HISTORY OF NEWPORT AND THE PARISH OF FORGAN ; AND RAMBLES ROUND THE DISTRICT, by J. S. Neish, 1890
PART I. ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE PARISH
The beautiful village of Newport, situated ion the Fife shore of the Firth of Tay, may fitly be termed the southern suburb of the busy town of Dundee. The village is pleasantly situated on a series of gentle slopes and terraced ridges rising from the shores of the Firth, and, when viewed from the river or the opposite shore, presents a charming and picturesque appearance. From the beach the slopes are dotted with elegant villas and stately mansions, handsome churches and other public buildings, and terraces of tastefully built houses rising upwards to the crest of the hill, which is crowned by a fringe of green shady woods. The whole village has an air of wealth and refinement about it, and, from its situation and surroundings, it offers a quiet rural residence to the merchants and well-to-do middle classes of Dundee, where they can breathe the pure, fresh air, and enjoy the calm and peace of a rural or seaside retreat after the harassing cares of the day in the factory or counting-house.
The modern village is not yet fifty years old, and may be said to have scarcely a history of its own worthy of being recorded, as its origin and growth are so intimately connected with the progress and prosperity of Dundee. Of course, Newport is so closely associated with Dundee that it is impossible to disconnect the history of the one from the other ; yet, at the same time, the village forms a distinct community, and, being situated in another county, and separated from Dundee by an arm of the sea, it can, to a certain extent, claim an independent existence and a history of its own.
The parish of Forgan, in which Newport is situated, is little known except in ecclesiastical lore. Within its bounds no event of national importance can be said to have taken place - at least none has been recorded - though, from the existence of several cairns in certain parts of the parish, antiquarians have come to the conclusion that some of the fierce battles between the Danes and Scots must have been fought in this neighbourhood, The lines of a fortified hill are still seen in St. Fort woods, and a stone coffin was, a few years ago, discovered in a field on the neighbouring farm of Newton. On this farm there was a knoll, called the 'Castle Hill', but it has been nearly all cut away by the making of the railway. Some urns were dug up in the field where the villa of Westwood is now built, and under the hearthstone of an old cottage a human skull was found, but how long it had been buried there was simply a matter of conjecture. There is a great probability that these cairns or tumuli were the burying-places of the slain in some ancient battle, but, beyond the discovery of a few bones, the mounds have never been fully explored.
The principal estates in the parish are Naughton, St. Fort, Inverdovat, Wormit, and Newton. Anciently Naughton was owned by the family of Lascelles, or Lassels, whose lands at one time extended from the old castle of Balmerino to Kirkton of Forgan. The Lascelles were succeeded by a branch of the ancient family of Hay, descendants of the gallant peasant who, with his sons, turned the fortunes of the battle of Luncarty in favour of the Scots, and repulsed the Danes, their only weapons being the oxen yokes with which they had been ploughing their field. The Hays of Morton, in the eastern part of the parish, are descended from this ancient family. They still retain possession of their family inheritance, and over the door of their house is seen the family coat of arms, the oxen yokes conjoined with other heraldic emblems. One of the Hays of Naughton was a notorious persecutor in the Covenanting times. The Hays were succeeded by the family of Gillespie, who, in the beginning of the present century, removed from their old mansion house of Kirkton to their modern residence of Mountquhannie.
The estates on which Newport is built are Scotscraig, Tayfield (formerly Inverdovat), and St. Fort. By far the largest portion of the lands of Scotscraig are contained within the parish of Ferry-Port-on-Craig, now known by the modern name of Tayport. A portion of the lands of Scotscraig was once within the boundaries of Forgan, and included part of East Newport, but by far the largest portion of the village has been built on the estate of Tayfield. East Newport was at first called Maryton, while Newport proper was that part to the west of the pier, built chiefly on the estate of St. Fort, and presently known as West Newport.
