Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 4

LARGO
the N is a circular tower, which formed part of the old
castle inhabited by Sir Andrew Wood, and said tradi-
tionally to have been previous to that the residence of
several of the widowed queens of Scotland. A runic
cross found in the neighbourhood used formerly to stand
on the lawn ; but when the estate was sold it was un-
fortunately removed to Polton, near Lasswade. One of
the guns of the Royal George, which sunk in 1782,
which used to stand in the grounds, passed at the
same time to James Wolfe Murray, Esq. of Cringletie,
Peeblesshire.* The other mansions in the parish are
Balhousie (Thomas Buchan, Esq.) and Strathairly
(General David Briggs). The mansion-house of Lundin
was pulled down in 1876 ; but the old square tower
which was built into it, and which is the remnant of
an old castle of Lundin, and dates from the time of
David II., has been carefully preserved. Close to it
are a number of very fine old trees. The castle belonged
to a family of the name of Lundin, who at an early
date held a large extent of property in the district.
One of William the Lyon's sons is said to have married
the then heiress, and in their line it remained till 1670,
when another heiress took it into the Perth family by
marriage with Sir John Drummond, second son of the
second Earl of Perth, with whose descendants it re-
mained till about 1750, when it was sold in consequence
of attainder against the family for connection with the
rebellion of 1745. Besides the antiquities already men-
tioned, there is on the banks of Kiel Burn N of Largo
House a fragment of the old castle of Balokuvie or
Pitcruvie, which is separately noticed. To the SE of
Lundin House are three standing stones about 12 feet
high, known as 'the standing stones of Lundin.' Two
and a half miles 1ST by W of Upper Largo, near Teasses,
is a tumulus called Nome's Law, concerning which a
local tradition maintained that it covered the remains
of a great chief who had armour of silver. A hawker
stealthily opened it up about 1817, and found that
something of this sort was actually the case, for he dis-
covered a large number of ancient Celtic ornaments of
silver. What they exactly were cannot be ascertained,
as he carried them off and sold them to various dealers
in old silver, who consigned them to the melting pot.
By the exertions of General Durham of Largo and Mi-
George Buist of Cupar a few were recovered, and those
that still remain are so extremely valuable as to cause
all the more regret for what is lost. In 1848 two beau-
tiful twisted gold armillas were found in a bank at
Lower Largo, immediately behind the well near the
ninth mile-post on the railway. A number of stone
coffins, formed of slabs, have been at various times
found in the sandhills skirting the shore from Drumochie
eastwards, over the site of the lower village to Old Mill
Burn.
The parish is traversed for 2f miles along the coast
by the Thornton and Anstruther branch of the North
British railway system ; and there are stations at Lundin
Links and Lower Largo. The S end is also traversed by
the main road from Burntisland along the edge of the
Eirth of Forth to the East Neuk of Fife, which passes
through Lundin Mill and Upper Largo. From Upper
Largo district roads pass also northwards to Ceres and
north-eastwards to St Andrews. Largo is in the pres-
bytery of St Andrews and synod of Fife, a part in the
NE being given off to the quoad sacra parish of Lakgo-
WAE.D. The stipend is £396, with £10 for communion
elements, and a manse and glebe worth respectively
£30 and £32 a year. Kirkton public, Lundin Mill
public, and Durham female schools, with accommodation
respectively for 150, 178, and 143 pupils, had (1881) an
average attendance of 87, 104, and 69, and grants of
£83, 0s. 6d., £84, 5s., and £59. Four proprietors hold
each an annual value of £500 and upwards, 7 hold
each between £500 and £100, 3 between £100 and £50,
and there are a number of smaller amount. Valuation
(1879) £15,784, 8s. 6d., (1883) £15,608, 5s. 5d. Pop.
* Admiral Sir Philip C. Durham of Largo was signal officer of
the Royal George at the time of the accident, and was one of the
few peisons rescued.
