Spectacular land

“Mr Wills from Fife recently asked why the forebank of Balgay in Dundee was called Wills Braes and Wills Fues,” writes Keith Walker of Dundee.

“By the 1770s the Wills family rented the lands and the farm of Lower Balgay. The lands of Balgay would not be sold until 1850. It was also called Butterwell, after a farmer called Butter. The well was in great demand and it still flows into the Botanic Garden today.

“The Wills family farmed the land until about 1850. The fields were used for sheep and cattle and the fues stretched from the salmon fishing shore at Ninewells in the west end to the cliffs of the Harris Academy site in the east.

“The spectacular land of Balgay was one of the best sites in the country and it was never going to be sold for factories and cheap housing as had happened in other areas of Dundee.

“Years ago I found a private map commissioned by Hunter of Blackness in 1778 when he asked map maker Crawford to draw up a simple map as he had started to sell some of his best sites for farming and housing. This old map shows a Mr Wills (tailor) buying a few acres of Blackness land which was east of Quarry Hill Park (later Binrock) and the bonnie banks and braes of the Binns of Blackness.

“Mr Peter Wills and his wife Mary Wise buy the land which would later become Fort Street, Windsor Street and Minto Place and in the the 1770s it was also called Wills Fues (of Blackness).

“I’ve drawn in the farm cottages of Butterwell on the turnpike road to Invergowrie, next to the site of the Invercarse (see picture above). The aerial photograph is from the DC Thomson archives of 1954 which shows a tram in front of Dunmore House.

“Sometimes, when I had a penny I would get on a tram at the Sinderins, run to the front of the top deck and hold on as the tram rattled and lurched as it headed for Ninewells at full speed!”

Farm cottages of Butterwell on a drawing by Keith Walker. See more detail on left.

“I was interested to see the heron photograph in the column last week,” says Alex Imrie. “I thought you might like the one I took down at the Brothock Burn. I was lucky to just catch the bird as it caught a trout.”