Post Offices in Newport and Wormit

Site of Newport's First Post Office

Site of Newport’s First Post Office

Newport’s First Post Office

The first Post Office in Newport was on the site where Trinity Church now stands. In the early 1850s the post master there was John Shepherd, and in the Dundee Directory he was described as a Receiver and Letter Carrier.

Jonas Kidd's Grocery Store

Jonas Kidd’s Grocery Store

Jonas Kidd

Very briefly in the 1870s the role of post master was undertaken by Jonas Kidd.  He operated from the building on Boat Brae (now a house). He ran a grocery store there (see photograph) as well as a file-cutting business.  By 1880 the Post Office had moved to the building opposite the pier.

Post Office at Pierhead

Post Office at Pierhead

Post Office at the Pier

The Post Office remained in its pierhead location until after the ferry service ended in 1966. The building is easily recognised by the old stamp machines still in the wall. At the start of the twentieth century the post master was A M Anderson, better known as Postie Anderson.

Postie Anderson

He was a man of many talents. As well as sorting the letters, he was a watchmaker, jeweller and optician, as advertised on the notices outside his shop and seen in old photographs.

Newport Post Office Christmas Rush

Newport Post Office Christmas Rush

He was also a photographer of some repute, having taken many of the views of the village on the hundreds of different postcards which were produced before the First World War. These old postcards are an enormously valuable resource to us today, giving a wonderful view of the village at that time. Thank you Postie Anderson!

 

Relocation

After the closure of the ferry service in 1966, the Post Office moved to the High Street, and after that to Cupar Road. Since 2014 it has been housed within the Spar shop on the High Street.

Wormit Post Office

 

Wormit’s Post Office opened in 1895 in what was the new building at the junction of Mount Stewart Road and Naughton Road, in 2020 the location of the Spar shop. After World War II it would move to its site on Naughton Road, west of The View restaurant. The Post Office’s present location within the Spar shop has taken the Post Office back to its original premises.

Comments about this page

  • Another character building of OUR times to be lost. Many memories of going to the Post Office, Bains Shop, Frank Smith’s, Henry’s the butcher, the lovely cake shop, Seth’s shop, Carol’s shop, Young’s, the Dairy etc etc (and the smell of the Hardware shop)
    Sadly, like many other towns and cities, I’m afraid it’s changes, changes, changes and definitely not always for the best ☹️

    By Mrs Aileen Bishop (was Ouchterlonie) (09 June 2021)
  • In 1948 ish I delivered papers out towards Newton Park as it was then known. Miss Dundas was the proprietor of the post office/paper shop and Mount Stewart Road was known as ‘Postie Brae’. I was paid 3 shillings a week and one delivery on a Saturday was always rewarded with a penny tip carefully wrapped in paper. Miss Dundas wore fingerless gloves and laboriously wrote the name of each customer at the top of the paper.

    By Ken Hart (24 March 2021)

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