LARGS
of village of Upper Largo (1861) 365, (1871) 353,
(1S81) 362; of Lower Largo and Temple (1861) 428,
(1871) 521, (1881) 562; of Lundin Mill and Drumochie
(1861) 593, (1871) 537, (1881) 477. Pop. of whole
parish (1755) 1396, (1801) 1867, (1831) 2567, (1S61)
2626, (1871) 2315, (1881) 2224, of whom 1049 were
males and 1175 were females, while 211 were in the
quoad sacra parish of Largoward. — Orel. Sur., shs. 40,
41, 1S67-57.
See also The Chronicle of Fife; being the Diary of
John Lamont of Newton, from 1649 to 1672 (Edinb.
1810) ; The Diary of Mr John Lamont of Newton,
1649-71 (Maitland Club, Edinb., 1830) ; for the geology
of the Law, a paper by Dr Archibald Geikie on the
' Carboniferous Volcanic Bocks of the Basin of the
Forth' in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edin-
burgh, vol. xxix. ; and for the Nome's Law relics,
Wilson's Prehistoric Annals of Scotland, edition 1863,
vol. ii., pp. 250 et seq.
Largo Bay is the indentation of the N side of the
Firth of Forth, at the top of which the parish just
described lies. It is flanked on the E side by Kineraig
Point, 12| miles in a straight line SW of Fife Ness,
and on the W side by the point at Buckhaven harbour,
measures across the mouth, in a line from point to
point, 6g miles, and 2J miles from this line to the
deepest part. The shores, formed from E to W by the
parishes of Kilconquhar, Newburn, Largo, Scoonie, and
Wemyss, are rocky on the E, W, and centre, and else-
where low and sandy. There are several streams flowing
into it, of which the chief are Cocklemill Burn, near
the E side, Kiel Burn in the centre, and the river Leven
on the W ; within the bay, at the extreme E side, is a
smaller rocky bay | mile wide across the mouth, and J
mile deep, with its sides formed E by Kineraig Point,
and W by Ruddons Point. The bottom of the bay is
mostly sandy, and forms excellent ground for line
fishing, as witness the song of The Boatic Rows —
'I cuist my line in Largo Bay,
And fishes I caught nine ;
There's three to boil, and three to fry,
And three to bait the line.'
All along the coast extensive salmon fishings are carried
on by fixed nets. Towards the E, beneath the sands,
there are traces of a submerged forest.
Largoward, a village in Kilconquhar parish, and a
quoad sacra parish formed from Kileouquhar, Largo,
Cameron, and Carnbee parishes. The village is 4J
miles NE of Largo railway station, and 6J SW by S of
St Andrews. Pop. (1861) 323, (1871) 325", (1881) 338,
of whom 181 were males and 157 females. The quoad
sacra parish is in the presbytery of St Andrews and the
synod of Fife. The church, originally a chapel of ease,
was built in 1835, and contains 400 sittings. Largo-
ward and New Gilston public schools, with respective
accommodation for 165 and 90 children, had (1881) an
average attendance of 103 and 69, and grants of £90,
2s. 6d. and £69, 2s. Pop. of parish (1871) 1090, (1881)
1103, of whom 582 were in the Kilconquhar section, 211
in the Largo section, 235 in the Cameron section, and
75 in the Carnbee section.
Largs (Gael, learg, ' a hill-slope '), a police burgh
and parish in the district of Cunninghame, Ayrshire.
The town is situated on the coast, upon a large gravel
deposit, which was probably at one time part of the
bed of the Firth of Clyde ; and the broad shingly beach
in front of the town has a gradual slope that makes it
at once pleasant and safe for bathers. Largs stands
on the highroad between Greenock and Ardrossan,
6 miles S of Wemyss Bay, 9 NW of Kilbirnie, and 30
NNW of Ayr. A second and more inland road also
leads to Greenock through Noddsdale or Noddlesdale,
but it is now rarely used except by the farmers through
whose lands it passes. The nearest railway stations are
at Fairlie, 3 miles S, which is at present (1883) the
terminus of a branch of the Glasgow and South-Western
railway, and at Wemyss Bay, where the Caledonian
railway has a terminus ; but plans have already been
prepared to extend the Fairlie line to Largs, although
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