Tayport
Encyclopedia
Tayport is located in Fife
, Scotland
.
Te oportet alte ferri (motto of the Burgh of Tayport) - "It is encumbent on you to carry yourself high." This actually a rather terrible pun on:"Tayport at auld Tay Ferry".
Tayport lies close to the north east tip of Fife. To the north it looks across the River Tay
to Broughty Ferry
and Broughty Castle
. To the east is the vast Tentsmuir Nature Reserve, an area of forested dunes measuring some 3 km from east to west and 6 km from north to south and edged by wide sands that continue all the way round to the mouth of the River Eden.
about 1180. The abbey constructed shelter and lodgings for pilgrims making the trip between St Andrews
and Arbroath
via the ferry and this formed the core of a settlement that steadily grew over the centuries.
At the time a chapel was built in the early 13th century, the settlement was called Partan Craig, Gaelic for "Crab Rock." Possibly more of an abbey than chapel. The site was excavated in the 30's or earlier.
Over the following two hundred years English usage eroded many Gaelic
place names in eastern Scotland and Partan Craig had become known as Portincragge by 1415 and as Port-in-Craige by the end of the 15th century. In 1598 the settlement received is burgh charter in the name of Ferry-Port on Craig.
Ferry-Port on Craig saw a dramatic increase in population at the end of the 18th century when tenants displaced by agricultural improvement and clearances, came to take advantage of jobs in the town's textile and shipbuilding industries. Leisure opportunities also increased. Golf
came early to Ferry-Port on Craig, with a course laid out in 1817, despite the efforts of a local farmer, who twice ploughed up the course.
A road to Newport-on-Tay
, three miles to the east, with its less weather-prone and better used ferry service to Dundee
meant that Ferry-Port on Craig was intermittently without a ferry during the first half of the 19th century. By the 1840s a steam ferry service had resumed between the community and Broughty Ferry. This was acquired, in 1851, by the Edinburgh
, Perth
and Dundee Railway which used the route for a railway ferry service from Edinburgh
to Aberdeen
. Instead of Ferry-Port on Craig, the railway company called the town 'Tayport' and the simpler name stuck.
The rail ferry ceased operation in 1878 with the opening of the Tay Rail Bridge
, only to resume operations the following year when the bridge collapsed. With the opening of the replacement bridge in 1887 Tayport returned to a passenger-only ferry, which continued to run to from the town to Broughty Ferry until 1920.
The opening of the Tay Road Bridge
in 1966 put Tayport within a few minutes' drive of the centre of Dundee, and it has since evolved into a pleasant dormitory town for that city. Some industry remains, but the harbour is now given over almost wholly to leisure craft, and attractive new housing has been built where once railway carriages were manoeuvered onto ferries.
Reminders of Tayport's earlier life and identity remain. In the centre of the town is Ferry-Port on Craig Church, established in 1607 and rebuilt in 1794 and again 1825, though Protestant worship now takes place in Tayport Parish Church, built in 1843 as Ferry-Port on Craig Free Church. There is also a Catholic church (part of the Diocese of Dunkeld
), appropriately named Our Lady, Star of the Sea
in the community.
Local tourist amenities include local shops, a caravan park, tennis club, an 18-hole golf course (Scotscraig Golf Club) and large areas of parkland, namely the East and West Common.
The Harbour Cafe is a community enterprise and has magnificant views of the harbour. Profits from the Cafe will be used to fund community projects in Tayport. It is open 7 days a week in summer (not Sunday in the winter season).
The Canniepairt, Tayport is the home to both Tayport F.C. and to the well-known Tayport car boot sales. These sales, which are held every second Sunday from April to September, are popular with locals and visitors alike.
Bottlenosed dolphins are regular visitors to the Tay Estuary from March to September, and can be observed at very close quarters from Tayport harbour. Tayport harbour is also a good place for fishing although swimming is dangerous due to currents.
The area of 3,700 acres (15 km²), was acquired by the Forestry Commission
in the 1920s and planted predominantly with Scots and Corsican pine. In addition to commercial forestry
, careful management has created an interesting mixture of open spaces, ponds, trees, and sand dunes that are rich in wildlife
including three species of roosting bat.
