"Largo is bounded by the parishes of Kilconquhar, Newburn, Ceres and Scoonie. It contains the villages of Upper Largo (or Kirkton), Lower Largo, Lundin Mill and New Gilston. It is about 4.5 miles north - south and 3 miles in breadth. To the west of Largo Law, a deeply wooded ravine, Keil's Den, intersects the parish from north - south. It is laid out with footpaths and is very picturesque, so is a favourite resort for all those who visit in the summer for sea bathing. The village of Lower Largo stands on the bay. Most of the houses have a decaying look, being mostly built from red sandstone taken from the sea. In old times a large trade was carried on here with Holland, and more recently Norway, but that is long at an end. Upper Largo is a well-built village with a number of good houses and shops. There is an institution in the village called Wood's Hospital, for the maintenance of indigent persons of the name of Wood. Both Upper and Lower Largo are favourite resorts for sea bathing. The village of Lundin Mill is chiefly inhabited by weavers. The village of New Gilston is chiefly inhabited by miners. A noted native of the parish was Alexander Selkirk, the prototype of Robinson Crusoe. Besides the parish church, there is a Free Church at Kirkton, and a UP Church and a Baptist Church at Lower Largo." edited from Westwood's Directory for the counties of Fife & Kinross published 1862.

An ancient village in the East Neuk of Fife to the north of Lower Largo. Also known as Kirkton of Largo, the village is centred on its 12th-century parish church of Largo which was given to the Cistercian nunnery at North Berwick by Earl Duncan of Fife (1154-1204). A Pictish symbol stone and the headstone of the family of Alexander Selkirk (Defoe's Robinson Crusoe) are to be found in the churchyard and inside the church is a model of the Yellow Caravel, the ship of the Scottish admiral Sir Andrew Wood who defeated the English fleet in 1498. North of the church is the Jacobean-style Wood's Hospital or Wood's Houses, founded in 1665 and rebuilt in 1830.

If you would like to visit this area as part of a highly personalized small group tour of my native Scotland please e-mail me at;

sandystevenson@thefreesite.com

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