston was competing in prestigious bakery competitions including the "Scottish section" of the annual "Bakers' and Confectioners' Exhibition" at the Agricultural Hall in London. An example of the many newspaper accounts of Swan's success is shown below (from 9 Sept 1909 Scotsman). 

The 1911 census found the family living in Priorwood House - a Georgian country house in Lasswade, while running multiple business premises in Edinburgh. In 1913 daughter Mary Wright Swan married Hugh Percival (Inspector of the Poor in Largo) and they lived at East Rose Villa in Lundin Links. Once their daughter was firmly settled in Lundin Links  and the once the Swans had sold a number of their business interests in Edinburgh, Johnston and Mary Swan also moved to the village. 

They ran the Victoria Boarding House in Lundin Links from circa 1923. At that time it incorporated a bake house.  Then around 1928 they purchased Bellville on Emsdorf Street and soon set up the shop in the front of this house. It would seem that the bakery element of their Lundin Links business interests shifted from Victoria Road to Emsdorf Street and the boarding house was styled more as a hotel. The hospitality at Swan's Victoria Hotel must have been quite something - with a baker/confectioner/cook/restaurateur at the helm. And his talents did not end there, for Mr Swan was also a musician. The article below from the 4 Feb 1928 Courier tells of him entertaining as a one-man band!

The above advert - for a Methil hairdresser with a branch at Leven Road in Lundin Links - dates to the mid-1940s. Jane Rudd Spinks (known as Jean) was born in 1908 at Malleny Mills, Balerno. However, her parents had been married in Leven, Fife and soon after her birth the family returned to Fife - settling in Methil were her father worked as a coal miner. Jean had a long career in hairdressing, undertaking training in London and gaining an excellent reputation. 

In the early 1930s, Miss Spinks occupied a hairdresser's shop on High Street, Methil. Around that time a curious story was featured in the local paper about how her pet Pekinese dog had been stolen by sailors and spent three months at sea before being taken to Port Said in Egypt. The dog was eventually returned after a six month spell in quarantine. However, it became unwell and it was advised by a vet that the dog should be given "gin night and morning". The dog recovered but was sadly killed by a car in February 1933 (St Andrews Citizen 17 June).

In 1935, aged 27, Jean was involved in a serious road traffic accident near Cardenden, while travelling as pillion passenger on a motor cycle. The motor cycle was hit by a bus and its 21-year-old driver, Ronald Tidman from Anstruther, died from his injuries. Jean was in critical condition for a time, due to serious injuries to her head and leg. 

In 1939, Jean married Albert O'Neil and had a hairdressing shop, with house above, built at 240 Wellesley Road done in art deco style (shown in recent times below). It must have also been around that time that the Lundin Links branch was opened. And the Leven Road premises stayed in Jean's ownership at least into the 1950s. If you know more about the duration of the business's time in Lundin Links, please comment.

Even as late as 1956, it would seem that a woman hairdresser cutting a man's hair was a novelty, as can be see by the article below from the Fifeshire Advertiser of 27 October. The piece concluded that "from all accounts they do every bit as well as the men". Jean died in 1970, aged 62. There remains a hairdresser on Leven Road. If you recall Jean or her shop in Lundin Links - please do share your memories.

To continue on the theme of bakers....I am grateful to a reader of this blog for sharing an interesting find. The image above is of a 1920s paper bag from Watson the Baker of Lundin Links, found under the floor boards of a house. The bag commemorates the prizes won in 1926 by David Watson. He was winner of the 'Hutchison Centenary Challenge' held in Kirkcaldy on 30 June that year (the trophy features on the bag). He also enjoyed success that year at 'The Confectioners, Bakers and Allied Trades Exhibition' in London.

An example of a bronze medal from the London event is shown inset. The 'Hutchison Centenary' related to the 100th anniversary of the beginnings of Hutchison's Flour Mill in Kirkcaldy. In the late 1820s Robert Hutchison had began trading in wheat, barley, oats, flax, butter and flour.

David Watson was born in Crail in 1868 to a young single mother. The 1871 census finds him living with grandparents, Thomas (a brewer's assistant) and Georgina, and their many children at Back Green in Crail. By 1881, David's mother had married baker John Hutchon and David was, at the age of 13, apprentice baker with him, living in Dove Street, Kilrenny along with his new siblings.

In 1887 David married Isabella Skinner in St Andrews. The 1891 census finds Isabella and two daughters (Maggie and Jessie) in South Street St Andrews with her parents, while David Watson was recorded in Edinburgh as a baker. At some point in the next 10 years the family made their move to Largo Parish.  In 1901 they were listed at Church Place, Upper Largo with David described as 'Journeyman Baker' while in 1905 the family were living at Crichton Place in Upper Largo. By 1911 census the family are to be found at Cupar Road Lundin Links, David having set up business at the Keilside Bakery.  From then until his death in 1935, aged 67, David Watson was tenant occupier of the Largo Road bakehouse. 

The image above is a 1902 photograph featured in the wonderful 'Largo: An Illustrated History' book by Eric Eunson and John Band. It features Andrew Thomson's baker's shop at the foot of Durham Wynd.  Thomson also had a bakery in Lundin Links and had a very long career in the trade.  Andrew Thomson was born in Dysart on 12 March 1826, the second child of parents Peter Thomson and Euphemia Imrie. His father Peter was a master baker in Fife - initially in Dysart and later in Kirkcaldy.  Peter died in New York in 1858.