Several forest walks begin at the Kinshaldy car park and picnic site, and of special interest is the 19th-century ice house and pond built to keep locally-caught salmon fresh. The Kinshaldy beach area includes a former icehouse and World War II fortifications. Extensive views over sand dunes to the North Sea
and St. Andrews. The beach area, known as Tentsmuir Sands, was included in the Marine Conservation Society's Good Beach Guide 2003, which means that it is included in the list of Scotland's 32 cleanest beaches.
The area of Tentsmuir Point is included amongst the 73 National Nature Reserves in Scotland
, which are areas of land set aside where the main purpose of management is the conservation of habitats and species of national and international significance.
This large area of sand dunes and beach at the mouth of the Tay
Estuary forms an important roosting and feeding area for huge congregations of seaduck, waders and wildfowl, as well as a haul-out area for over 2,000 both common and grey seals
. The reserve's grassland and dunes are especially favoured by a wide variety of colourful butterflies.
In prehistoric times, the district around Tayport was inhabited by Neolithic
settlers, whose clay pottery and finely-wrought stone arrowheads have been found in considerable quantities on Tentsmuir, (once an area of heath and moorland, and now owned by the Forestry Commission
). These settlers had not learned how to use metals and did not practise agriculture, but lived by hunting and fishing. The sites of some of the early settlements have been located by large collections of shells and, although nothing remains of their homes (probably primitive turf huts) one of their boats, a hollowed-out tree trunk, was found in a sandbank near Newburgh
, further up the Tay, and is on display in Dundee Museum, which keeps a good collection of Neolithic
artefacts.
Tentsmuir has also been the site of dozens of exiting Bronze Age
finds; implements and ornaments made by the Celts who moved into the district, have been discovered near the remains of iron-smelting sites.
From Victorian times, through to the Second World War, the town had at least one football club. We know that Tayport had a Junior club pre-First World War, winning the East of Fife Cup in 1905, for example. The Great War in 1914 effectively signalled the demise of junior level football in the town for seventy five years.
Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, there were various amateur clubs, but success was fleeting and there are few records. After the Second World War the town's football club was called Tayport Violet. In 1947 a new club emerged when Tayport Amateurs was formed by locals who had been playing friendlies as a senior boy scouts team; this was the birth of the club we know today.
The Amateurs team joined the Midlands Amateurs’ Alliance League, which was essentially for clubs’ reserve XIs, whilst Violet played in the Midlands’ top division. In 1950, the Midlands Amateur Football Association reorganised and both teams found themselves in division two. They finished the season in 1st and 2nd spots respectively. After promotion, 1952-53 saw Violet and the Amateurs finish 2nd and 3rd in the first division; however, Violet was disbanded after this season.
At the invitation of Tayport Town Council, in 1975, the Amateurs moved to the Canniepairt. Clubrooms were constructed which, over the years (like the ground) were improved in order to provide the accommodation which both the club and wider community now enjoy.
In 1980, the club which, since 1953 had run an Alliance, or Reserve XI, started a third team – the Fife XI - which was to enjoy eleven successful seasons in the East Fife Amateur Association and for one season, in the Kingdom Caledonian League.
In 1990, the club's junior team was launched and the name of the club became ‘Tayport Football Club’, a name which could embrace both amateur and junior grades. The 2000-2001 season was the club's last in the Amateurs Leagues.
Tayport FC have enjoyed great success since 1990 including being OVD Scottish Junior Cup Winners in 1995/96 and 2004/05 (website www.tayportfc.org)
club in the world http://www.scotland.com/golf/courses/scotsgraig.
Towards the end of the Napoleonic Wars
(1799–1815) some of the members of the St Andrews Society of Golfers - later to become the Royal and Ancient Golf Club - began to play golf more regularly than the Society's infrequent meetings afforded.
Amongst them was Mr. William Dalgleish of Scotscraig, whose lands included an area known as the Garpit, around part of which ran a racecourse (although there is no record of any racing, the course is carefully marked out on early ordnance survey maps). In the centre of this area, golf was played over six holes, before the club was created in August 1817.
The original rules, adopted at the first annual meeting in Scotscraig House in October 1818, dictated that a uniform would be worn: a red coat with a green velvet collar and a badge on the left breast. This was not merely fashion but a requirement; those appearing without uniform did so under a penalty of two bottles of port!
An annual competition for gold and silver medals was held until 1834, when the club was closed, as disaster struck when the course was ploughed by the farmer who had come to own the land.
