| Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th Edition | Public Domain via Project Gutenberg |
a municipal and police burgh, seaport and watering-place of Forfarshire, Scotland, on the Firth of Tay, 4 m. E. of Dundee by the North British railway. Pop. (1901) 10,484. The name is a corruption of Brugh or Burgh Tay, in allusion to the fortress standing on the rock that juts into the Firth. It is believed that a stronghold has occupied this site since Pictish times. The later castle, built in 1498, fell into the hands of the English in 1547 and was held by them for three years. Gradually growing more or less ruinous it was acquired by government in 1855, repaired, strengthened and converted into a Tay defence, mounting several heavy guns. Owing to its healthy and convenient situation, Broughty Ferry has become a favourite residence of Dundee merchants. Fishery and shipping are carried on to a limited extent. Before the erection of the Tay Bridge the town was the scene of much traffic, as the railway ferry from Tayport was then the customary access to Dundee from the south. Monifieth (pop. 2134), 2¼ m. north-east of Broughty Ferry, with a station on the North British railway, is noted for its golf links. About 2 m. north rises the conical hill of Laws (400 ft. high), on the top of which are the remains of a vitrified fort, 390 ft. long by 198 ft. in breadth.