Click here for opening page    Welcome to WWW.MONIKIE.SCOT, from Scotland
Local InterestFamily History Items, FOR ALL!Newbigging Photos & 'Video'1000's of names of family history interest.Locally owned businessesLocal stories of days gone by, from W.D.C.Local Church Pages'Two-in-One' Church MagazineExtracts of historical interest from old books.Stirling AND Skirling surname interest & databaseContact the WebmasterMonikie War Memorial community hallThe Monikie Story - 'READ ALL ABOUT IT' - a book available from this website.A list of the pages on this site - pick some at random!Search THIS website, but read the advice first for best results.

Some views of the
Newbigging area in the
Monikie Parish of Angus, Scotland

Use ZOOM for a better view of Newbigging in Angus, Scotland

A view looking South-west, to Newbigging, with The Laws Farm on the hillside in the centre.
The River Tay can just be seen behind that, with Fife and St. Andrews in the far distance.
(Thanks to L.A.W., an Australian visitor, and descendant of a former resident of Laws Farm, for this photograph!)

Click here for a panoramic 'movie'
of Newbigging, from the south.

Look at an Aerial view of Newbigging

Please note that the placename of "NEWBIGGING" originally refers to a 'new bigging' or 'new cottar town' or hamlet.  There are many places called NEWBIGGING to be found in old parishes and it might be better to think of this one as NEWBIGGING OF MONIKIE.  A similar naming convention does, or should, apply to placenames of KIRKTON, etc. where each parish had such a placename.  In Monikie, there is a KIRKTON OF MONIKIE which did not retain its 'status' after 1870 when the new railway line and station became the focus of the parish, and the village which grew around it today represents the main populated area.  In Auchterhouse parish, for example, the main village is named Kirkton of Auchterhouse.  Unfortunately, in the parish of Kinnettles the local council have decided to simply erect an ambiguous road sign as Kirkton, rather than Kirkton of Kinnettles.

This page was originally created around November 1999 to allow a 93 year-old lady, then a widow, living in New Hampshire, in the United States of America, to see some 17 views (below) of the village where she spent her youth, before emigrating to the U.S.A.

As Miss Isabella Wilson, she was resident in Newbigging, in Angus.   She left the area when she was aged about 18 years.  Regrettably, she died in the Summer of 2001.

Alongside each photograph is a small note to bring some relevance to the set.

1.- Our visit starts with the view looking west along Drumsturdy Road, towards Kingennie, Baldovie Toll and the city Dundee.  On the near left are houses at Newbigging Toll on the crossroads of the road running north-south from Newbigging to Ardestie Toll and the town of Monifieth, and the road which was the old turnpike road from Dundee, running west east.

In the distance, on the right hand side of the road, is Omachie, and to the left are fields of The Laws Farm.

2.- Photographs 2, 3, 4, & 5 are a set of overlapping views taken from Newbigging Toll towards looking northwards to Newbigging village, showing the panorama of Angus countryside.

This view shows in the far horizon the hill on which the Panmure Testimonial is placed (you can read about that elsewhere on this site.)  The line of trees in silhouette on the horizon form the southern boundary of, what is nowadays, Monikie Country Park, but these were formerly a public reservoir serving the City of Dundee (see other webpage on this site).

3.- This view shows the complete Newbigging from east to west.  Over to the middle-right are Pitairlie and Denfind farms.

The "bright" building at middle left is the school extension with the windows shining in the midday sun.

Just to the left of centre in the middle of the village one can see the large, dark rectangle which is the roof of the church.

4.- This view is just slightly to the west of  view 3 above. This shows the placement of Cunmont Farm in the middle distance and the road from Newbigging Toll into the village.
5.- This final view in this panoramic set shows Cunmont Farm in the centre with Cunmont Quarry to the far left.
6.- Moving nearer the village one can see the "Welcome to Newbigging" notices with the 30 miles per hour speed restriction signs.

Just visible in the gap between the left sign and the large tree are the two windows of the cottage where Miss Wilson formerly lived until she was 18 years of age.

At the front, at the foot of the photograph is equipment connected with the water monitoring of the burn.

The poles visible on several of the photographs carry the public electricity supply or the telephone service.

 

7.- These are (one row of) Cunmont Cottages - there are others elsewhere in the area).  They were, and in some cases, still are, occupied by workers on the Cunmont Farm, seen in earlier views.

The house to the farthest left of the three was the one formerly occupied by Miss Wilson.

The rather bright recent addition to the right of the row of cottages no doubt provides extra living accommodation to that house, but the development cannot be said to be finished in a manner which is in keeping with the older houses in the row. 

8.- This is the cottage occupied by Miss Wilson, the lady who left Newbigging at the age of 20 years, and who died in June 2001.

Her mother is the adult on the right of the photograph, with the baby in her arms.

The date of this photograph is assumed to be around 1920.