Around 1886 the Scotscraig Estate, on which the club had been situated, passed into the hands of Admiral Maitland Dougall who was keen on golf. In 1887 he instigated the club's revival, restored the trophies and helped secure a course; it was re-opened for play in 1888, and by 1890 had been laid out as a nine-hole course. The club house was erected in 1896.
In 1904 more land was acquired, and an 18-hole course was laid out, incorporating the original nine holes. It is considered a particular advantage that the ninth hole is hear the clubhouse, so that elderly players and those who cannot spare the time for the full round of 18 holes can play on either half.
The grounds were acquired by the club in 1923.
The machinery consisted of 140 looms of various breadths, with complete equipment for winding, preparing, dressing, and cropping operations.
Initially the school ran both a primary and secondary programme, although the infants were accommodated at the building which is now Ferryport Nursery on William Street.
In 1967, when junior secondary schools were closed, Tayport became a primary school and the older pupils were sent to Madras College
in St. Andrews or Bell Baxter High School in Cupar
.
On May 7, 1975, the school held an open evening to celebrate its centenary. An exhibition called ‘Grandfather's School Days’ was borrowed from the Albert Institute in Dundee, and many old photographs and mementos loaned by former pupils were put on display.
Fife
Fife is a council area and former county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
.
Te oportet alte ferri (motto of the Burgh of Tayport) - "It is encumbent on you to carry yourself high." This actually a rather terrible pun on:"Tayport at auld Tay Ferry".
Tayport lies close to the north east tip of Fife. To the north it looks across the River Tay
River Tay
The River Tay is the longest river in Scotland and the seventh-longest in the United Kingdom. The Tay originates in western Scotland on the slopes of Ben Lui , then flows easterly across the Highlands, through Loch Dochhart, Loch Lubhair and Loch Tay, then continues east through Strathtay , in...
to Broughty Ferry
Broughty Ferry
Broughty Ferry is a suburb on the eastern side of the City of Dundee, on the shore of the Firth of Tay in eastern Scotland...
and Broughty Castle
Broughty Castle
Broughty Castle is a historic castle in Broughty Ferry, Dundee, Scotland. It was completed around 1495, although the site was earlier fortified in 1454 when George Douglas, 4th Earl of Angus received permission to build on the site. His son Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Angus was coerced into...
. To the east is the vast Tentsmuir Nature Reserve, an area of forested dunes measuring some 3 km from east to west and 6 km from north to south and edged by wide sands that continue all the way round to the mouth of the River Eden.
History
A ferry service across the Tay was already well established when these lands were granted to the newly formed Arbroath AbbeyArbroath Abbey
Arbroath Abbey, in the Scottish town of Arbroath, was founded in 1178 by King William the Lion for a group of Tironensian Benedictine monks from Kelso Abbey. It was consecrated in 1197 with a dedication to the deceased Saint Thomas Becket, whom the king had met at the English court...
about 1180. The abbey constructed shelter and lodgings for pilgrims making the trip between St Andrews
St Andrews
St Andrews is a university town and former royal burgh on the east coast of Fife in Scotland. The town is named after Saint Andrew the Apostle.St Andrews has a population of 16,680, making this the fifth largest settlement in Fife....
and Arbroath
Arbroath
Arbroath or Aberbrothock is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the council area of Angus in Scotland, and has a population of 22,785...
via the ferry and this formed the core of a settlement that steadily grew over the centuries.
At the time a chapel was built in the early 13th century, the settlement was called Partan Craig, Gaelic for "Crab Rock." Possibly more of an abbey than chapel. The site was excavated in the 30's or earlier.
Over the following two hundred years English usage eroded many Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic language
Scottish Gaelic is a Celtic language native to Scotland. A member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages, Scottish Gaelic, like Modern Irish and Manx, developed out of Middle Irish, and thus descends ultimately from Primitive Irish....
place names in eastern Scotland and Partan Craig had become known as Portincragge by 1415 and as Port-in-Craige by the end of the 15th century. In 1598 the settlement received is burgh charter in the name of Ferry-Port on Craig.
Ferry-Port on Craig saw a dramatic increase in population at the end of the 18th century when tenants displaced by agricultural improvement and clearances, came to take advantage of jobs in the town's textile and shipbuilding industries. Leisure opportunities also increased. Golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
came early to Ferry-Port on Craig, with a course laid out in 1817, despite the efforts of a local farmer, who twice ploughed up the course.
