Seamills Traditional Cache
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Alba15
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Size: 
(small)
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Newport-on-Tay is really a small town but the locals still like to think of it as a village. Most of the development of the village has taken place in the last 200 years although there have been ferries crossing the Tay here for centuries before that. In those early days Newport was made up of cottages around the shore and harbour areas with a population of around 100. Newport was on the main coaching route, linking the Tay and Forth ferries, for travellers to Edinburgh, then a day's journey away. Infamously, Newport's place in history is marked in John Wesley's diary as the village where no-one would offer him food or lodging on his long journey south......
In those days Newport was called Seamills after the meal mills which stood near the water. Gradually the name changed to New Dundee, then Newport-Dundee and finally Newport. In 1823 a new pier was constructed to Thomas Telford's design affording improved ferry services and giving a tremendous effect on the development of the village helping it expand rapidly.
The ferries did make a difference to the type of village Newport would become by the middle of the century. Newport became a real attraction as a convenient holiday resort for Dundee's businessmen and their families, and was fast becoming a dormitory suburb of Dundee. It was the arrival of the railways that encouraged Dundee business men to bring their families to Newport permanently enjoying lower rates, the purer air and sea bathing.
The village developed further with the arrival of the railways. As early as 1854 plans were mooted for bridges over not only the Tay but the Forth too - these were not thought possible. However, plans were drawn up in 1863 and work began at Wormit bay at 1871. In 1878 the new bridge was opened with a connecting rail link to Tayport via 2 stations at Newport benefiting the village greatly. One year later on the 28th December 1879 the Tay rail bridge collapsed, resulting in the loss of a train and all on board.. A replacement bridge was opened in 1887 giving a train service once more. Newport now had a good transport system provided by trains and ferries and this continued until the 1960s when a road bridge was built across the Tay. The new bridge was opened in 1966 and this meant the end of the ferries and the railways. The last ferry sailed on the 18th August 1966 and the last train ran on the 5th May 1969.
The village (and our cache location!) was immortalised in the one-and-only William Topaz McGonagall's poem:
Beautiful Newport on the Braes o' the Silvery Tay:
Bonnie Mary, the Maid o' the Tay,
Come! Let's go, and have a holiday
In Newport, on the braes o' the silvery Tay,
'Twill help to drive dull care away.
The scenery there is most enchanting to be seen,
Especially the fine mansions with their shrubbery green;
And the trees and ivy are beautiful to view
Growing in front of each stately home in the avenue.
There the little birds and beautiful butterflies
Are soaring heavenwards almost to the skies,
And the busy bees are to be seen on the wing,
As from flower to flower they hummingly sing,
As they gather honey all the day,
From flowery gardens of Newport on the braes o' the Tay.
And as we view the gardens our hearts will feel gay
After being pent up in the workshop all the day.
Then there's a beautiful spot near an old mill,
Suitable for an artist to paint of great skill,
And the trees are arched o'erhead, lovely to be seen,
Which screens ye from the sunshine's glittering sheen.
Therefore, holiday makers, I'd have ye resort
To Newport on the braes o' the Tay for sport,
And inhale the pure air with its sweet perfume,
Emanating from the flowery gardens of Newport and the yellow broom.
And when bright Sol sinks in the West
You'll return home at night quite refreshed,
And dream in your beds of your rambles during the day
Along the bonnie braes o' the silvery Tay.
The mill location was used to power a meal mill and Smiddy. The Smiddy closed in the 1940s and the water wheel removed in the 1950s. Today the location is fairly 'open' but an application for the building of 8/9 flats and carparking is listed on the fence. Write to the address on the form.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Onfr bs gerr, nobir jnyy.