Dalgety Heritage Trail

04/08/2026

Demise Of St David’s
Contributor – Heritage Trail Brian

Sorry for the quiet spell, school summer holidays and Trust work have kept me away from the research desk. Another couple of weeks and normal service will be resumed.

We’ve explored a lot of St David’s intriguing heritage on this page, and there’s still plenty more to come. I recently came across this 1936 photograph in the Edinburgh Evening News, showing Quality Street, more or less where Harbour Place now sits on the Binning Strip boundary wall, facing The Moorings. The accompanying article excerpt describes the visit:

“We followed a winding footpath, first through a busy stone quarry, then between hedges to the little coaling station at St David's. The day was perfectly still, not a ripple stirring the waters of its little harbour, and we were charmed by the quaintness and old-world atmosphere of the place.”

We already have images in the Digital Library showing the same row of cottages from the north, so it’s a great find to see them from a completely different perspective.

And while St David’s has long sat under the shadow of the Forth Rail Bridge, 1936 was also the year a new bridge crossed the river at Kincardine, a reminder of how connectivity to south-west Fife, and ultimately the landscape around the village was changing prior to WW II.

Looking at the picture, and the kind words in the article, it would be easy to imagine St David’s as a typical quaint village on the Forth. But that sunny day masks the reality of life here at the time with poor sanitation, limited services, and decades of no investment that made daily living here challenging.

Fourteen years later, on 25 March 1950, the Fife Free Press reported that Dunfermline District Council had accepted the recommendation of the County Medical Officer. After a year of petitioning by the last forty residents, the Council passed a Closing Order on all the houses, except the Customs House and the cottage adjoining the hotel (pub) to take effect once new homes could be found for the families. I suspect that Seafield House, which survived until the 2020s, must have been under separate ownership.

The order stated that the houses “are without light, water and sanitation and are more than a mile from the main road.” It was also noted that the village had been purchased by a firm of shipbreakers who were using the harbour.

These were truly bleak conditions, and to think the airfield was still operating, and Dalgety Bay would begin its development only fifteen years later. Suddenly I feel guilty moaning about potholes.

Picture Credit and Copyright:
Image © National World Publishing Ltd. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.
Newspaper Title: Edinburgh Evening News
Publication Date: Saturday 13 June 1936, Page No 5

01/07/2026

I’m sure most of us know that Inverkeithing High School is now being replaced by Caledonia High School in Rosyth. Sadly, the old school had to close during its final week because of last week’s storm, meaning teachers and pupils didn’t get the chance to say a proper cheerio to the building as planned.

The school marked its 50th anniversary in 2023, and countless thousands of young people from across our catchment have passed through its doors, creating memories that span generations.

Designed by architect Gavin Haverson McConnell, the building is listed for its distinctive and rather playful design being shaped like a tractor when viewed from above, even if that’s not immediately obvious from ground level.

We happened to be in the right place during last week’s storm and captured this photo of water pouring down the stairway leading to the school entrance. From the Digital Library, I’ve also included a contrasting image taken by George Hastie from Letham Hill back in 1990, long before the recent housing development reshaped the view.

We wish all pupils, teachers, and the wider staff team every success as they begin their next chapter at the new school.

19/06/2026

ON PARADE AT HMS MERLIN
Contributor – Eric Simpson

In this image we see parade time at HMS Merlin, the Navy’s avian title for the Royal Navy Air Station, Donibristle. The date, the 11th of July 1946, is on the back of the photograph, but not the precise location nor the occasion, but it is clear that senior officers, one a rear admiral, are inspecting naval and air force cadets with two planes in the background. To find out more, I looked through the back numbers of the Dunfermline Press. From the Press, I found that members of the Air Training Corps were in camp at Donibristle at that time. The naval cadets, I suppose, may have been in camp too. The admiral, I learned, was Rear Admiral (Air) GN Oliver who was paying an informal visit. The officer following him was most likely, the then station commander, Captain CAN Chadwick.

