Dalgety Bay - History

History

Dalgety Bay began as the village of Dalgety, which was built on the site of the 12th century St Bridget's Kirk. The land surrounding the town was part of the estate owned by the Earls of Moray who built Donibristle House as their residence. Towards the end of the 18th century, the village was removed by order of the Earls of Moray. During World War I Morton Gray Stuart, 17th Earl of Moray donated a portion of his land to the Crown, which built an airfield there in 1917 as a base for the Royal Naval Air Service. The Royal Naval Air Service improved and expanded the aerodrome during World War II as HMS Merlin, an aircraft repair yard, and constructed an extensive aircraft maintenance facility there.

Construction of the modern town of Dalgety Bay as Scotland's first "enterprise town" began around 1962 on the land of the airstrip and much of the remaining ground of the Earls of Moray family seat, Donibristle House. The town stretches across many bays and coves of the northern coast of the Firth of Forth including Donibristle Bay and St David's Bay.

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