Podcast

Transcript

Four voices: male voiceover [MV]; Jackie Bird [JB]; Claudia Noble-Pyott [CNP]; second male voiceover from 1930s [MV2]

[MV]
Love Scotland, brought to you from the National Trust for Scotland.

[JB]
Today we’re going to step back into the gilded age of Edwardian Britain, evocatively described as a leisurely time when women wore picture hats and did not vote, when the rich were not ashamed to live conspicuously, and the sun never really set on the British flag.

How much of that description, written as it was after the horrors of the Great War, was rose-tinted nostalgia? We’ll never know. But in the early 1900s, even though it was a time of great inequality, the Industrial Revolution had created a new social class which had become embedded in society – a wealthy, sometimes fantastically so, middle class.

Now heading along a tree-lined driveway to a National Trust for Scotland property which showcases that era of affluence. Hill of Tarvit Mansion, with its glorious design, fabulous interiors and its own hickory golf course, is a fascinating location in itself. But I think the most compelling part of Hill of Tarvit’s story isn’t the impressive house and its riches, but the tale of the family who built it, of their aspirations, enterprise and bravery, and ultimately of their tragedies. It confirms that at the same time you can have everything and nothing at all.

[music plays]

The interior of Hill of Tarvit Mansion does not disappoint. I’m in the French drawing room alongside Claudia Noble Pyott, who came here as a visitor and fell in love with the place as I have. Claudia, thank you for having me here.

[CNP]
It’s very good to have you here, Jackie. Welcome to Hill of Tarvit.

[JB]
Well, thank you. You are now the Trust boss here, I have to make that clear. I’m not great at doing justice to rooms like this. I will try and help you out, but can you describe where we are?

[CNP]
Now we are in a room that has beautifully carved ornate walls, wonderfully decorated ceilings with hand-cast flowers and silk bands between the flowers, a lovely oak floor, a beautiful big bay window on one side of the room overlooking the golf course, and the most spectacular marble fireplace with a gorgeous French clock on it.

[JB]
Now what is so interesting, if I’m correct, is that the room was designed around that clock.

[CNP]
It was designed around the clock. The space behind the clock was specially made for the mirror in it.

[JB]
And it’s not a large mirror; it’s about just over a metre wide, something like that, but the entire dimensions of the room … And if you think that sounds strange, then it’s not just this room, as it happened, because this is a mark of the entire house.

[CNP]
It absolutely is. The Great Hall, or the room designed in the style of a Great Hall …

[JB]
So we leave the French salon, we open the door and we’re into the Great Hall, yes?

[CNP]
And in that Great Hall you will see a massive tapestry. Now the tapestry is quite large, and the wall literally had to be made higher and wider just to fit the tapestry. So, all the rooms on the lower floor were literally designed around pieces either of furniture or clocks or tapestries or just because of some Chippendale-style furniture.

[JB]
Let’s find out about the mind of the man whose idea all of this was. This is the owner; this is Frederick Sharp. He was a collector of fine furniture and tapestries. Tell us more about Frederick.

[CNP]
Frederick Sharp grew up in a house that was very Gothic, very Victorian, with small rooms, lots of rooms – small rooms, small windows, everything very dark and full of knick-knacks. And he wanted the opposite. He wanted big rooms, high ceilings, really big windows that bring the outdoors in … and this is what was absolutely achieved.

[JB]
Where did the money come from?

[CNP]
The money came from the jute industry in Dundee. His grandfather had invented a heckling machine to help separate the jute fibres when they came over from India.

[JB]
So did that make the money then?

[CNP]
Sadly, it did not. He died in debt, but Frederick’s father John, also known as Honest John, he made money in the jute industry. He had three jute mills, quite a lot of workers that worked for him and he was able to leave his children £750,000, which at the time of his death was an absolutely vast amount of money.

[JB]
Can we translate that into what it might be today?

[CNP]
Well, it might be something like £124 million. A lot of money.

[JB]
OK, so he was quite well set up and he married Beatrice, again who wasn’t short of funds.

[CNP]
Oh, absolutely not. Her family was also in the jute and the linen industry.

[JB]
So the Sharps had money, but what they didn’t have, and what you couldn’t buy, you couldn’t buy yourself into the aristocracy. This was the time of this new, fabulously wealthy middle class. They wanted to become part of the fabric of society here. So how did they do that? Was the house part of it?

[CNP]
The house was part of it, but the land the house is on is part of it because this land belonged to a family called the Wemyss, who were very well connected. The hunt met here. To join the aristocracy, you go hunting with them. Frederick was a great huntsman, so he really enjoyed that, and he was a great golfer. St Andrews Royal & Ancient was another place where you could meet and get connected to the gentry.

[JB]
So they had the land. They needed a house. Who better to design the house than one of the most influential architects of the time?

[CNP]
Absolutely. They just asked a friend, who Frederick was introduced to at a dinner party at Earlshall in Leuchars, which is still a privately owned castle. William Mackenzie, who owned it at the time, he was friends with Robert Lorimer’s parents.

[JB]
Sir Robert Lorimer, no less.

[CNP]
Mm hmm. William Mackenzie had Robert Lorimer design a couple of rooms in his castle and introduced him at a dinner party to Frederick Sharp and to William Burrell.

[JB]
But it wasn’t just a house that was significant because it was built to house particularly a collection. We're talking now – I think the house was completed in about 1908 – it was a house that had extraordinary mod cons.

[CNP]
Oh yes, it had central heating. It had hot and cold running water. It had two bathrooms upstairs, a big cloakroom downstairs. Electricity. An electric fireplace.

[JB]
An internal phone system, I read!