A road to Newport-on-Tay
Newport-on-Tay
Newport-on-Tay is a small town in the north east of Fife in Scotland, acting as a commuter suburb for Dundee. The Fife Coastal Path passes through Newport.-History:...
, three miles to the east, with its less weather-prone and better used ferry service to Dundee
Dundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
meant that Ferry-Port on Craig was intermittently without a ferry during the first half of the 19th century. By the 1840s a steam ferry service had resumed between the community and Broughty Ferry. This was acquired, in 1851, by the Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, Perth
Perth, Scotland
Perth is a town and former city and royal burgh in central Scotland. Located on the banks of the River Tay, it is the administrative centre of Perth and Kinross council area and the historic county town of Perthshire...
and Dundee Railway which used the route for a railway ferry service from Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
to Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
. Instead of Ferry-Port on Craig, the railway company called the town 'Tayport' and the simpler name stuck.
The rail ferry ceased operation in 1878 with the opening of the Tay Rail Bridge
Tay Rail Bridge
The Tay Bridge is a railway bridge approximately two and a quarter miles long that spans the Firth of Tay in Scotland, between the city of Dundee and the suburb of Wormit in Fife ....
, only to resume operations the following year when the bridge collapsed. With the opening of the replacement bridge in 1887 Tayport returned to a passenger-only ferry, which continued to run to from the town to Broughty Ferry until 1920.
The opening of the Tay Road Bridge
Tay Road Bridge
The Tay Road Bridge is a bridge across the Firth of Tay from Newport-on-Tay in Fife to Dundee in Scotland. At around , it is one of the longest road bridges in Europe, and slopes gradually downward towards Dundee...
in 1966 put Tayport within a few minutes' drive of the centre of Dundee, and it has since evolved into a pleasant dormitory town for that city. Some industry remains, but the harbour is now given over almost wholly to leisure craft, and attractive new housing has been built where once railway carriages were manoeuvered onto ferries.
Reminders of Tayport's earlier life and identity remain. In the centre of the town is Ferry-Port on Craig Church, established in 1607 and rebuilt in 1794 and again 1825, though Protestant worship now takes place in Tayport Parish Church, built in 1843 as Ferry-Port on Craig Free Church. There is also a Catholic church (part of the Diocese of Dunkeld
Diocese of Dunkeld
The Diocese of Dunkeld was one of the 13 historical dioceses of Scotland preceding the abolition of Episcopacy in 1689.-History:It is thought that the diocese was constituted as far back as the middle of the ninth century. The first occupant was styled Bishop of Fortriu, the name by which the...
), appropriately named Our Lady, Star of the Sea
Our Lady, Star of the Sea
Our Lady, Star of the Sea is an ancient title for the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ. The words Star of the Sea are a translation of the Latin title Stella Maris, first reliably used with relation to the Virgin Mary in the ninth century...
in the community.
Local tourist amenities include local shops, a caravan park, tennis club, an 18-hole golf course (Scotscraig Golf Club) and large areas of parkland, namely the East and West Common.
The Harbour Cafe is a community enterprise and has magnificant views of the harbour. Profits from the Cafe will be used to fund community projects in Tayport. It is open 7 days a week in summer (not Sunday in the winter season).
The Canniepairt, Tayport is the home to both Tayport F.C. and to the well-known Tayport car boot sales. These sales, which are held every second Sunday from April to September, are popular with locals and visitors alike.
Bottlenosed dolphins are regular visitors to the Tay Estuary from March to September, and can be observed at very close quarters from Tayport harbour. Tayport harbour is also a good place for fishing although swimming is dangerous due to currents.
| Historical populations | |
|---|---|
| Census year | Population |
| 1755 | 621 |
| 1801 | 920 |
| 1851 | 2238 |
| 1901 | 3445 |
| 1951 | 3326 |
| 2005 | 7922 |
Tentsmuir Forest
Tentsmuir is a popular, extensive pine forest planted on the sand dunes at the mouth of the River Tay; there is a wide variety of plants, wildlife and architectural heritage.The area of 3,700 acres (15 km²), was acquired by the Forestry Commission
Forestry Commission
The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for forestry in Great Britain. Its mission is to protect and expand Britain's forests and woodlands and increase their value to society and the environment....
in the 1920s and planted predominantly with Scots and Corsican pine. In addition to commercial forestry
Forestry
Forestry is the interdisciplinary profession embracing the science, art, and craft of creating, managing, using, and conserving forests and associated resources in a sustainable manner to meet desired goals, needs, and values for human benefit. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands...