Originally Scotscraig belonged to the Archbishops of St. Andrews. In the reign of Alexander II. it was feued to Sir Michael Scott of Balwearie, the father of the famous Michael Scott, the Wizard. From the Scotts it derived its present name, which seemed to have been given to distinguish it from other 'craigs', a name very common in the district and throughout Scotland generally. It passed from the Scotts into the possession of the Duries, an old Fifeshire family that figured prominently during the Reformation times. It was afterwards purchased by the Ramsays, the ancestors of the Earls of Dalhousie. In the seventeenth century it became the property of Archbishop Sharpe, and from his representatives it was purchased by Alexander Colville, a relative of the Lords Colville of Culross. Since then it has been owned by families of lesser note. Mr. Dalgleish was proprietor in the beginning of this century, and it was purchased from him by Mr. Dougal. Through marriage with Mr. Dougal's heiress it is now the property of Admiral Maitland-Dougal, a gentleman highly esteemed for his public spirit and large-hearted benevolence.
Tayfield was formerly part of the barony of Inverdovat, which was held by a branch of the Leightons of Usan, in Forfarshire, from whom sprung the famous Bishop Leighton of Dunblane. Inverdovat afterwards came into possession of John Lindsay, second son of Sir David Lindsay of Edzel, and ninth Earl of Crawford. This John Lindsay was the founder of the family of Lindsay of Balcarres. In the last century Inverdovat was owned by a Mr. John Lyon. The estate, or at least the largest part of it, was, about the close of the century, purchased by Mr. John Berry, descended from the Nairnes of St. Fort, who erected a fine mansion-house on the high ground overlooking the Tay. The mansion-house was named Tayfield, and the estate now bears the same name. Mr. Berry was born on 17th January, 1725, and died on 14th October, 1817 at the age of 92. He was succeeded by his son, Mr. William Berry, who was born in 1754, and died on 9th December, 1852, His son, Mr. John Berry, the third proprietor of Tayfield, was born on 7th November, 1824, died at Nice, 17th December, 1877, and was interred in Forgan Churchyard on 7th January, 1878. He left a widow and family, who still reside in the beautiful mansion of Tayfield, and are highly respected in the village and neighbourhood.
The Estate of St. Fort, the largest in the parish, has been made up of small properties successively added one to another under the present family of Stewart. There were formerly three St. Fords or Sanfords - St Ford Nairne, St, Ford Walker, and St. Ford Hay. Of these the first is the most noted, both in national and parochial records. The Nairnes figure prominently in the annals of Scottish History, and the title of Lord Nairne was conferred on a younger member of the family in the reign of Charles II. Lord Nairne ws a staunch Jacobite, and took part in the Rebellion of 1745, for which he was proscribed, and had his title and inheritance forfeited. In the reign of George IV. the title was restored. About the beginning of the last century St. Fort was sold, and passed from the Nairnes to a gentleman named Duncan. About the close of the century the estate came into the possession of Mr. Robert Stewart, and is still owned by his descendants, his daughter being the present owner. In the early part of the present century the old house was demolished, and a more modern and commodious mansion erected.
There is to be seen on the borders of the estate an old tomb, overgrown with flourishing 'gean' trees, said to be the burying-place of the Nairnes, the ancient possessors of St Fort. Over the entrance of this ancient sepulchre the following quaint lines are inscribed:-
'Stuip low, Poor Soule, and mourn for sinne,
Cry unto Christ to bring thee in,
That when the bodie is lodged heir
Thou may injoy His presence deir
Until the day of the gryte call,
When we must ryse to judgment all ;
Then all united we shall be
To praise the glorious Trinitie.'
There is a shield with pellets, and the initials 'A. N.' above the inscription. That the Nairnes were not all buried here is known from a record in 'Lamont's Diary', under 'date 1664, July 15. Samford Nairne, in Fyffe, depairted out of this life att his dwelling-house, and was interred the 17th of Jul. after, att his parish church, in the night season.'
The farm of Newton is the property of the Earl of Zetland, but nothing worthy of record is known concerning it. Wormit also is a small property owned by the Wedderburns of Birkhill. This part of the parish has been rendered famous in modern times by the Tay Bridge, of which we will have more to say in a future chapter.