[CNP]
It wasn’t just internal; that was even in 1910. Frederick actually had the line connected and the first number was Lethem 27. And the 2 7 is still the last two digits of our telephone number today and that means it was never disconnected in all that time.

[JB]
So Frederick and Beatrice had a fabulous home. They had a place in society and the picture was complete. They had two children. Tell me about their children.

[CNP]
They had Hugh. He moved in here with his parents in 1908. And baby Elizabeth, she was born in the house in 1910, and one of the wings was turned into a nursery wing for baby Elizabeth.

[JB]
So how old was Hugh when he came here?

[CNP]
He was about 11; so he was 12. He was nearly 13, actually, when Elizabeth was born, which meant that Elizabeth basically grew up as an only child because of the fact that when he was 13, he was sent to Rugby in Warwickshire in England, where he went to boarding school.

[JB]
So you would imagine that when he was home, there was an idyllic scene here and the family were all sports-mad. However, the shadow of World War One loomed. What happened then?

[JB]
Hugh had joined the Army Reserves at school and of course then, when he was of age, he was just 18 when he joined the Corps. Just a couple of weeks before his 19th birthday, he was sent to the Western Front.

[JB]
And I understand that he saw some of the most horrific and famous battles there was.

[CNP]
Yes, he was in the Battle of the Somme, the Battle of Ypres, Passchendaele, and then he also took part in campaigns in Italy.

[JB]
Do we have any indication of what he was doing in the war?

[CNP]
Well, we believe him to have been a forward observation officer.

[JB]
What was that?

[CNP]
That is somebody who goes right to the front line and just makes sure that the actual shelling is hitting the target.

[JB]
So he was part of the artillery regiment?

[CNP]
Yes. And then he goes back and reports, a bit more to the left, a bit more to the right, and you’ll be hitting what you’re meant to be hitting. And also, he had to go right to the front to get some reconnaissance, just to find out who’s there, what they’re doing, and then report all that back.

[JB]
And it was an extremely distinguished career.

[CNP]
Oh, it absolutely was because he got the Military Cross twice.

[JB]
Twice!

[CNP]
Absolutely. Once on 13 February 1917 and then again on 26 November 1917. And there was a lovely, lovely little article in the London Gazette about his Military Cross for the February. It said ‘it was with conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He went forward to capture position and returned through a heavy barrage with valuable information. On many occasions during a long period he has made valuable reconnaissances under rifle and shellfire.’

[JB]
So Hugh, immense bravery on the western fronts; and the family helping with the war effort at home. I know they were involved with local nursing units here. Let’s take a break, Claudia, and we’ll move location if we may, because I know that Hugh’s bedroom is preserved here. So, let’s head there, and when we come back, we’ll pick up our story.

[MV]
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[JB]
Welcome back. Claudia, we are now in a surprisingly small room, but I suspect of course Hugh was just a boy when he came here and then left to go to boarding school for most of it. But this is Hugh’s bedroom, dominated by a fantastic portrait of a young lad of about 9 or 10 in a kilt. I take it that’s Hugh.

[CNP]
That is Hugh. We have a photograph of him dressed very similarly and we do know that he, as a boy, played golf in his kilt as well.

[JB]
Not an easy thing to do. Now, we left Hugh in World War One with a distinguished military career. Let’s pick up the story there.

[CNP]
He was also awarded the Italian Silver Medal for Valour. And he was also given the French Medal of Valour, presented to him by the French President himself. So, he had quite a war.

[JB]
And remarkably, and thankfully, he came out of the war alive unlike so many of his comrades who were in the thick of the action. What did he do then? Because we’re talking now … I think it was 1919 by the time he was demobbed?

[CNP]
Yes, he went back to Oxford for a year after he was demobbed, but left Oxford in 1920 with no degree.

[JB]
Do we know why? Did he ever write letters home explaining that?

[CNP]
Sadly, we do not have letters.

[JB]
You could presume though, based on no fact whatsoever, if you have had that sort of experience, then you want to live life a little … if four years of your life have gone.

[CNP]
Yeah, I always like to think, well, he just thought, after what I’ve been through, quite honestly, this isn’t for me anymore. He decided to become a banker like his dad, so he went to London and went into the banking industry in the City. And he enjoyed life in London.

[JB]
Is that a euphemism?!

[CNP]
Well, yeah, he did. He enjoyed life. He just really lived.

[JB]
Well, he was a wealthy man about town. I come back to that depiction that he was an action man, because the walls here are also adorned with lots of photographs of Hugh hanging off a number of crevices. So he was into his rock climbing, mountain climbing?

[CNP]
Oh, he absolutely was. And someone actually wrote about him: ‘The first climbing he did was at the Aviemore Meet of 1922. He was so thrilled with getting to the top in very bad conditions that, for the next 12 years, he was seldom away from the hills.’

[JB]
He had so many outdoor pursuits but I presume that, alongside mountaineering, golf was a love not only for Hugh, but of his father Frederick – to the extent that one of the famous aspects of Hill of Tarvit Mansion is that it has its own golf course outside. I can see it from the window here.

[CNP]
Yes, and apparently, well, there is a rumour – we can’t prove it – but the rumour is that Hugh persuaded his father to build their own golf course, and they both had a hand in the design of it.

[JB]
Do you know what? I think if your only beloved son comes back from the trenches, you would do anything for him. And if you have the land, building him a golf course is possibly the least of them. So, the family spent many, many happy hours leaving the front door and they were on their own hickory golf course, which is the last in Europe, I believe.

[CNP]
It is, yes. It’s a very special course.

[JB]
Is it still playable?