Less youthful viewers might just make-out the 'gird', a child's toy, on the cottage wall, behind the 'bairn'.

'Miss' Wilson.

9.- This is the cottage with Mrs. Low, the former occupier, standing in her doorway.

The windows, of course, are replacements.  The extent of the enlargement from the original window size can be seen by the re-constituted "stone-working" texture around the new frames. The house is under new occupation.

Newbigging Church, Scotland.  10.- This is Newbigging Church, which, regrettably, is to cease on 25th November 2007 as a place of worship of members the Church of Scotland, and has now been sold (November).

The last remaining church in the "Parish of Monikie" will then be Monikie Parish Kirk, some two miles distant.

12.- This row of cottages is another original row of those running east to west.  This row is occupied and the little oval plaque on the gable wall facing says "Granny Sanderson's". No doubt this means more to Miss Wilson than to the writer.

The Sanderson surname is one of note in Newbigging, indeed a street of new houses nearby is named Sanderson Place.

13.- This old row of 2 cottages is no longer occupied, indeed a new house was built in the garden grounds a few years ago and can just be seen as a blip on the right edge of the photograph.

Note the small windows and the two-vertical halves style of door.  This row is on the other side of the road from the Cunmont Cottages of Miss Wilson.

14.- This is the second Newbigging Primary School, probably the one attended by Miss Wilson. (See also the note after photo #17).  Then, the  Headmaster's large schoolhouse was to the right, and the small school to the left.  The house is now used as a nursery.

Comparing the size of the buildings gives an indication of the standing of the head teacher, or 'Dominie', in a community at the time.

Today the old building is used as a school hall and lunch room.  At Election time local electors visit this building to register their vote.

The "new" building can just be seen in the background, to the extreme left.

15.- To the rear of the old school building is the playground, no doubt fondly remembered by Miss Wilson, assuming that she did attend her local school.  There is a stone on the gable of the school with "M.S.B." for Monikie School Board, who were responsible for building the school in the 1880's.

One of today's teachers makes her way from 'new' school, behind us, down the lane on the right to the main road.

"No children in the playground?" you say - it was a training day for teachers.

16.- The signs say it all.  This is the only shop in Newbigging and takes up the complete ground floor, formerly two premises.  I understand that Miss Wilson's father, a saddler, occupied the left-hand part of these ground floor shop premises in the early 1900s.

The little red box by the doorway is the posting box.

17.- These last two views again make an overlapping composite.

The view is that from the farm road to Cunmont Farm, standing just in front of the farm, looking south-east.

The large "slab" of a building is the school extension and the highest point to the centre left is the belfry of the church.

18.- This view is to the right, or east, of the previous one.

The 'civilisation' just visible in the centre of the horizon is the area know as Newbigging Toll, that being where our brief tour of the Village of  Newbigging started on frame one. 

The 'very' original schoolhouse (1820 vintage - see details and map in 'The Monikie Story') was situated on the opposite side of the main road, almost opposite Newbigging Church.


The webmaster hopes that you have enjoyed this brief "journey" to parts of Newbigging, situated in the former Monikie Parish.  You are invited to visit other parts of this website by following the Links below, or at the top of each page.

Best results are to be gained if you try the site search engine for personal and place names from the area - and far beyond.

If you would like to submit an article of public interest about Newbigging Village, or any place in the (former) Monikie Parish please contact the Webmaster.

"A COMPILATION"
Articles about Newbigging and Hillock Churches, over the years, together with supporting documents and other pieces.

Copies of this booklet are no longer now available in printed format, but can be made available as email attachments.  It also includes an article from an Australian contributor about his Newbigging ancestor.  The book was sold locally for at least £4.00 cash. If purchased along with 'The Monikie Story' (no longer in print, but on CD-ROM and email attachment) mailing charges would be be reasonable.  Please email the webmaster if you wish further information.  There is still no further information regarding the proposed closure of Newbigging Church.

 Larger photographs taken on Monday, 29th November, 1999

LOCAL INTEREST ¤ FAMILY HISTORY INTEREST ¤ NEWBIGGING INTEREST ¤ ARLENE'S LISTS ¤ LOCAL BUSINESS ¤ 'DOWN THE AGES'
CHURCH PAGES ¤ CHURCH MAGAZINE ¤ OLD BOOK EXTRACTS ¤ STIRLING SURNAME ¤ MONIKIE MEMORIAL HALL ¤ 'THE MONIKIE STORY'
WEB PAGES LIST ¤ SEARCH THIS WEBSITE ¤ HOMEPAGE ¤ CONTACT & EMAIL

Please press the BACK BUTTON for your previous page.

The design and content of this page and website is the copyright of the webmaster (unless otherwise stated, freely surrendered, or in the public domain) and, where appropriate, may not be reproduced in any form without the permission of the webmaster.
This page was updated - 09 December, 2014