Three old postcards of St Andrews, Fife

I’m building up a collection of old postcards of places that are important to me. I lived in St Andrews from 1990-1994, and holidayed there most summers throughout the 1980s. And after my husband and I graduated from St Andrews University, and married soon after, we were determined that we would stay living in the near area, which we’ve managed to do.

My three latest postcards cover a range of dates from the 1920s through to the 1970s, the latter not long before I started my childhood holidays there.

The earliest, dated 1928, shows The Pends at the end of South Street, near the Cathedral. This is a pretty postcard, coloured, and has a nice note on the back.

The next chronologically, dated 1965, shows University Hall, the hall of residence on Kennedy Gardens – then for female students only – which I stayed in during 1990-1991. It shows the older part of the building, the prettier bit, not the modern wing I stayed in. I like that the postcard writer was up in St Andrews for a graduation. I wonder if the graduate had stayed in University Hall.

The third postcard is from nearest to my time, 1977, and shows the view down to the harbour. Again there’s a note on the back, which I’ve scanned in here. If I have a choice between two otherwise identical postcards, one that’s been used and one that’s been unused, I’ll go for the used one every time, because the note is always a nice example of social history.

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Three old postcards of Cupar, Fife

I originally posted this on my general genealogy/ancestry stories blog, but I think it, and any more future personal postcard posts, would be better suited to my academic historian’s blog. So reblogging here.

Viv's Ancestry Blog

I lived in Cupar from 1995 to 2001. It was the first proper home I had with my husband. We lived in a flat in Cupar Mills, which is a converted old mill building on the Millgate, with massive thick stone walls. I looked into some of the past inhabitants of the building, in 19th century census returns, and valuation rolls, and got quite interested in the local history.

So I have a soft spot for Cupar, and keep an eye out for interesting postcards. And I’ve just bought three, all looking as though they date from the early 1900s.

The first, postmarked 1919, shows the River Eden, near the old Gaol, which later became a pub where we often ate high teas.

Next up is a view along the Bonnygate. This reminds me of the many times my husband and I would get ice cream on Sundays from Luvians…

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