[CNP]
It is! Absolutely. Anyone can book on to try. We provide all the equipment – so they get a pencil bag and all the old hickory clubs; and after their round, we provide shortbread and ginger beer!

[JB]
Lovely. Now, Hugh and his dad, they didn’t just share the love of golf; they also shared that love of collecting. Hugh began what became an impressive book collection.

[CNP]
Yes, he did. There were over 1,200 books that he collected.

[JB]
I was trying to look them up and he had first editions of Jane Austen, of the Brontes, of Mark Twain. He even had a first edition of the King James Bible and, like everything he did, he attacked it with gusto.

[CNP]
Oh, he absolutely did. The Sharp family I don’t think did anything by halves.

[JB]
I think that’s very true! Talking of not doing things by halves, one thing he didn’t do was get married, and I suppose that was expected of him.

[CNP]
Well, yes, as the son and heir to an estate like this, I suppose your first job in life should be thinking about a wife and producing an heir. And when he lived it up in London, he must have … It must have slipped his mind, I suppose.

[JB]
While Hugh was living it up, and understandably so, came Frederick’s death in 1932, just a week short of his 70th birthday. Hugh was reluctant even then to settle down, but eventually he met a love: Mabel Hogarth.

[CNP]
That’s right.

[JB]
What do we know about Mabel?

[CNP]
Mabel was from a shipping family over on the west coast of Scotland. What we do know is that Mabel attended a hunt ball in Perth in September 1931, and a Mr Hugh Frederick Bower Sharp – our Hugh – was also in attendance that day, so I suppose you could surmise they might have met there.

[JB]
They got engaged after quite a short courtship. He was nearly 40 at the time, wasn’t he?

[CNP]
Yes. They got engaged in the October of 1937, which meant he was actually 40 years old.

[JB]
But then, tragedy.

[MV2]
Words are inadequate to describe the tragedy of the train disaster at Castlecary, the worst crash since the first year of the war. Through the biting frost of a night blizzard, men have been working feverishly without ceasing to bring out the living; to recover the dead. Coaches were smashed like a matchbox crushed in the hand; a whole side torn away. In the wreckage, 35 were carried to their death, nearly 100 injured.

[JB]
And of course, Hugh Sharp perished in that crash. Do we know the circumstances of why he was on the train that day?

[CNP]
He was on the train because he wanted to go and see Mabel on the west coast. They were planning a big engagement bash in the village of Ceres, which is close here to Hill of Tarvit, and he was going to go and finalise details with her and her family. Because it was snowing that day, he decided against taking one of his Bentleys and he just decided to take the train, thinking he’d be safer.

[JB]
And it must have come, obviously stating the obvious here, as an absolutely devastating loss to Beatrice and to Elizabeth. Do we know what happened then, how they coped?

[CNP]
Well, they were absolutely grief stricken. It is said that the ladies had a bonfire with a lot of family photographs, family outings, Hugh’s photographs … and a lot of paperwork was allegedly burnt in that bonfire. Because they were so grief stricken, they just couldn’t bear to have it anymore.

[JB]
Gosh. Eventually, after bequeathing Hugh’s amazing book collection to the National Library of Scotland, Elizabeth carried on with her philanthropy. She was very keen on doing good work, so she was heavily involved in the Girl Guiding movement.

[CNP]
Oh, she was. She loved the outdoor life. Somebody called her ‘a creature of the open air’ and she really came to life outside. We have been given some photographs and found some clippings in newspapers, and you can see whenever a photograph was taken indoors, she doesn’t look happy; but yet when she’s outside, she’s smiling, she’s laughing. She’s there for her girls and with her girls, and she absolutely loved that life.

She was the District Commissioner for Fife for the Girl Guides. And she was the Commissioner for Camping. She did a lot of war work as well with the Guides, and she wrote a booklet about the village of Ceres and also what to do in case of a gas attack.

[JB]
Even though she was a member of an exceptionally wealthy family from an enormous country house, she didn’t dress as such, did she?

[CNP]
Oh, she absolutely didn’t. She was much more comfortable in, shall we say, less fashionable clothes than the fashion of the day. She would be walking around more in trousers than in skirts. But with her uniform came a skirt, so she would wear that too. She was described as being very different. There is a little quote by one of the Girl Guides saying: ‘Elizabeth used to run the messages from Hill of Tarvit barefoot across the hill into Cupar.’

[JB]
Sounds like an interesting woman to have known. But then there was more sadness for her because, I think, 7 years after Hugh’s death, she lost her mother Beatrice.

[CNP]
That’s right, yes.

[JB]
But then, more tragedy.

[CNP]
Yes, she was 34 years old when in 1944, she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. And the sad thing about it is her mother Beatrice passed away knowing there was never going to be an heir to all of this that her and Frederick had built.

[JB]
How utterly sad. But true to her father’s memory, Elizabeth just before she died … and how old was she when she finally passed?

[CNP]
She was 38 years old.

[JB]
… she had made provision because she was so keen that her father’s beloved collection and his house stayed together. How did she do that?

[CNP]
She knew a man who was Head of the Trust. His name was Jo Grimond. He had been a family friend. He became a Member of Parliament, I think, in the 1950s. He was from St Andrews, so he was a friend of her father’s. Jo Grimond and her must have obviously had a conversation at some point. And she decided to leave Hill of Tarvit to the National Trust for Scotland because she wanted people to be able to come and view it, especially the paintings. She was part of the Cupar Art Society and she would often lend the paintings to exhibitions in Cupar. I think it was really close to her heart that everyone would be able to come and enjoy the grounds – because they are magnificent, they are tranquil, they are just the most beautiful setting to walk your dog or just go for a walk yourself.

