Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
New book shares background to the word on the streets
FROM booze-smuggling barmaids to golfobsessed jute barons, a new book reveals the story behind every street name in Monifieth.
The book, What’s in a Name? A Street History of Monifieth, is illustrated with drawings by the late Colin Gibson and vintage photographs.
It tells the history behind the landmarks, factories, mansions, shops and churches that featured in the life of the town.
The book also reveals some of the characters who had lived in Monifieth, including a barmaid who hid smuggled booze in her bed; a girl who became a housemaid in Downing Street; three men who became golf professionals in the USA; a millionaire jute baron who founded a golf club in Ireland; two former residents who were elected as Labour MPs; and a thief deported to Australia for stealing a bed sheet.
It traces Monifieth’s history from Pictish times, through the industrial revolution, to its development as the golfing resort and suburban town of today.
It includes details about Grange House, Ashludie, the Laws fort, Monifieth Foundry, Milton Mill, the golf links, the font stone, and many other local features.
Written by Callum Webster (below), with Gillian Molloy and Craig Muir, it is a sequel to the book, What’s in a Name? A Street History of Broughty Ferry, published in 2014.
“Monifieth has a rich history tracing all the way back to the time of the Picts,” said Callum, 43.
“By the 1790s it was a village of 175 people mainly working as cottage weavers and crofters. Now it has a population of around 9,000. “The industrial revolution led to foundries and manufacturing opening in Monifieth bringing employment for local people and attracting new workers from other places.
“The coming of the railway in 1838 and the tramway in 1905 facilitated commuting in and out of Dundee.”
Callum was brought up in Broughty Ferry and educated at Grove Academy.
He studied Modern History at Dundee University and now lives in Belfast.
Callum explained: “I grew up in Broughty Ferry with grandparents living in Monifieth.
“I moved to Belfast in 1999 to start my first job and still live in Northern Ireland.
“I started tracing my family trees and local history as a hobby when I moved to Northern Ireland – in order to keep up my links with home.
“The Broughty Ferry book was the culmination of much of that research.
“I thought all this information would be better shared with local people rather than sitting in files in my spare room and on my laptop.
“It must have been interesting to people because it had to go to a second edition.
“Someone then suggested that I write a similar book on Monifieth, so information was drafted over the last three years and lockdown provided the much-needed time to complete it.
“I worked with Craig Muir, who is based in Broughty Ferry, and he did the design and layout of it and sorted the illustrations.
“I also worked with Gillian Molloy who lives in Monifieth and had done some research of her own on street names and gathered information from the old Monifieth Burgh Council minutes.
“Old photographs to illustrate the book were provided from the collections of Monifieth Local History Society, the George Washington Wilson Collection,