The Newport, Wormit & Forgan Archive

Welcome to The Newport, Wormit & Forgan Archive

This site brings together some of the historical information about Newport-on-Tay, Wormit and Forgan in Fife, Scotland, which exists largely on paper and makes it searchable.

It has a few descriptive articles about specific topics in its blog - Jottings; but for more look no further than Newport History Group's Website - packed with photos and information. The personal anecdotes and comments which make a local history come alive are catered for there and also on the Old Newport on Tay Facebook page. Ian Lindsay's @postcard13 Twitter feed has a marvellous collection of postcards, not only of Newport but also North Fife. However, this site is a collection of the raw data, the nuts and bolts of history, which can be used to piece together some of Newport, Wormit & Forgan's past.

It can also be used as a starting point to trace the history of the houses and shops: much of the information has been gathered together and can be seen by looking up a specific address, either old or new, or by using the properties map. This will lead to a page of information about every property standing in 1967 plus many that had been demolished by that time. On the entries in the Directories, Census and Valuation Rolls, following the link Location will also lead on to this page about the property concerned.

The blog, Jottings has articles, background information, introductions and comments on local history, leaving the main site for the records themselves.

Of the many sources available, to date we have:

• Directories: the Newport & Wormit section of the Dundee Directories, and the Newport, Wormit & Forgan sections of national directories (e.g. Slater, Macdonald). All known directories from 1825 - 1974.
• Census 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901. (The 1911 census is available but is copyright and cannot be included here.)
• a list of house names and old addresses together with links to their present-day locations; and a few notes on some individual properties
• a list of old street names with their present-day equivalents
• a list of present-day streets and addresses which links to information about the properties; also shown on a map
• Valuation Rolls, 1855 - 1967
• Registers of Voters, 1833 - 1900
• names on the War Memorials
• Forgan Kirkyard - an introductory page, the stones - inscriptions and photos; a plan; and a list of burials from 1899 onwards (198 entries)
• A library with links to published histories and descriptions of the parish; plus pages missing from the internet copy of Neish's History of Newport...; the constitution of the Comerton Home; several articles on the History of Newport; and more.
• Maps: including - parish boundary, burgh boundary, 19th century feuing areas, maps from Dundee Directories, properties map, and links to maps on other sites.
• Photo Galleries - three collections of photos of the Norwegain Air Force at Woodhaven 1942-45
• A list of local men who signed up as Special Constables, 1914 - 1920
• Notes on the Newport Town Council Minutes 1887 - 1962, with gaps
• Shareholders of the Wormit Electric Company, 1923 - 1929
• Sasines - notes and extracts from the land transaction records, 1782 - circa 1890

Some older material:

• the Hearth Tax list of 1692 - 1695
• the Old Parochial Registers of Baptisms, Forgan parish, 1695 - 1854
• the Old Parochial Registers of Marriages, Forgan parish, 1703 - 1855
• Mortcloth Payments, 1695 - 1835 (for records of deaths)
• Kirk Session Minutes (1695-1884) & Heritors' Records (1845-1921) - notes and extracts from them
• a link to an index of Births 1855 - 1874, & Marriages 1855 - 1875
• Ordnance Survey [Map] Name Books, 1854
• Early Land Taxation records, 1649 - 1820

You can begin to trace the history of your house, if it was built before 1967:

• if you know the name of a former head of the household, search the Directories or the Census.
• if you know its current address, search the present-day addresses
• if you know a house name or an old (pre-1964 address), search the house names and old addresses

Added in October 2020:

• Added: Valuation Roll: 1894-5, 1895-6
• Early Land Taxation records, 1649 - 1820

Added in November 2020:

• Added: links to Newport History Group's website
• Added: Valuation Rolls: 1897-98, 1915-6, 1969-70 (a few entries)
• Added: some older directories: 1842 Gentlemen's Seats, 1842-43 Dundee, 1845 Dundee, 1846-47 Dundee, 1850 Dundee, 1853 Noblemen, 1856-57 Dundee, 1857 Noblemen, 1858-59 Dundee, 1862 County ; but only 110 entries between them
• Added: Town Council Minutes: newspaper reports to cover missing volumes for 1887-88, 1898-99
• Solved: the location of Newport Golf Course

More is to follow.

You can search across all the databases and all the individual pages on the site, except for the blog (which has its own search facility), using the form below. It doesn't find dates or reference numbers, but will find almost anything else. Results are given as a number of 'finds', with a link to the actual entries.

To search across the whole site, except the blog, enter your search criteria in the boxes below.   (You can use * or ? wildcards)

Some hints for searching:

• 'Less is more' - enter single words or just a surname, to begin with. Commas, spaces, initials can all lead to failed searches.
• Names of institutions, premises, societies, etc. change over time. Don't just search for today's name, be more general.
• Searching for Macs? Mc, Mac, M' and M (space) may exist. To search for them all, use M* in the search box. (e.g. M*Intosh or M*Donald)

Search for:     Required field   (You can use * or ? wildcards; but no need to use quotes.)

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We hope you find the site informative.

The site was created in 2001 with a small selection of information. This major upgrade was launched on St. Andrew's Day 2012.

William McM. Owen & Rujirek Vanavisut