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.
The village has two Category A listed buildings, St Stephen’s Church (the parish church of the 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.
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.
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 Lifeboat Mona, was lost with all hands attempting to rescue a foundering lightship.
Read more about this topic: Barnhill Primary School
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—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)
“Jesus Christ belonged to the true race of the prophets. He saw with an open eye the mystery of the soul. Drawn by its severe harmony, ravished with its beauty, he lived in it, and had his being there. Alone in all history he estimated the greatness of man.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“What is most interesting and valuable in it, however, is not the materials for the history of Pontiac, or Braddock, or the Northwest, which it furnishes; not the annals of the country, but the natural facts, or perennials, which are ever without date. When out of history the truth shall be extracted, it will have shed its dates like withered leaves.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)