In 1882-4, Frances Groome's Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland described Newport on Tay like this:
Newport, a small seaport town in Forgan parish, Fife, on the Firth of Tay, 11 miles NNE of Cupar by road, and 1 ½ mile SSE of Dundee by water, with a station on the Tayport and Newport section of the North British railway, 2 ¾ miles W by S of Tayport, and 2 3/8 NE of the southern end of the new Tay Bridge. ...
Consisting of two parts, Easter and Wester Newport, it was constituted, in 1822, by act of parliament, the ferry-station from Fife to Dundee; and presents a pleasant, well-built appearance, with many elegant villas and other private residences, arranged in terraces on the slopes descending to the firth. It commands a brilliant view of Dundee and a great extent of the Tay's basin; and is a favourite summer resort of families from Dundee and other places, having at the same time become the permanent abode of not a few professional and business men. As a creek of Dundee, it carries on some commerce, in exporting agricultural produce, and importing lime and coal; and has a post office under Dundee, with money order, savings' bank, and telegraph departments, an hotel, a fine ferry harbour a gaswork, an Established church, a Free church, a U.P. church, a Congregational church, a public school, a Young Men's Christian Association, and the Blyth Memorial Public Hall, erected at a cost of £4000. Formed immediately subsequent to 1822, after designs by Telford, the ferry harbour is a splendid structure, 350 feet long and 60 wide. It projects into a depth of 5 feet at low water of spring tides; has on each side a carriage-way; possesses most convenient adaptations for the use of double or twin steamboats; and, from the time of its completion, has served for punctual communication with Dundee many times a day. The Established church was built as a chapel of ease in 1871 at a cost of £1350. It contains 450 sittings; and in 1878 was raised to quoad sacra status. The U.P. church, built in 1881 at a cost of over £2000, is a cruciform Gothic edifice, with 400 sittings and a spire 80 feet high. Pop. of q. s. parish (1881) 1775; of town (1841) 260, (1871) 1507, (1881) 2311, of whom 1439 were females. Houses (1881) 452 inhabited, 61 vacant, 7 building.—Ord. Sur., sh. 49, 1865.
Newport on Tay through time
Newport on Tay is now part of Fife district. Click here for graphs and data of how Fife has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Newport on Tay itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Newport on Tay in Fife | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/17409
Date accessed: 24th April 2024
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