Newport

   NEWPORT, a village, in the parish of Forgan, district of St. Andrew's, county of Fife, 10½ miles (N. N. E.) from Cupar; containing 260 inhabitants. This is a small but thriving village, situated on the southern bank of the river Tay, and is the principal ferry station for the opposite town of Dundee. The harbour is capacious, of ample depth of water, and in every respect well adapted to its use. The chief feature of the place is its fine pier, constructed under the superintendence of the late Thomas Telford; it is 350 feet in length and sixty feet in breadth, with a good carriageroad on each side, and is furnished with every requisite for facilitating the business of the ferry, which since the recent improvements has been rapidly increasing. The width of the frith, between Newport and Dundee, is about a mile and a half; and the passage, once dangerous and uncertain, is now performed with perfect safety and with the utmost regularity. In the year 1819 an act was obtained, constituting the justices of the peace and commissioners of supply in the two counties of Fife and Forfar, with other official persons, trustees for the erection of piers, and for otherwise improving and regulating the ferry. By that act, the trustees were authorized to construct piers at Dundee and at Newport; and the works for the purpose were completed at an expense of £40,000. The ferry, which is in the occupation of lessees, pays an annual rent of £2200 to the proprietors; part is appropriated to the payment of the interest of the sum borrowed, and the remainder to the liquidation of the principal. The lessees, who are bound to maintain the harbour in repair, recently introduced a steam-vessel of sixty-horse power, in addition to which a large sailing-packet, a pinnace, and a yawl are kept in readiness, with the requisite number of men, for the accommodation of the public when wanted; and the ferry, now one of the best and most frequented on this part of the coast, yields to the lessees an annual income of £5000. The village is rather straggling, and numbers of neat houses and cottages are interspersed over the beautifully-wooded banks of the Tay. The mansion of Tayfield is a pleasant residence in a romantic glen, surrounded by fine plantations. Upon the road to the hamlet and creek of Woodhead, on the west, is a small Independent chapel: and the members of the Free Church have also a place of worship. On the east, a new road has been opened to Ferry-Port-on-Craig.