VINTAGE LUNDIN LINKS AND LARGO
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Lost Bridge

18/8/2023

1 Comment

 
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The above postcard view is interesting because it features a pair of bridges over the Keil Burn, only one of which still remains today. The zoomed in annotated detail below shows that the bridge in the background (marked 1) is the one which still carries the Cupar Road over the Keil Burn, while the smaller bridge (2) in the foreground accommodates a farm track within Lundin Mill Farm, from the steading over the burn to the fields on the other side. The feature marked 3 is the former buildings on the Cupar Road, including the house known as Broadlea. The map from 1912 further below show the same three features and an arrow to indicate the direction in which the photograph was captured. Note that the bridge in the foreground has a slight curve to its top, while the Cupar Road bridge has a straight upper edge.
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Picture

Broadlea and the small bridge were lost when the Penrice Park housing development was built in the mid-1990s by Bett Brothers. Both of these features appear again in the slightly different postcard view below titled 'Largo Law from Ladies Golf Course'. Note the neatly constructed hay ricks to the far right of the image. The Lundin Mill Farm steading and mill complex were also demolished around 1995.
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Below are the two bridges close up for comparison - the top black and white image is the lost farm bridge while the lower image is the surviving Cupar Road bridge. They are not dissimilar in design, suggesting that they may have been constructed around the same time. The surviving bridge may have been enlarged and maintained more than once in its history.
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The side-by-side 1912 map and recent aerial photo show how the Penrice Park housing filled in the space between the Cupar Road/Largo Road and the Keil Burn.  Penrice Park was named after the Penrice family that were tenant farmers at Lundin Mill Farm and other local farms over many years. A further development of flats followed a few years later by Thomas Mitchell builders (in the south east corner of the newly developed area).

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Picture
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Above are a couple of photographs of the bridge on the Cupar Road to the north of Lundin Links and below is an advert for the ex-show house for sale in the 6 November 1997 Scotsman newspaper. Change is inevitable but it seems such a shame that only one of these historic bridges has survived.
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1 Comment
John Band
18/8/2023 09:46:55 am

I am sure the bridge on the Cupar Rd has a date above the crown of the arch on the upstream side, from memory 1836? during the upgrade of the road system by the Roads Trustees. The stone bridge probably replaced a lightweight pedestrian timber built structure hence the Ford alongside, the route of the Ford can still be seen. The demolition of the stone bridge linking Lundin Mill Farm stack yard with the fields during the construction of Penrice Park was a real crime, the bridge would have been as old as the farm and mill. When the stack yard was being scraped clean of vegetation several fireclay and stone versions of "Rick stands" were found alongside the mill lade, these were used to keep the straw built ricks off the ground, the overhanging tops of the stands kept vermin from climbing into the straw and eating the grain. Also found amongst the grass was a sluice gate from the dam, complete with ironmongery and a Kit built French Burr runner or top mill stone made from a sandstone centre and sharp quartz segments all held tightly together by iron hoops around the outside.

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    This blog is about the history of the villages of Lundin Links, Lower Largo and Upper Largo in Fife, Scotland. Comments and contributions from readers are very welcome!

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