Many Fife coastlines bear the marks of past coal mining. A ribbon of coal particles can be found on Kirkcaldy and Burntisland beaches, whether washed there from mines or eroded from rocks I don’t know..

At Lower Largo the deposits are larger. Here are some seen through the shore barrier.

And these are lumps.

The industrial landscape of Methil can be seen from Lower Largo beach, wind turbines, oil rigs and all.

About a month ago we went for a walk along the beach at Lower Largo in Fife. Old railway sleepers held together by well-rusted iron struts form a barrier to help shore up the … err.. shore.

There is the semblance of a face on the second sleeper from right here.

The texture of the rusted supports was interesting.

In this one the iron has almost reverted back to ore. It looks very like samples of haematite I have seen.

The memorial is set by the A915 on the road from Leven up the Fife coast to Crail (or across Fife to St Andrews) just out of Lower Largo before the road turns up to Upper Largo. The memorial obelisk is inscribed with the words, “To the Glorious Memory of the Men of Largo Parish who fell in the Great War,” and also bears the names of the First World War dead. The plaques on the wall behind give the names for the Second World War.

Below is a wider view showing more of the wall, which bears the dates 1939 and 1945, one at each end.