Broughty Ferry

Broughty Ferry (; Scottish Gaelic: ''Bruach Tatha''; Scots: ''Brochtie'') is a suburb of Dundee, Scotland. It is situated four miles east of the city centre on the north bank of the Firth of Tay. The area was a separate burgh from 1864 until 1913, when it was incorporated into Dundee. Historically it is within the County of Angus.

Formerly a prosperous fishing and whaling village, in the 19th century Broughty Ferry became a haven for wealthy jute barons, who built their luxury villas in the suburb. As a result, Broughty Ferry was referred to at the time as the "richest square mile in Europe".

It is administered as part of the Dundee City council area. At a national level, it is represented by both the UK Parliamentary constituency of Dundee East and the Scottish Parliamentary constituency of Dundee City East.

Several road and rail routes are located within the area; Broughty Ferry railway station is situated in the centre of the suburb, and the A930 road skirts its main retail area. Broughty Ferry is also linked by several bus routes to its neighbouring suburbs and to central Dundee.

Toponymy

The name Broughty may derive from ''Bruach Tatha'' meaning "Taybank" in Scottish Gaelic. A piece of folk etymology holds that the name derives from the Lowland Scots ''broch'', meaning some form of fortification, with the 'ty' being a shortening of the name of the River Tay, and Ferry being added later in recognition of the town's role as a ferry port. However, this is unlikely, as the word order would probably be "Tay Broch", rather than "Broch Tay".

The suffix "Ferry" was applied at the introduction of a regular ferry crossing in the 19th century, crossing to Fife, but the name endured beyond the closure of the ferry and did not revert to its previous form of simply "Broughty".

History

Evidence exists of a human settlement in pre-historic times, later developing into a prosperous fishing and whaling village, before becoming home to 19th-century jute barons who had their factories in Dundee. At this time it was known as the 'richest square mile in Europe'.

In 1495 Broughty Castle was built and remained in use as a major defensive structure until 1932, playing a role in the Anglo-Scottish Wars and the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. The castle stands on a shallow tip projecting into the Firth, alongside two beaches, one of sand, the other of pebbles

Additionally an English fort was located on what is now known as Forthill. Fortified around 1548 and demolished in 1550, no trace of this now survives due to the development of later buildings and gardens. However it was recorded in 1845 that less than 60 years earlier some of the walls still stood. The castle was bought by the government and restored during 1860–1861.

The area has two Category A listed churches, St Stephen's Church (the parish church of West Ferry) and St Luke's Church built in the 19th century. St Stephen's has exceptionally fine Victorian windows thought to be the best collection of Edward Burne-Jones stained glass in Scotland. Broughty Ferry railway station is also A-listed, and the buildings from 1838 are still in use, making it the oldest railway station in Scotland still in operation.

Prior to the construction of the first Tay Rail Bridge in 1878, a roll-on/roll-off railway ferry linked the Edinburgh to Aberdeen railway line between Tayport and Broughty Ferry, until the construction of the rail bridge made it redundant.

Broughty Ferry was incorporated into the City of Dundee in 1913.

On 2 December 1943, a pigeon from Broughty Ferry called Winkie was awarded the Dickin Medal for "delivering a message under exceptional difficulties and so contributing to the rescue of an Air Crew while serving with the RAF in February 1942".

On 8 December 1959 the town's lifeboat, the RNLB Mona, was lost with all hands, whilst attempting to rescue a foundering lightship.

Balgillo

Balgillo is a housing development in the Dundee suburb of Broughty Ferry. It is bounded by Balgillo Road to the south, the A92 Dundee to Arbroath dual carriageway to the north, Balgillo Road East to the west, and Panmurefield Village to the east.

Architecture

A small village existed from the 15th century. Some of the original one and two storey houses from the 18th century survive, close to the harbour. In the 19th century. At the beginning of the 19th century Charles Hunter drew up plans on a gridiron layout and the area was greatly expanded in size. This gridiron plan and its 19th century housing survives.

In the later 19th century Dundee built its fame on the three industries of " Jute, Jam & Journalism" - a phrase synonymous with all those who love Dundee. The economic drive from these industries - particularly the jute - was led by the jute barons. These captains of industry built their mansions and superior villas on the slopes at the 'West End' - above the city of Dundee - and on the raised slopes of Broughty Ferry: the suburb which found itself transformed from fishing village to fashionable "Brighton of the North". In particular streets such as Camphill Road which held huge mansions such as Carbet Castle.

In their book "Dundee: an illustrated architectural guide", McKean & Walker describe Broughty Ferry as "once one of the richest suburbs in Europe". "This mid to late-Victorian suburb remains private on its plateau high above the shore: few main roads, minor ones framed by stone walls and mature trees". Dundee architect, Charles Soutar, is reported to have lived at Harecraig House (built 1835) between 1928 and 1947, having designed it as a “ dowar house” (residence of a widow). Despite "one of the best views in the Ferry, right across the Tay into Fife”, nine bedrooms and B-listing it has come into disrepair. Declining numbers of residents requiring such palatial houses, mean most of these beautiful buildings have, over the years, been converted into hotels and care homes or divided into flats as happened to another of Soutar's designs: Aystree House (26 Victoria Rd, DD5 1BJ). The original owner, Colonel Smith, was clearly an influential director of the High School of Dundee as one of their four houses is named Aystree, after his house. It is said that "the Liberty of London wood panelling in the entrance hall looks as impressive today as it would have done when the Edwardian mansion was built" over a century ago in 1903; Soutar clearly had a loose budget on this project.

Education

There are three primary schools in Broughty Ferry.
Eastern Primary School,
Forthill Primary School and Barnhill Primary School.

Eastern Primary School's original, grand Victorian building on purpose-built site at the foot of Whinnie Brae was converted to flats in 2009. The primary school children are now taught within the old Grove building. Grove Academy (high school) was rebuilt; the new building opened in 2009 to accommodate its very large intake - the primary schools are feeder schools for Grove Academy; formerly, pupils who live in the Barnhill area had the option to attend the Angus school, Monifieth High School, although the option was later withdrawn, on 1 January 2009.

Facilities

Broughty Ferry continues to be a popular destination and benefits from a large degree of free parking by the beachfront. The sandy blue flag beach (FEE, Foundation for Environmental Education) maintains the bathing water quality (Scottish Environment Protection Agency

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