And she really wanted people to come in and enjoy the collection her father had built.

[JB]
There was another chapter in the history of Hill of Tarvit, because people did indeed receive solace from the house because it became a convalescence house for Marie Curie.

[CNP]
We were very lucky that the Marie Curie Foundation decided to rent it from 1952 to 1977. They rented the whole house. The patients moved into the bedrooms and the dressing rooms. Marie Curie had the house. They had the wings where the nurses would stay in the old servants’ rooms and Matron took over the old nursery where Elizabeth stayed her whole life. The Assistant Matron, she was in Forester’s Cottage, which is now the golf cottage of course. They had the grounds as well to look after. So, they paid the peppercorn rent of £1 a year, but they had all the overhead costs.

[JB]
When was the house restored to the perfect state it is today?

[CNP]
They started restoring it in the early 2000s, up here for the centenary celebrations in 2006. And we take that date from when the Great Hall was finished, because the fireplace is dated 1906. They started, especially with this back end of the house where Hugh’s bedroom is, and they came in with all kinds of different machineries to measure the walls, to find out about the colour pigments on the walls, just to see the colour scheme the Sharps originally had and try to recreate it as best we could.

[JB]
It is a time capsule of an Edwardian era, and a reminder to us all, though, that no matter how much you have, we’re all human. And I bet Beatrice would have given it all up just to know that her son and daughter could have lived long and happy lives.

[CNP]
Oh, absolutely. I agree with you there.

[JB]
Well, thank you so much, Claudia, for sharing the house and its story with me. And a footnote that even in the 21st century, through its charitable trust, the Sharp family was still creating jobs and opportunities in nearby Dundee. And Hugh’s book collection at the National Library of Scotland is also a reminder that many of our wealthy families gave back to the country as much as they made.

I heartily recommend you come to visit Hill of Tarvit. For opening times, go to the National Trust for Scotland website. You can also find information on the hickory golf course here, the only one left in Europe, I believe. Look out for its centenary in 2024 and if you’re heading to St Andrews, you can don your plus fours and have a hit around as if you are Hugh and Frederick on their front lawn.

It’s been a pleasure being here. I hope you join us for another podcast very soon. But from me, for now, bye bye.

[music plays]

[MV]
Love Scotland is brought to you by Think and Demus Productions on behalf of the National Trust for Scotland; presented by Jackie Bird.

For show notes and more information, go to nts.org.uk and don’t forget to like, subscribe, review and share.

Transcript

10 speakers: male voiceover [MV]; Jackie Bird [JB]; Dave Allan [DA]; golfer 1 [G1]; golfer 2 [G2]; golfer 3 [G3]; golfer 4 [G4]; Hannah Fleming [HF]; female voiceover [FV]; Claudia Noble-Pyott [CNP]

[MV]
Love Scotland, brought to you from the National Trust for Scotland; presented by Jackie Bird.

[DA, outside]
The greens are smaller than you’re used to. There’s only one bunker, so there’s nothing to worry in that direction, but when you do find it … it’s right in front of you, right in front of the green, but I’ll point that out to you later; don’t worry.
Clubs-wise, you’re both right-handed? Right. In your bag you will have one wood, three irons and a putter. That is all you need. The only advice we give people: with a hickory shaft, what you’ve got to do is slow your swing down.
So, let’s get you out in the first tee. I’ve done enough talking for you. Let’s get you out in the first tee and show you where you’re going.

[JB, in studio]
What you heard there were some keen golfers getting a hands-on history lesson. They were about to step back in time and challenge themselves to play a very special golf course: Kingarrock, the only remaining hickory golf course in the UK. Never heard of it or even know what hickory golf is? Well, that’s because the course is found in the front garden of Hill of Tarvit Mansion, which happens to be one of my favourite Trust properties.

And hickory … well, we’ll come to that. There’s an added attraction for golf fans. Our location – Cupar in Fife – means we’re only a few miles away from the hallowed St Andrews, the home of golf itself. We’ll rejoin our novice hickory golf players a little bit later to find out how indeed they did get on. But first, you heard him giving them the once-over there. Dave Allan is Kingarrock’s curator. Dave, welcome to the podcast.

[DA]
Thank you very much.

[JB]
Basic questions first. What is hickory golf and how different is it to the modern game?

[DA]
It’s almost a different game completely. Hickory golf is the golf that was played between the mid-1800s through to the 1930s. It was a version of golf. It was cheaply available at that time, and development then moved on to the steel-shafted clubs in the 40s and the 50s, to the modern clubs we’ve got now. So, it was what was available to people at the time and it was developed as it was at that time.

[JB]
I don’t want to pre-empt how our golfers are getting on, but I think they’re in for a surprise, are they not?

[DA]
They are. It is played differently; it’s almost a totally different game. The main thing you’ve got to do is swing slower. Modern golf clubs are flexible, very flexible indeed. These are not. These are natural wood. And because of that, there isn’t the same flexibility. Yes, there is flexibility because they’ve got oil to get looked after, but there isn’t the same flexibility that a modern club has. So, the main thing is you’ve got to swing slower than you would do.

[JB, outside]
Can I ask you guys where you’re from?

[G1]
We’re from Orlando, Florida.

[JB]
What brought you to Kingarrock?

[G2]
Just really interested in the history of the golf and playing with historic clubs.

[G1]
It was more to see how golf originated in, to see exactly where it came from; see how everything hits; just the diversity of where the game went.

[JB]
And you just had a presentation from Dave. Has that inspired you or terrified you?!

