In this week"s Know Your Largs, we look back to the 19th century in Largs when the town was slowly beginning to emerge as the weaving industry was still going strong in the area. We also look back at a train accident which aroused much interest during the Paisley holiday in Largs and the mysterious Viking origins of place names such as the Haylie Brae and Fairlie.

Before public transport, how did weavers travel between Paisley and Largs?

By foot. It was no uncommon thing for the weavers to walk to Paisley and back to transact business, The "News" reported in 1886: 'We have heard from an esteemed friend telling of a good bit of walking done by his father about 50 years ago. He walked from Largs to Paisley and back, taking a village in the neighbourhood of the latter on his way, a distance in all of 55 miles, in 13 hours. He carried some finishing weaver"s goods along with him, and brought back a good bundle.

'It should also be mentioned that the time taken up in transacting business and getting a little refreshment is included in these thirteen hours.' Which village name in the local area has viking origins?

Fairlie. The old form of the works is Fairnlie and has come from the "old fighting colonial pirates of the north" according to the Largs and Millport Weekly News in 1886. Fairnlie means the warrior"s camp or settlement.

In a similar vein, the Haylie Brae also appears to have Viking origins but there was much debating the issue in the Largs and Millport News of April 3 1886. Haeli or Holy have connotations with the church or helle, a pit or place of the dead because they laid the ashes of their dead. The Rev, John Boyd"s book of the period suggested that 'Haylee derives its name from helle, a pit of burial place, and in a field, there are the "remains of a tumulous called in Largs 'Haco"s tomb'. When did the first train crash happen at Largs Railway Station?

Not long after the Gogo train bridge had been built in 1886, an accident happened as the 1.15 Glasgow to Largs train came into the station during the Paisley holiday. The train, which consisted of ten carriages, was brought too far into the station and came into contact with the buffers "rather violently".

The "News" reported: 'About a dozen passengers were slightly injured. As most of the people in the train were on their feet preparing to leave their carriages, many were knocked over. One lady had her nose broken but this was the most serious case.

It is stated that the engine-driver, who was an old servant of the company, slightly misjudged his distance, and was a little too late in applying the brake.

The line had only recently been extended from Fairlie to Largs following the construction of Fairlie tunnel in which at least one worker died.

Was there a connection between Wee Cumbrae and smuggling?

According to one of our articles in 1886, we reported: 'On the Isle of Wee Cumbare are some caves, which in the days of smuggling, held many a goodly cask. Wonderful stories have been told about these caves. One had a subterreanean and sub marine connection with the Ayrshire coast, and that liquor known to have been landed under hot chase on the Wee Cumbrae by the smugglers could never be found again, but that it turned up in Ayrshire and was sold to good advantage at the very time that the revenue officers were beating the healther for the hidden treasure on Wee Cumbrae.' In 1886 itself, the population of the isle was recorded at four families, numbering 29 including servants, and two lighthouse keepers. At one time, as many as twenty families were reported to have lived on the island according to the 1886 report.