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WELCOME to the St Fort Website
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The name St Fort, according to Millers " A History of Fife" was derived from the word or place Sandfurd. We now believe that an early "British Fort" located here on a sandy hill or Sand Fort was plausable origine of the current name. The site of these large earthworks is now a scheduled ancient monument.
Location
St Fort can be found adjacent to the A 92 (previously A 914) between Forgan Roundabout and Five Roads Roundabout. 2 miles to the south of the Tay Road Bridge. St Fort lies in the Parishes of Forgan and Motray.
HISTORY
St Fort was formally part of a larger Estate owned by by the Nairnes and then by Alexander Duncan, who erected the famous Doocot, enscribed AD 1733. In 1791 my ancestor Robert Stewart ( of Urrard & Arbigland) aquired the lands which have been in this families ownership continuously. All generations have contributed to and created the rich landscape by imaginative tree planting and sound agricultural practices. These activities may well have led to this corner of North East Fife being designated an AOLV area of outstanding landscape value, by Fife Council.
GEOLOGY
Much of the land lies in what is now referred to as the Wormit (or Motray) gap, an area associated with the retreat of the last ice age, where Esca,s were formed and deposits of sand and gravel laid down. In 1976 a Mammoths tooth was unearthed in the glacial debris during sand and gravel extraction. It is attributed to the Pleistocene Age and can be seen in the McManus Gallery & Museum in Dundee.
Several bronze Age sites and crop marks have been found and scheduled by Historic Scotland.
From 1791 to 1830 most of the land was drained and enclosed and the first planations established.
A note in the" Leeds Intelligencer" dated 16th September 1755, recounts a tomb being opened on a Sandy Hill at St Fort and unearthing the remains of a bearded Warrier.
St Fort House
In 1791 Robert Stewart took up residence in what was probably a tradional Scottish Lairds House. Only one ground floor plan exists of this building, however his grandson, Henry Stewart, commissioned the noted Scottish architect William Burn to design a substantial house on the same site. Reproductions of this house can be found in several publications and records of the original archtectural plans by William Burn are held in the St Andrews University archives. The house stood until its roof was removed ( to save taxes) in about 1952, having served as the Officers Mess for RAF Leuchars during the second world war, and later for brief period it became a Hotel . The currrent site of the house is now an equestrian water splash for carriage driving competitions.
Harvesting wheat, overlooking the river Tay. September 2006
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