[G1]
I know that we’re going to lose a lot of balls and it’s going to be daunting going out there, but it’s going to be interesting just how everything works out – just what I’m used to and where we’re going to go from there.

[G2]
And losing a ball is in the rules. Dave said it, so we’re good with it!

[JB]
And the rules also say that you can use your lawful spouse – these are rules obviously written in the 1920s – to be a caddy. How do the spouses feel about that today?

[G3]
I’m ready to be a caddy and do my job diligently.

[G4]
I’ve been training; I'm ready for this moment!

[JB]
OK, well, it’s a Scottish summer. You are from Florida. It is blowing a gale out there and it’s not particularly warm, so may your God go with you.

[G1]
Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[G2]
I have something to blame my bad shots on, so it’s good!

[JB, in studio]
And as today we are going to be exploring not only Kingarrock’s history, but also Scotland’s unrivalled place in the history of the sport, I’m joined by golf historian Hannah Fleming, a curator at the R&A World Golf Museum at nearby St Andrews. Welcome to you, Hannah.

[HF]
Thank you very much, Jackie.

[JB]
Now, golfers, as we said, have been thrust back into history in a practical sense. As an overview, how does your museum tell the history of the sport?

[HF]
Our museum documents, through our collections, the development of golf from the very early period of golf history. We know that golf has certainly been played in Scotland for over 400 years, some would say 500 years; and it was a Scottish sport for so much of that history. Whilst we delve into the history through our collections that came to us from the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, our collections tell the story of world golf as well, and how it has moved on from that hickory sport to be a sport that’s played throughout the world. I think it’s celebrating what makes, as Dave said, hickory golf/Scottish golf, so important to our Scottish heritage and culture.

[JB]
So when are we talking about? When did people start playing it here?

[HF]
The first time we have a written reference to golf is in 1457, and it’s actually the Act of King James II who banned football and golf. Can you imagine not being able to play those two pastimes in Scotland?! But that’s the first time we have the word written down. He wanted his people to be practising their archery skills for the defence of the country. But we know that there were people playing in an even earlier period, particularly the landed gentry and the members of the royal family themselves, who would carry on to play throughout the various acts of the royal family who banned this game.

When we get to about the late 1500s/1552, St Andrews golfers have been given the land through a charter, to say you can play golf here in the town. So that’s when we start to see more and more golf being played, and throughout the 1600s working people also being given the opportunity to play golf.

[JB]
I know that Mary, Queen of Scots’ grandfather James IV had his own set of clubs, and there are lots of stories about Mary, Queen of Scots playing golf, but we don’t know if it’s apocrypha.

[HF]
Yes, I would love to show you – and I’m sure lots of National Trust properties would love to say this is where she played golf. If only she’d played here at Kingarrock, but she didn’t. There’s no actual evidence to say that Mary, Queen of Scots played golf. There have been various myths and stories that she had been accused of playing golf when her husband Lord Darnley was murdered. There has been modern research carried out by historians into this subject and other myths of golf history, but we can’t say for definite that she ever actually took to the course with a wooden club. She was very athletic and loved tennis, as we know, and other hunting and male-dominated activities, but sadly I have to burst that bubble.

[JB]
Well, maybe it’s still to be discovered. Let’s look on the bright side. Dave, we’re telling two stories today. We are talking in general terms about the history of golf itself. We’re also talking about this fabulous place. Tell me about the history of Kingarrock.

[DA]
Kingarrock only comes about simply because of the two people that stayed here at the time in the 1920s. It was a father and son who were members of the R&A: Frederick Sharp and Hugh Sharp. They were what you would call ‘new money’. A family from Dundee, moved into the estate to have a sporting estate, somewhere where they could relax and enjoy themselves and get the benefit of the funds that they had.

And it wasn’t good enough to be that close to St Andrews. They also wanted to have their own golf course out on the front lawn. They apparently designed it themselves, and as far as we’re aware, it was opened in 1924 – certainly after the First World War for definite. They kept it to friends, family, business associates, and strangely enough, they also opened it to the estate workers. The estate workers created their own golf club and it became Hill of Tarvit Golf Club and it played matches against Cupar, Cupar Postal, Auchtermuchty. Of course, it’s no longer there. It seemed to be quite successful.

[JB]
And although that sounds really egalitarian, as it was, I think Frederick Sharp, who was very, very wealthy but he was a self-made man from comparatively humble beginnings, he saw it as a vehicle for social advancement, didn’t he?

[DA]
Yes, he did. That’s the reason he probably bought the estate in the first place, because it was social advancement, because the Fife Hunt came through here. So, he was moving himself into the landed gentry and that was an area that he wanted to get into. The R&A helped in that direction as well.

So, he did want to move himself up in the world and he was trying all avenues to better himself and his family. He had come from not a poor background, but a background where the finances of the family had gone up and down throughout the years. And it was only once his grandfather left him the money in the 1860s that you could see there was significant advancement in their status because of the money.

Well, in these days it was £750,000 that was left to him, but before that the family had also gone bust in the jute industry. So, they had had their ups and downs. And there is a quote saying that he was once told that he wasn’t to forget that he came from the banks of the Tay and he could end up on the banks of the Tay. So …

[JB]
That’s something to remember. You don’t forget advice like that.

[DA]
That probably in a way drove him on to what he tried to achieve for the family. He didn’t want the family to go back to that.

[JB]
No. Hannah, when we’re talking about the 1920s, where was golf at that time?

