Craighead Cottage, 109 Tay Street

Craighead Cottage, down on the shore under the road bridge, is one of the oldest in Newport. Craighead was a fishing station on the River Tay and the cottage here would be rented by salmon fishermen. A map of 1802 shows Craighead  Cottage quite clearly. It is at the end of the shore road which ran from Newport Pier. As its name suggests this ‘road’ – more probably a path – hugged the shore much more closely than the present main road running through Newport. The map also shows another cottage close by, to the east of the existing one and at right angles to it.

This would be the path used by the salmon fishers at Craighead Cottage to transport their catch to the pier, and thence by ferry to be sold in Dundee. Later in the 19th century, the fish were sometimes packed in ice and taken on by the new steamboats to the markets of London and the south.

Like the other salmon cottages and bothies along the river, there would be net-drying and other facilities here.  It’s understood that in Craighead Cottage one of the rooms had a large hole in the floor. Filled with water this allowed salmon to be kept fresh until taken away for sale.

For a short spell around the 1860s the house and the area were unofficially known as Rickard’s Point. Joseph Rickard was a Dundee innkeeper who lived there at that time. Although a century and a half ago, there are still some local residents who remember that name being used.

From the early 1900s until the late 1940s Craighead Cottage was owned by the Leng family who lived at nearby Seymour. The cottage was occupied by Seymour gardeners throughout that period.