Lined up between the air force cadets and the large shed in the background are two planes, both biplanes. These I can identify as de Havilland Dominies. These were the military version of a very successful small airliner, the DH Dragon Rapide, usually abbreviated to Rapide. The twin-engined Rapide, which first flew in 1934, was a scaled down version of the four-engined DH Dragon and carried 6/8 passengers on short-haul flights on destinations like the Scottish islands and the Scilly Isles. The military version, the Dominie, was used by the RAF and the Navy for training and communication flights. Between the military and civilian versions no fewer than 728 were built. Some still survive and dozens of this lovely little aircraft are still flying. See the second image for a clear view of a Rapide photographed on a beach, but where I do not know.

At Donibristle the Dominies were flown by 782 Squadron which was formed as a Communications Squadron. When formed the squadron was largely composed of aircraft and crews from the Channel Islands who had been evacuated when the Germans occupied these islands. The Squadron served as the military version of an airline, carrying personnel and equipment between the different naval air stations in Scotland, England and Northern Ireland. When rationing was enforced welcome additions to the diet at Donibee were eggs brought back on flights to Orkney. One of the navy’s airfields in Orkney was RNAS Twatt (yes, no kidding!).

In the post-war years the Communications Squadron continued until in 1953 it was privatised. Renamed the Northern Communications Flight, the aircrew were civilians employed by Airwork Ltd. In 1994 I had a visit from Reg Leach, a former Airwork pilot, who gave me a lot of information on the workings of the flight. Reg spent five years at Donibee, from 1953 to 1958. He and his family lived in Old Chesters Cottage which he rented from Lord Doune. The Flight provided a daily passenger service to Northern Ireland, flying via Abbotsinch, now Glasgow Airport. Among other flights there was a twice-weekly service to Lossiemouth (then HMS Falmar) via Arbroath (then HMS Condor). This was then passed to the control tower so that the controllers could give the pilot the course he was to take. Ironically, one of the last flights undertaken by the Northern Communications unit was for Duncan Sandys, the very Defence Minister whose cuts resulted in the closure of the Aircraft Repair Yard in 1959 and thus ended the last vestiges of military flying at Donibristle. On landing at Abbotsinch, Duncan Sandys congratulated the pilot: ‘Magnificent job you are doing.’ Came the reply: ‘Yes, but we are being abolished in 13 days’ time under your Defence cuts.’

18/05/2026

Forty six years ago today (18 May 1980), just south of Moray Way South, the Barratt Homes helicopter came into view and settled onto the green space southwest of Donibristle Chapel, with the Forth Rail Bridge captured in the background of Eric Simpson’s photograph.

Weather records show it was a day of broken cloud and sunshine, with temperatures between a pleasant 12–14°C. But for the town, it was a day with a difference, the Barratt Homes helicopter, G-BUSA, had arrived on a promotional visit.

The aircraft, a white liveried Bell 206B Jet Ranger, manufactured by Bell Helicopter Textron in the late 1970s, approached Dalgety Bay from the west, most likely following the coastline from Inverkeithing before making its descent onto the open ground near the chapel.

As the photograph shows, it had carried the Alexander Brothers, who were in town to help launch Barratt’s latest development. They can be seen ducking beneath the rotors as they disembarked.

This was a fully publicised promotional event, typical of Barratt’s marketing style at the time, and it drew a sizeable crowd. Residents gathered in and around Etive Place, where a new show home was being opened, and they were entertained by the kilted Alexander Brothers, Tom and Jack, as part of the festivities.

Do you recognise anyone?

Contributor - Heritage Trail Brian
Picture Credits - Eric Simpson

28/04/2026

Stop and Go lights
Contributor – Heritage Trail Brian

During the Second World War, airfields up and down the country relied on simple but effective stop/go lights to control the movement of aircraft on the ground. At busy Fleet Air Arm stations like Donibristle (HMS Merlin), these lights were essential for keeping pilots, ground crews, and vehicles safe during periods of intense activity.

Donibristle handled thousands of aircraft for repair, overhaul, and training. With aircraft constantly taxiing between hangars, dispersal bays, and the runways, ground control needed a clear way to manage movement, especially at night or during blackout conditions when radio use was limited.

