West Newport - the Just Family

Much of West Newport was built and then owned by the Just family. The Just family had lived here since at least 1700. The first member of the family about whom we know anything was David Just (1714-1794). He owned land at Causewayhead and lived at Justfield (present day Chesterhill). His son, grandsons and great-grandsons were the builders and masons of West Newport.

In 1876 David’s son Thomas feued the lands of Broadhaugh and Wellgate Park.  Broadhaugh covered all the land on the north side of West Road from Shepherd’s Brae almost to Castle Brae, while Wellgate stretched from West Road to Kirk Road, and from Castle Brae to the start of Woodmuir Crescent. Thomas had six sons and four grandsons, most of whom would become masons: they would have no shortage of land on which to practice their skills!

Almost all the houses along both sides of this stretch of West Road were built by family members, and others too to the south. You will find the Just family name mentioned in many of our displays here. Many of these houses were owned by the family and rented out. This continued well into the 20th century. It’s interesting to note however that by 1950, despite the high number of males in the family, there appear to be no Justs left in Newport.

In between building houses, three of the sons, George, Thomas(2) and David, founded the Independent Church (later the Congregational) in Newport in 1799. In 1806 Thomas(2) became the pastor, and his son Thomas(3) would follow in his footsteps.

Our pictures show just a tiny fraction of the houses built in West Newport by the Just family.