Scottish Review : Islay McLeod

Islay McLeod
Whatever happened to Newport?

As long ago as the 1700s, there was a regular ferry across the Tay from Dundee to what was then known as Woodhaven. In 1715, they built a new pier and renamed the village New Dundee

But the name didn't stick – as this milestone
makes clear

Newport-on-Tay became the place to live for the jute barons and other rich industrialists from across the water. They built solid Victorian villas here. With the opening of the Tay road bridge in 1966, the village was suddenly only a few
minutes from the city centre

It should have ensured a prosperous future for Newport as a smart suburb of Dundee, attracting restaurants and boutiques. Instead the village went into decline. The hotel is to be
re-developed as apartments

This sign on the hotel wall is one of the few reminders of Newport's busier and livelier past

The beautiful buildings down by what was once the ferry terminus lie empty and abandoned. Why?

There seems to be no market, even for houses

The natural environment could scarcely be prettier

And yet Newport-on-Tay, ripe for sensitive revival, presents a typically Scottish picture of small town neglect

All photographs Copyright Institute of Contemporary Scotland, 2010

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