The solution was a set of manually operated signal lamps placed at key holding points.
• Red meant stop and hold position.
• Green meant clear to taxi.

These lights were hooded to prevent upward glare and were operated from small control huts or mobile caravans positioned beside the taxiways. Though simple, they played a crucial role in preventing collisions and ensuring that Donibristle’s wartime operations ran smoothly.

This surviving light was pictured on the Donibristle Airfield site in 1965 by Eric Simpson … The Heritage Treasures we had lying around back then!

16/04/2026

Another shout out for identification assistance please.
This time the Bryant Homes Showhouse taken in 1994 by Eric Simpson.

Does anyone have the sales brochure for scanning onto the library?

09/04/2026

A Dalgety Bay Challenge

Yes, I am still scanning and filing — at this point I’m fairly sure I’ve inhaled enough dust to qualify as a heritage artifact myself. But in the process, I’ve unearthed this intriguing image, which I think dates from February 1993. The trouble is… I don’t recognise the street. And with the price of fuel these days, I thought I’d spare myself a mystery tour and instead call upon the collective wisdom of Dalgety Bay.

It’s a Taylor Woodrow Homes showhouse called “The Solway”. Does the street look familiar to anyone? And does the February ’93 date feel about right, or am I wildly off and about to be gently mocked by the locals?

While I’m at it — does anyone have photos of other showhouses or brochures from back in the day? I’d love to scan them and add them to the Digital Library

09/04/2026

Sally Payne from our Heritage team has shared an update on the Spitfire 90 Tour. The cloud cover is expected to be lighter at 14:10 than it is at the moment.

08/04/2026

Message from Matt Jones CEO Spitfires.com

“We are really keen to include as many locations as possible on the Spitfire 90 trip. We know what this aircraft means to people and really appreciate the support. Some of the 9 flights (one each for the 90 years) are right at the limit of the Spitfire’s fuel capability. We had originally wanted to fly to the Forth Bridge but doing so meant entering Edinburgh’s air traffic control zone. Whilst the controllers were very welcoming of the idea entering the zone would have meant accepting any restrictions they might have ahead to allow passenger aircraft to proceed safely. With planned fuel so tight we decided, for safety reasons, not to accept that risk, instead proceeding straight to Leuchars. This proved to be the right decision from a fuel perspective as despite this direct routing we still landed at exactly minimum fuel. We are posting the best efforts route on our website and social media each night before the flight the next day to try to avoid these issues. Clearly this hasn’t worked on this occasion and to all those who wasted their time today we are very sorry indeed.”

So to continue…

“Having read the reviews and feedback today it has become even more obvious how important this aircraft is to people locally. We understand that it a rare opportunity to see a Spitfire in Scotland, and that the region has exceptional war time connections to the aircraft. We remain apologetic that due to operational safety reasons we were not able to fly past the Forth Bridge today.

However we would like to try to make amends! We have looked at the flight length for tomorrow’s Leg 3 of the Spitfire 90 commemoration and believe we could add a flypast of the Forth Bridge to the beginning of tomorrow’s flight instead.

There is some inclement weather tomorrow morning that means we have to delay the planned departure to 14:00 from Leuchars.This would mean flying past the bridge at 14:10. And tomorrow we’ll make every effort to come down to a reasonable height!

That said, poor weather could still stop us and and we will continue to update our Social Media platforms with news accordingly.

As a reminder the route planned for each day is posted on the opening page of our website, Spitfires.com the night before the flight.

I appreciate some people won’t be able to make it who were there today and we extend our apologies to them once more, but we hope that others will be able to come and that they will be pleased that their disappointment has been acknowledged and acted on"

Image is by Darren Harbar
Best wishes
Matt

MATT JONES

Chief Executive Officer

SPITFIRES.COM

Fly a Spitfire over the White Cliffs on the south coast of the England, UK. Spitfires.com, The Spitfire Academy, offer two seat Spitfire flights from only £3,250. Book online or call 01243531147.

28/03/2026