[HF]
For me, in my mind, the 20s and 30s is when golf was at its peak of popularity. It’s fashionable to be seen at that point as being a golfer; we see it in popular culture. Again, our galleries reflect that. We have, from the Victorian period onwards, people using the railways to come to Scotland to play Scottish golf and to play in this ‘links land’, to play in Scotland. Really young fashionable people coming to be seen as golfers, what they wanted to be depicted as golfers.

We even have film stars being shot as golfers, Hollywood film stars coming to play in Scotland. Bob Hope, Bing Crosby came at a later point in history to play in St Andrews. And you see that in popular culture in films and in books and plays.

Even the clothing. The traditional view of a golfer wearing plus fours, a Fair Isle jumper, Argyll socks and brown leather shoes – that comes from that era, from the 20s and 30s. And we still see visitors to St Andrews wanting to adopt that look, to feel like they’re at home. I love that period in golf history because it’s also where women have more freedom to start becoming members of golf clubs, to become even professional golfers we have in the 30s.

[JB]
Absolutely, because I do want to talk in a bit more detail about women’s place within the sport. But before we do that, Dave, can I talk about the nuts and bolts of the course itself? Because it’s all very well having a very, very large front garden. How do you plan a golf course?

[DA]
It’s a good question. We don’t really know how they planned it because when you see the map of the golf course from 1924, it doesn’t take up the whole area it now takes up. It only took up about ¾ of it, and we feel what they did was basically cut a fairway into the meadow that would have been there in the early spring, to make the fairway. We don’t know if they actually maintained them over the winter; that’s something we don’t know. But he had a plan of the course that he set to and kept. The greens and the tees would be kept more stable throughout the year. We don’t know about the fairways; they were just cut straight into the rough.

But when it was redesigned to be reopened in the 2000s, it couldn’t be opened the way it was, just simply because it was such a difficulty, because it criss-crossed so badly. And with it being a private golf course, that didn’t matter …

[JB]
It didn’t matter if you hit your dad on the head with a ball!

[DA]
The rule was that if father and son were playing, no one else was allowed on the golf course. And there is a story that the son didn’t even bother teeing off from the first tee. He teed off from the lawn in front of the big house and hit it straight down to the big oak tree that’s on the first fairway. Whether that’s true or not, I don’t know, but that’s the way they looked after it and cared about it.

But when it was redesigned, it had to be changed because it did criss-cross quite badly, and they had this habit of putting the tees back in front of the greens. So, you’d end up playing over the tee to get to the green, which on a modern golf course would be totally useless. So, it got redesigned and some of the original holes were used, some of them were changed direction and new ones were brought in. The whole field that it was, the whole parkland area, was utilised to make it into a beautiful 9-hole golf course.

[JB]
And in terms of the kit they were using then, it must differ immeasurably from the highly technical materials that golfers are using today.

[DA]
Definitely. I’d love to know where the father and son’s actual golf sets are.

[JB]
Oh, we don’t know? They’re not here?

[DA]
No, they’re not here. There is a set in the big house which comes from Hugh Sharp’s uncle, but they’re steel-shafted. They were donated at a later date. The chances are, when tragically the two of them died in the 1930s, probably more so when the son died in 1937, that the mother and daughter got rid of the clubs, probably gave them to cousins or something like that, or even to the R&A. We don’t know. They’ve just disappeared. They would have been proper good matching sets of clubs.

[JB]
Perhaps that’s one for you, Hannah, to delve into the archives. You must have a terrific set of archives there.

[HF]
Yeah, we have thousands of objects in our collections, and I don’t actually know that we have them, if they donated them back to the R&A, but that’s something for me to … People are always amazed at the breadth of collections that we have in terms of the equipment. So, from the very earliest feathery golf balls – that was the original Scottish ball, a ball made with geese and chicken feathers – right up to our more modern equipment as well.

Certainly, in that period we have a lot of items. The equipment was becoming more readily available, so there were higher volumes being made by makers in this area of Scotland. In Fife alone, in St Andrews, there were dedicated makers sending out their equipment across the world. In the East Neuk, where I’m from, there were small makers, and right up to the Second World War they were producing in vast quantities. You see that development when you go around the galleries, starting with wooden clubs, feathery golf balls to our more modern equipment that the tour professionals and club golfers play with on an everyday basis.

[JB]
Did the advancements in manufacturing help expand the game of golf, or did the number of players drive the manufacturing base?

[HF]
That’s a good question. I think there was certainly a huge demand for equipment, and also as the 20th century moves on, we see a greater ability to produce in mass quantities and larger factories employing more people to do this.

[JB]
So, the costs would have been coming down.

[HF]
The costs started coming down in the 1850s onwards, with the ball changing to the gutta-percha ball. Is that the ball that you use here?

[DA]
No, not anymore. That’s probably the ball they used.

[JB]
What is that?

[DA]
It’s an old-fashioned golf ball which nowadays to produce is very expensive. We have to put replicas on the golf course nowadays because they’re too expensive. So no, we’re trying to do it with replicas and modern balls instead. It’s the only one thing we don’t replicate.

[HF]
The gutty ball was a kind of rubber that was heated, and you can mould it into different shapes. Gutta percha was used in different industries. But that was about the late 1840s, 1850s. And that started this revolution in the club design, and then also a huge boom in people having access. So, you didn’t have to go directly to a maker who lived in his house and buy his clubs or his golf balls. You could buy it at sport shops; you could buy it in department stores. Certainly by the 1920s, that’s where people would buy their clothing, at their outfitters; buying the equipment from these larger department stores. You even have players from the Edwardian period onwards really having almost brand deals with some manufacturers, putting their names to certain branded equipment.

[JB]
Even then! Before we actually stop for a break, Dave, what I have to make clear is, and obviously this could not be conveyed in the audio we heard earlier, the way that the young chap from Florida, his eyes lit up when you gave him his golf bag – an authentic golf bag from when?