A close connection has, from the earliest times in Scottish history, existed between Dundee and the parish of Forgan by means of the Ferries across the River Tay. Naturally, the direct access to Dundee from the south is by crossing the Tay, which, after its junction with the Earn, opens out into a broad navigable Firth, separating the county of Fife from the counties of Perth and Forfar. It is a beautiful expanse of water, bounded by the Fife hills on the south and the Sidlaws on the north, and has the appearance of a great lake when seen at full tide under the golden rays of the setting sun or the pale glimpses of the moon. The most important place on its shores is the ancient and bustling town of Dundee. In olden times the north side of the Firth was termed the 'Dundee Water', while the Fife side was known as the 'Dundee Waterside', which shows the importance of Dundee in former days.
Along the north side of Fife there was the passage between Ferry-Port-on-Craig and Broughty Castle, and, proceeding upwards, the old ferries of Newport, Woodhaven, and Balmerino, in connection With Dundee.
Balmerino, with its harbour and Ferry road, carried on a considerable traffic from the rural districts with the further side of the river, especially in the days of its abbots and their royal visitors. The Woodhaven and Newport passage to Dundee was early recognised as a 'public ferry' in the great line of communication between the southern and north-eastern parts of Scotland. This ferry, along with 'the highways and bridges', was placed by Act of the Scottish Parliament, of the year 1669, under the regulation of the Justices of the Peace of the respective counties, their powers being 'to visit the ferries in their shire, and appoint fit and sufficient boats and convenient landing places'. This old ferry was, in ancient times, often the scene of great bustle and excitement, the boats and horses there being at the call of some hasty traveller from Dundee, or grave ecclesiastic returning to St Andrews, or a merry monarch and his retinue from the Palace of Falkland on a hunting expedition to Monrummon Muir. There are records of some strange scandals about a Sir David Arnot and the Justices, in the year 1698, regarding a woman and a child who had come, no one knew from whence, to the Waterside, and were visited there by the said Sir David. The same year a man named Alexander Garvie, having come to reside without his wife, and being ordered by the Kirk Session of Forgan to bring her home from Angus, where he had left her, submissively states - taking excuse we may suppose, from the difficulties of the passage '- that he could not get his wife brought here till the day was longer'.
Rob Roy Macgregor, after his cruel raid in Fife, in 1715, retreating before the Royal army approaching from Perth, led off his whole Highland host by this route to Dundee.
There was an inn and hiring establishment at the ' Waterside' known, in the year 1699, as 'Alexander Cupar's House', where, to the scandal of all good people of the parish, it was alleged 'that manie go and drinks in the tyme of afternoon sermon'.
Though a ferry had existed from 'time immemorial' between Dundee and that part of the 'Waterside' now known as Newport, it was not till the beginning of the eighteenth century that it began to assume anything like the importance which was attached to its rival, Woodhaven. In the sixteenth century the old mills at Seamylnes were leased or purchased by the Magistrates of Dundee, as the town's mills at the 'Burn head' were unable to supply the town with meal. A pier was then built, about the place where the old harbour of Newport is situated, for the accommodation of the boats and small vessels that carried the corn and meal to and from the mills. The 'Sea Mills', as they were called, were built on the ground between the old and new piers, and extended from the present farm steading over the grounds now occupied by the north lodge and gateway of Tayfield. The Meal Mill was, about the beginning of this century, possessed by Mr. Russell, father of Oliver Russell, lately of Haystone, who used to act as his father's 'lade-man', carrying the corn into the mill. This place gave its name to an ancient Chapel of 'St Thomas of the Seamylnes,' which, in proprietorship at least, had a connection with the ferry, as appears from the record given in Mr. Campbell's 'History of the Abbey of Balmerino' - how 'the patronage of the Chapel of St. Thomas of Seamylnes, the ferry from Seamylnes to Dundee, and the Mill of Seamylnes', belonged in the year 1616 to Kinnaird of Kinnaird.
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