Andrew married Elizabeth Taylor in 1848 and, after Andrew had a spell working in Glasgow, they settled in Kirkland, where they had a house, stables and bakehouse. In the 1851 census they had two daughters - Janet and Euphemia - and Andrew employed two apprentice bakers. By 1861, the Thomsons had moved to Leven and had four daughters (the younger two being Elizabeth and Catherine). Westwood's directory of 1862 lists the baker's as being located at 30 High Street, Leven. 

Circa 1865, Andrew Thomson moved his bakery business to Lundin Mill and his Leven premises was taken over by Robert Robertson. The Lundin Mill premises were at the centre of the north side of Emsdorf Street. In 1868, Andrew was involved in the founding of Lundin Golf Club. 1871 census records the family at Emsdorf Street and a son, Andrew, had been added to the family. Andrew senior was noted as "master baker employing 2 boys". In 1873, daughter Janet married George Nicolaus in Geneva. The following year, Andrew's brother-in-law, William Bunn, took over the Railway Inn at Lower Largo.

The entry below from the 1877 Worrall's directory lists the bakers within Largo Parish. Note at that time there was no Lower Largo based baker.  However, by 1881, Andrew Thomson had expanded his business into Lower Largo. It would seem likely that he was the first occupier of the building shown above. William Bunn died in 1879 aged 49 from asthma but in the 1885 valuation roll his widow (and Elizabeth Thomson's sister) Catherine Bunn was listed as proprietor of both the Railway Inn and the Lower Largo bakehouse and shop occupied by Andrew Thomson. 

Catherine Bunn and her Thomson relatives were very close - Euphemia Thomson residing with Catherine at the Railway Inn in 1881, and Catherine Bunn passing away in 1895 at Imrie Cottage, adjacent to Andrew's Lundin Mill bakery. The 1891 census found Andrew and Elizabeth Thomson living at Bonny Bay House (ie at the Lower Largo Bakery) with daughter Catherine and two Nicolaus grandsons, who were probably visiting for the Easter holidays.

May of 1899 saw Andrew Thomson celebrate 50 years in the baking business. The Dundee Courier ran the headline 'Jubilee of a Fife Baker' and provided coverage of the dinner and presentation:

"to few is it given to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of their starting in business and Mr Andrew Thomson, Largo, who on 15 May saw this anniversary, was in honour of the occasion, entertained to dinner in the Caledonian Hotel, Leven"

Mr Robert Robertson - the Leven baker mentioned above - presided over the event and remarked upon Mr Thomson's "unique position" of celebrating a second jubilee, having had his Golden Wedding anniversary the previous July. Further comments included that he...

"was not one of the old school of bakers but always ready to forward the interests of employer or employees, and was one of the first to set the sponge on Saturday night to do away with Sunday labour."

Mr Thomson was presented with a "gold watch and albert" (an albert being a type of chain with a t-bar to tuck into a button hole). Mr Robertson said that he had known "the guest of the evening" longer than anyone else around the table and that in those early days "Mr Thomson's large bulk and strength had astonished him and to be hoisted on his shoulders was a bewildering joy". In reply Mr Thomson shared his reminiscences including of his old baking days in Glasgow "where he had worked his eighteen and twenty hours a day...for six months". Mrs Thomson was presented with a silver tea and coffee service. Further speeches and toasts were made and songs sung. 

Elizabeth Thomson died in September of that year, at Bonny Bay House and in the 1901 census Andrew was recorded there as a widower and still at baker at the age of 75, living with his three youngest daughters. Soon after this, (c1905) James Bruce took over the Lower Largo bakery and Andrew Thomson retired. In 1909 he was able to reciprocate to Leven baker Robert Robertson by presenting him with a gold watch at the celebration of his Golden Wedding in the Caledonian Hotel.  By the 1911 census Andrew was at Durham House (behind Bonny Bay House) with his three youngest daughters. Andrew died in 1920 at the grand age of 94 at Imrie Cottage in Lundin Links. His daughters continued to live in Imrie Cottage after his death.

Finally, it is worth noting that Andrew Thomson's grandson George Nicolaus maintained that he was related to Alexander Selkirk on his mother's side. Further evidence of this is the Railway Inn link - this was owned by a (later) Alexander Selkirk before coming into the ownership of the Bunns.

Many will remember the "famous" Forte's ice-cream - available for many decades from the late 1920s. The above advert dates to 1968, when a move was made into the wholesaling of the product.  The Forte family's business ventures also included, for a time, the 'Cafe de Lux' advertised below.  This adverts dates to circa 1930. Note the slogan "Ice cream is not a luxury, It is a food if properly made".  Wouldn't it be nice to be able to try it again?

Above is an image of 'Bellville' on Emsdorf Street - the origins of which have been covered here before. It was built in 1895 for William Bethune and his family. Some time soon after 1928, the shop was added in the side of the front garden closest to the other shops at the west end of Emsdorf Street. Isaac Cairns ran the shop as an ironmongers for a long spell between the 1930s and 1960s. Around the time that he died, the business was taken over by John McMillan.

McMillan's hardware shop continued through to the 1980s and many will recall the diverse range of products available and the obliging nature of its brown-overcoated owner. The image below features a faded sign stating 'garden seeds' and 'hardware'.  The extensive display in the double front window features tea towels, windbreaks and camping equipment. There are also many advertising signs - for keys, gas, batteries, paraffin, etc.  What you do remember buying here?

Along with many other shops in this street, McMillan's closed around the mid-late 1980s and the shop was demolished. If you know exactly when it closed - please comment.