, careful management has created an interesting mixture of open spaces, ponds, trees, and sand dunes that are rich in wildlife
Wildlife
Wildlife includes all non-domesticated plants, animals and other organisms. Domesticating wild plant and animal species for human benefit has occurred many times all over the planet, and has a major impact on the environment, both positive and negative....
including three species of roosting bat.
Several forest walks begin at the Kinshaldy car park and picnic site, and of special interest is the 19th-century ice house and pond built to keep locally-caught salmon fresh. The Kinshaldy beach area includes a former icehouse and World War II fortifications. Extensive views over sand dunes to the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
and St. Andrews. The beach area, known as Tentsmuir Sands, was included in the Marine Conservation Society's Good Beach Guide 2003, which means that it is included in the list of Scotland's 32 cleanest beaches.
The area of Tentsmuir Point is included amongst the 73 National Nature Reserves in Scotland
National Nature Reserves in Scotland
National Nature Reserves in Scotland are established by Scottish Natural Heritage. Until 2004 there were 73 National Nature Reserves in Scotland, as per the list below...
, which are areas of land set aside where the main purpose of management is the conservation of habitats and species of national and international significance.
This large area of sand dunes and beach at the mouth of the Tay
River Tay
The River Tay is the longest river in Scotland and the seventh-longest in the United Kingdom. The Tay originates in western Scotland on the slopes of Ben Lui , then flows easterly across the Highlands, through Loch Dochhart, Loch Lubhair and Loch Tay, then continues east through Strathtay , in...
Estuary forms an important roosting and feeding area for huge congregations of seaduck, waders and wildfowl, as well as a haul-out area for over 2,000 both common and grey seals
Pinniped
Pinnipeds or fin-footed mammals are a widely distributed and diverse group of semiaquatic marine mammals comprising the families Odobenidae , Otariidae , and Phocidae .-Overview: Pinnipeds are typically sleek-bodied and barrel-shaped...
. The reserve's grassland and dunes are especially favoured by a wide variety of colourful butterflies.
In prehistoric times, the district around Tayport was inhabited by Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
settlers, whose clay pottery and finely-wrought stone arrowheads have been found in considerable quantities on Tentsmuir, (once an area of heath and moorland, and now owned by the Forestry Commission
Forestry Commission
The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for forestry in Great Britain. Its mission is to protect and expand Britain's forests and woodlands and increase their value to society and the environment....
). These settlers had not learned how to use metals and did not practise agriculture, but lived by hunting and fishing. The sites of some of the early settlements have been located by large collections of shells and, although nothing remains of their homes (probably primitive turf huts) one of their boats, a hollowed-out tree trunk, was found in a sandbank near Newburgh
Newburgh
-Places:Scotland*Newburgh, Fife, a former royal burgh*Newburgh, Aberdeenshire, a village*Newburgh, Borders, a village*Newburgh, Moray, a village*Newburgh, Orkney, a villageEngland*Newburgh, Lancashire, a village*Newburgh, North Yorkshire, a village...
, further up the Tay, and is on display in Dundee Museum, which keeps a good collection of Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
artefacts.
Tentsmuir has also been the site of dozens of exiting Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
finds; implements and ornaments made by the Celts who moved into the district, have been discovered near the remains of iron-smelting sites.
Tayport F.C.
For over a century the game of football has been a major influence in most communities in Scotland; Tayport is no exception.From Victorian times, through to the Second World War, the town had at least one football club. We know that Tayport had a Junior club pre-First World War, winning the East of Fife Cup in 1905, for example. The Great War in 1914 effectively signalled the demise of junior level football in the town for seventy five years.
Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, there were various amateur clubs, but success was fleeting and there are few records. After the Second World War the town's football club was called Tayport Violet. In 1947 a new club emerged when Tayport Amateurs was formed by locals who had been playing friendlies as a senior boy scouts team; this was the birth of the club we know today.