[DA]
The bag? The bag was probably 1920s. The clubs, yeah, they’re around about the same period of time.

[JB]
I can’t wait to see how they get on. Anyway, let’s just take a quick break and when we come back, we will talk about that vital part of golf’s history that Hannah touched on earlier: the women’s game.

[FV]
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[JB]
Welcome back to the Love Scotland podcast, coming to you from our home of golf, the Kingarrock Hickory Golf Course in the garden of Hill of Tarvit Mansion in Fife. Hannah Fleming, when did women start getting into the swing of things?

[HF]
I have to say that women in Scotland have been playing that we know, documented, from really the 1800s, on a more formal basis, but there are earlier examples. 1758 I think is the date of two married women playing in Edinburgh. There’s an account in the Caledonian Mercury newspaper of two women playing golf in Edinburgh, but that was a one-off occasion.

[JB]
Was that acceptable behaviour?

[HF]
Well, the description is quite lightheartedly saying that they were dangerously exposing their ankles and things like that, with the costume that they were wearing, but their husbands were there. They were acting as their caddies. The first time that we see women formally playing is actually the fish wives of Musselburgh. They had access to play the course. They had the time. I’ve also learned recently that the Musselburgh fish wives had the money as well. They really controlled the money within their families and had the access to the course at Musselburgh to play.

There are minutes, I believe, at Musselburgh of the women competing in a New Year’s Day competition, and their prize was a creel and two Barcelona silk handkerchiefs. I would like to do more research about that. I think it’s a fascinating topic.

And then it was the women of St Andrews who were the first women to form a golf club for themselves, and it was what is now known as the St Andrews’ Ladies Putting Club. And they of course play their golf over the Himalayas putting ground in St Andrews, which is open to the public and great fun.

But the women, the ladies, mostly the daughters of the R&A members, wanted to have a course to play. The women were having an interest in playing golf and they were taking over the caddy space in St Andrews. And the R&A decided to instruct Tom Morris Senior to create a dedicated course for the ladies. Their history is fascinating and they’re a really important aspect of St Andrews golf, because the women of St Andrews inspired women across the country to form their own clubs and their own sections within male clubs as well.

[JB]
But Dave, the Sharp women – there was a sister, Hugh had a sister, and of course there was the mother – they didn’t play.

[DA]
They didn't play golf at all. No, the mother was old generation, if you like, and the daughter was more into … she was an outdoor lady, very much so, but she was heavily into her Girl Guides. She never approached the subject of golf as far as we know.

[JB]
As we are recording this in the clubhouse here, the wind – I don’t know if we are picking it up – is whistling around us. It’s early summer and that begs the question … ok, it’s a sort of two-part question. We talked about the ancient history of sports 400–500 years ago. Why did golf become predominant in terms of those ancient sports? Why aren’t there millions of people now spending the weekend practising their archery? Because we don’t really have the weather for it. Or do we? Come on, you two.

[DA]
Never rains on a golf course.

[JB]
Not the first time you’ve said that!

[HF]
I think there’s so many elements to it. I think it’s that natural feeling of being out on the course. And, as you must know, Dave, that feeling of being in nature, whether the rain is shooting down and just frighteningly windy, golfers will go out in all weathers. Even in St Andrews, there’s always been this feeling of ‘you just go out and play’. And people ask why St Andrews is the home of golf, and a lot of it is to do with the natural course and how it is laid out and how it’s configured in its natural form – and that is the draw for so many people. To experience it similarly here, it’s completely different conditions and an experience playing in this natural way.

[JB]
Hannah was talking about the importance of the environment. Now I know there’s another special element to Kingarrock in that it’s maintained authentically. What does that mean?

[DA]
It’s maintained … Owen will not put anything artificial … Our greenkeeper Owen Brown, he will not put anything artificial on the golf course whatsoever.

[JB]
And is that unusual?

[DA]
In the modern game, yes, for fertilisers and things like that. But he’s determined that everything is as it was. We use natural plants to suppress the rough; we use natural fertiliser; we use sheep if we can get them in the winter to take the rough down further. Anything that keeps it as authentic as it was is what he uses, and he is a fantastic greenkeeper. That course at the moment is playing better than it’s ever played in the time I’ve been here.

[JB]
Lovely. Well, our guests were based at St Andrews and are playing a lot of golf there. Hannah, people come from all over the world to visit St Andrews and you’ve spoken to many. Can you define the lure and what it means to them?

[HF]
I think about this quite a lot, and I speak to visitors every day who’ve travelled hundreds, some thousands, of miles to be in St Andrews, whether that’s just to experience the atmosphere or to actually play a course. I think for so many, it’s they’ve grown up watching it on the television. They have links to their families; a lot of North American visitors actually are descendants of Scottish people and want to trace their family history. A lot of that is tied in with how they feel about the place.

But as I say, I think the things that make St Andrews special is what has always been special. It’s a pilgrimage for people. It’s been a religious pilgrimage, with the cathedral and all of the history that’s there. But also a golfing pilgrimage. It’s always been known as the Metropolis of Golfing.

[JB]
Are there any reactions that particularly stick in your mind that you’ve experienced?

[HF]
I’ve worked at the museum this year for 19 years, and when I first started as a museum assistant, pretty much in my first week, I met a man when I was walking to work who was outside the R&A clubhouse, and he was completely lost in thought and there was nobody else there. It was a quiet morning and he just sort of said to himself, more than anything, ‘I can’t believe I’m here’. And I could see on his face how much it meant to him, and that interaction has never left me. I could tell by our visitors who had travelled and made that journey to be in St Andrews how much it meant to them.

