Dalgety Bay
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Dalgety Bay, a coastal town in Fife, Scotland, stands on the north shore of the Firth of Forth.
The site of the town once formed part of the estates of the Earl of Moray, part of whose mansion, Donibristle House, remains. The area consisted of the Earl's extensive ornamental gardens and of a number of small villages.
During World War I Morton Gray Stuart, 17th Earl of Moray donated a portion of his land to the Crown, which built a military airfield there. The Royal Air Force improved and expanded the aerodrome during World War II, and constructed an extensive aircraft maintenance facility there. Work done at this facility included repainting radium dials on bomber gauges, and during subsequent planning for the newtown in the area, investigators found that the radioactive material used in this process had contaminated the ground.
The current newtown of Dalgety Bay, built largely as a commuter town (anticipating the completion of the nearby Forth Road Bridge in 1964), dates from 1962. The town covers the land of the (by then disused) airstrip and much of the remaining ground of Donibristle House. Named after the neighbouring small bay in the Forth Estuary, Dalgety Bay ranked as the first "private enterprise new town" in Scotland. Although the deveolpers removed most of the airstrip, small sections of the runway remain (including the apron of an aircraft factory which forms the town's tennis court). Donibristle Industrial Estate (immediately to the north of the town) also stands on part of the former runway. Still expanding, Dalgety Bay functions largely as a dormitory community, occupied by commuters to Edinburgh and their families.
External links
- Dalgety Bay and Hillend community website (http://www.dalgetybay.org.uk/index.php3)
- A short tour of Dalgety Bay (http://www.owenson.org.uk/db/dbnow/dbtour.htm) - includes maps and aerial photographs