The Amateurs team joined the Midlands Amateurs’ Alliance League, which was essentially for clubs’ reserve XIs, whilst Violet played in the Midlands’ top division. In 1950, the Midlands Amateur Football Association reorganised and both teams found themselves in division two. They finished the season in 1st and 2nd spots respectively. After promotion, 1952-53 saw Violet and the Amateurs finish 2nd and 3rd in the first division; however, Violet was disbanded after this season.
At the invitation of Tayport Town Council, in 1975, the Amateurs moved to the Canniepairt. Clubrooms were constructed which, over the years (like the ground) were improved in order to provide the accommodation which both the club and wider community now enjoy.
In 1980, the club which, since 1953 had run an Alliance, or Reserve XI, started a third team – the Fife XI - which was to enjoy eleven successful seasons in the East Fife Amateur Association and for one season, in the Kingdom Caledonian League.
In 1990, the club's junior team was launched and the name of the club became ‘Tayport Football Club’, a name which could embrace both amateur and junior grades. The 2000-2001 season was the club's last in the Amateurs Leagues.
Tayport FC have enjoyed great success since 1990 including being OVD Scottish Junior Cup Winners in 1995/96 and 2004/05 (website www.tayportfc.org)
Scotscraig Golf Club
Scotscraig Golf Club is the 13th oldest golfGolf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
club in the world http://www.scotland.com/golf/courses/scotsgraig.
Towards the end of the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
(1799–1815) some of the members of the St Andrews Society of Golfers - later to become the Royal and Ancient Golf Club - began to play golf more regularly than the Society's infrequent meetings afforded.
Amongst them was Mr. William Dalgleish of Scotscraig, whose lands included an area known as the Garpit, around part of which ran a racecourse (although there is no record of any racing, the course is carefully marked out on early ordnance survey maps). In the centre of this area, golf was played over six holes, before the club was created in August 1817.
The original rules, adopted at the first annual meeting in Scotscraig House in October 1818, dictated that a uniform would be worn: a red coat with a green velvet collar and a badge on the left breast. This was not merely fashion but a requirement; those appearing without uniform did so under a penalty of two bottles of port!
An annual competition for gold and silver medals was held until 1834, when the club was closed, as disaster struck when the course was ploughed by the farmer who had come to own the land.
Around 1886 the Scotscraig Estate, on which the club had been situated, passed into the hands of Admiral Maitland Dougall who was keen on golf. In 1887 he instigated the club's revival, restored the trophies and helped secure a course; it was re-opened for play in 1888, and by 1890 had been laid out as a nine-hole course. The club house was erected in 1896.
In 1904 more land was acquired, and an 18-hole course was laid out, incorporating the original nine holes. It is considered a particular advantage that the ninth hole is hear the clubhouse, so that elderly players and those who cannot spare the time for the full round of 18 holes can play on either half.
The grounds were acquired by the club in 1923.
Scott & Fyfe
At the foot of Nelson Street there is a factory which was erected by Messrs Scott & Fyfe about the same time as the spinning mill (~1864). The cloth woven was chiefly of jute, but at one time linen goods were also made. This factory was extended many times and gave a considerable amount of work to the women of the town.The machinery consisted of 140 looms of various breadths, with complete equipment for winding, preparing, dressing, and cropping operations.
Tayport Primary School
In the early part of the 19th Century, there were four small schools in Tayport: two were for boys and two for girls. When the provisions of the Education Act 1870 were extended to Scotland, a school was built which could accommodate all the children of the community; the present building was opened in 1875, and was extended as the population increased.Initially the school ran both a primary and secondary programme, although the infants were accommodated at the building which is now Ferryport Nursery on William Street.
In 1967, when junior secondary schools were closed, Tayport became a primary school and the older pupils were sent to Madras College
Madras College
Madras College is a secondary school in St. Andrews, Fife in Scotland.-History:Madras College, founded in 1832, takes its name from the system of education devised by the school's founder, the Rev Dr Andrew Bell....
in St. Andrews or Bell Baxter High School in Cupar
Cupar
Cupar is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, Scotland. The town is situated between Dundee and the New Town of Glenrothes.According to a recent population estimate , Cupar had a population around 8,980 making the town the ninth largest settlement in Fife.-History:The town is believed to have...
.
On May 7, 1975, the school held an open evening to celebrate its centenary. An exhibition called ‘Grandfather's School Days’ was borrowed from the Albert Institute in Dundee, and many old photographs and mementos loaned by former pupils were put on display.