[JB]
Well, it certainly meant a lot to the Sharp family who owned Hill of Tarvit House. And as you said, David, their story is not a happy one. Frederick died in the 1930s, not an old man. And Hugh, who was the mad-keen sportsman who had everything to live for, a war hero, died in a terrible train crash in the 1930s too. But it’s wonderful to know that their legacy lives on, and the fact that you’re able to meet and greet excited visitors today. What do they get when they come here? They get a little bit of tuition from you, they get a golf bag, they get their clubs, and they get sent out to do their worst.

[DA]
They get everything. They get the full experience.

[JB]
And how do they react?

[DA]
If they come off the golf course, saying ‘yeah, that was OK’, we want to know what was wrong, because that’s not a good enough response! They’ve got to come off there saying ‘that was fantastic, thoroughly enjoyed myself’ because that means we’re doing our job properly.

We want them to step back in time. It is living history. We want them to step back in time, play golf the way it was played. Our tee-off times are half an hour apart – we do that deliberately so that they can go out there and experience how the Sharps played the golf course. There’s no one pushing behind them. We want them to relax, enjoy themselves, get to know the clubs, get to know the course – stop and take photographs if they like. We don’t care, as long as they’re going out there and saying ‘that was fantastic’; that’s what we want to do.

When they come in, they don’t know what they’re coming to. They’ve read about it, they’ve seen leaflets on it, they’ve heard about it. We bring them in, we introduce ourselves, we relax them down, we get them sitting in the clubhouse for 10–15 minutes and just go through the history, how to play the course, how to play the clubs, escort them out onto the first tee, show them where they’re going.

[JB]
And hope they come back! As you said.

[DA]
I hope we don’t lose them on the way round. They can do … and then get them off. When they come off, bring them back here, relax them down again, let them enjoy the old traditional ginger beer and shortbread – and they can take as long as they like to leave.

[JB]
And this is a very special year for Kingarrock because it’s a hundred years old. We sincerely hope it has a great future ahead of it. Hannah, generally winding up now, the future of golf? You were saying it was at its peak in the 20s, or it certainly expanded in the 20s and 30s. We do hear – because it’s expensive to maintain a golf course – of some municipal courses closing these days. How is the future looking?

[HF]
I hope it’s bright. And that’s what our governing body, the R&A, is doing to ensure that golf is thriving 50 years from now. And there’s various ways into golf. As I touched on earlier, there’s the traditional view of playing golf, but there’s also lots of special additions, like here at Kingarrock. Whether that’s playing in the city, playing urban golf or going to Top Golf or playing putting or crazy golf, there’s lots of threads of the sport. I hope that the R&A and lots of other organisations across the world are ensuring that more people have access to play golf. That’s what Dave and I are both doing, is to celebrate that heritage, learn from it and share it with a wider audience so that hopefully it inspires people.

It certainly inspired me to want to go out and play. Today, it’s beautiful out the window there! I hope that that’s allowing more people to have access through various projects that are happening across Scotland.

[JB]
Well, good luck with those centenary celebrations, Dave. Thank you for hosting us today. And thank you, Hannah Fleming, from the R&A World Golf Museum in St Andrews – well worth a visit too. Thank you both.

[DA]
Thank you.

[HF]
Thank you.

[JB]
And remember our golfers who set out earlier? Well, here’s how they got on.

[G1, outside]
When you’re hitting the driver, you’re telling to go slow. So, I’m hooking everything now because I’m not used to … because I’m ahead. So, I’m hooking everything. And then you get in the rough at all and it’s gone. It’s gone! But there is a ball over on the 4th tee – there’s that fence line that goes there.

[G2]
Yeah, that didn’t go in.

[JB]
How was it?

[G2]
It was great. It was a really beautiful course. It played really well. It’s a hard one; that rough will get you, but it was a lot of fun.

[G1]
Probably the hardest course I’ve ever played in my life. The wind gets you every time. And the clubs, though, Dave wasn’t lying earlier! You got to take it slow because if you don’t, it doesn’t go anywhere.

[JB]
But well worth stepping back in time, a piece of golfing history.

[G1]
It was amazing. I think that’s the coolest part of the whole thing, is seeing all the old history of it. Dave did a great job of explaining the history of the house and the history of the course and everything. I think that’s the coolest part for me.

[JB]
Do you think you’ll do it again?

[G1]
Next time I’m in Scotland, of course.

[JB]
So, a renewed respect for the game when you get back to Florida.

[G1]
More respect than you’d ever get out of the game.

[JB]
And what about the caddies? How did you get on?

[G3]
Very windy, but very beautiful, well worth it.

[JB, in studio]
I think we can fairly say a good time was had by all! And that’s it from this edition of Love Scotland. You can visit Hill of Tarvit House and play at Kingarrock. Head to the National Trust for Scotland website for opening times and information on how to arrange your round. That’s it from this edition of Love Scotland. Until next time, goodbye.

And if you’d like to know more about the history of Hill of Tarvit Mansion, you can find out in a previous episode.

[CNP]
Well, they were absolutely grief-stricken. It is said that the ladies had a bonfire with a lot of family photographs, family outings, Hugh’s photographs – and a lot of paperwork was allegedly burnt in that bonfire because they were so grief-stricken; they just couldn’t bear to have it anymore.

[MV]
Love Scotland is brought to you by Think and Demus Productions on behalf of the National Trust for Scotland; presented by Jackie Bird. For show notes and more information, go to nts.org.uk and don’t forget to like, subscribe, review and share.