Published: Thursday, 8th November, 2007 10:50
All night pubs in Largs
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When did Largs used to have all-night pubs?
According to a regular contributor in the early 1900s, Largs used to have 28 houses in Largs licensed to sell whisky, porter and ale. On the foreshore at St Colm’s Day, from the foot of Main Street to the foot of Nelson Street, there might be another 20 places, tents, licenced for the sale of whisky, porter and “yill”, open night and day. In these days the Fair provided an annual series of entertainments on the foreshore including Highlanders marching, bagpipes skirling and lads and lasses dancing.
How did the livestock arrive for St Colm’s Day?
On the Monday before the fair, the sailing smacks, crowded with cattle, arrived by the hundreds, and the plunging of horses and cows into he water to wade ashore, the squealing of pigs, the bleating of sheep and the crowing of cocks and hens made up sights and sounds not observable nowadays.
Where was the jail in Largs in the 1830s?
All the ‘riff-raff’ in the town were also attracted to Colm’s Day but at that time there was neither police nor a police station in Largs. Baron-Bailie Greg and a dozen or two sworn-in special constables kept the peace, while the Bailie dealt with petty cases. Anything more serious would be passed on to the Justices of the Peace. The jail was in the middle of the Main Street - one cell in the shape of an arch with a door studded with square heading bolts or about an inch in size. Weaver Hugh Miller recalled: “It was a fearsome looking place, having an air-space for a window about 2 foot square, crossed with iron bars - there was no glass in it. By looking through the bars once could see and speak to the prisoners within, and could convey food to them through the same aperture.”
What is Candlemas Day and how was it celebrated in Largs?
February 2 is “Candlemas” in many churches and is the day for observing the ritual purification of Mary forty days after the birth of Jesus as well as the presentation of Jesus in the Temple in Jerusalem (see Luke 2:21-40).
One bizarre custom in schools in the 1830s in Ayrshire was cock-fighting - the dead birds being claimed by the teachers. A good deal of cock-fighting took place in Largs. Weaver Hugh Miller recalls a friend who once had a cock that fought for a two pound prize, and won it. Before a fight, the birds were boarded out at some farm house. When taken home, their feathers were closely clipped from about the necks, and the natural spars sharpened on steel ones, according to agreement. In the school in School Wynd, Largs, the Candelemas custom was dancing, the teacher providing the fiddler and punch-bowl.
Each scholar got a glass of toddy. Each one was supposed to give the teacher a piece of silver money. The Montgomery School in Wilson Street was an empty weaver’s shop. On Candlemas Day honours were conferred - the boy that gave five shillings being made King for the year, and the girl who gave the highest amount became Queen.
Question: How did a Collie dog come to the rescue during a boating tragedy in 1835? Nov 30 1956
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Woman supplying kids with drink