In 1870, the Standard Life Assurance Company, put the Lundin Estate (comprising the estates of Lundin, Aithernie and Balcormo) up for sale. Having invested in the land eighteen years previously, the venture had not been as lucrative as initially hoped. An advert was placed in the Fife Herald of 16 June 1870 (see extract below). The advert still highlights the suitability of the area for feuing, although the development of housing had stalled at the time. 'Golfing ground' is also mentioned as by now the Lundin Golf Club had been established (founded in 1868). Standard Life's parting gesture to the locality was to present a gold medal to the neighbouring, and much longer established, Innerleven Golf Club (est 1820) to be played for in an annual competition. First played for in 1870, the medal (see image) is still competed for today.
In February 1872, the estate was finally sold to Allan Gilmour for £151,250. Gilmour - a Refrewshire-born shipbuilder and timber merchant - had retired in 1870. His purchase of the estate was probably attributable to his love of outdoor pursuits such as fishing and shooting. He spent summer months at his Fife estate and winter at his Glasgow residence (where he passed away in November 1884). Allan Gilmour's son, John, had purchased the adjoining estate of Montrave in 1873 and took up residence there with his wife Henrietta later the same year, following their marriage. It would be John Gilmour who would restart the feuing of Lundin Links and finally oversee its development as a fashionable seaside place of residence.
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