Newtyle is situated on the northern slopes of the Sidlaw Hills 5 miles east of Coupar Angus and 3 miles south of Meigle. It is a "planned village" (i.e., laid out in a grid plan) that was created as part of the development of the 1831 Dundee-Newtyle railway, the first railway in Scotland. The picture above shows the countryside around Newtyle. The map below shows how close Newtyle (black square) is to Meigle. The dotted blue line about 1 mile south of Meigle is the parish line.

There is very little information on the web on the early history of Newtyle. According to the Statistical Accounts, there were 230 people in the town in 1791 - most of whom were weavers. There were another 364 people in the parish outside of the village. This total population of 594 was down from 913 in 1755. However, thanks to the research of Mr. Henry Joiner, we have some information on the auld toon that predated the railway town of Newtyle. Joiner is probably describing Newtyle of the early 19th century.

The old village consisted of a large number of low-walled cottages with roofs tiled and straw thatched, flagstoned floors, and small windows, all arranged in no particular pattern of beautiful symmetry. The inhabitants were rural workers, handloom weavers and the usual quota of tradesmen. Quite a few of these weavers had small patches of land which they tilled with much labour and the sweat of their bows to eke out a precarious livelihood.

Above left is the Old Parish Church (1767-1867) with cemetery headstones in the foreground. Above right is the Kirkton Farm Cottar house - an example of an Auld Toon dwelling house built in the early 1800s. Houses in the village had a wooden rone for conducting rain water from the roof to be stored in a large barrel for laundry purposes. Drinking and cooking water was pumped from hand-made wells and probably had to be boiled for safety considerations.

The inhabitants of Auld Toon started to drift away in the second decade of the 19th century. Quite a few moved to neighbouring towns or Dundee where prospects were brighter for them. As the Dundee-Newtyle railway was being planned, the parishioners conceived of the idea of building a new town near the terminus. Between 1830 and 1835, the older portion of the present village was constructed. The Dundee and Newtyle Railway was 11.5 miles long. Stationary engines pulled the train up the three significant inclines on the route with cables. Freight cost 6 pence per ton per mile. Passengers rode for 3 pence per mile. Below left is the ticket office (1831-1870). Below right is the type of railway engine used on the line.

Sources

Various web sites, including

Gazetteer for Scotland (http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/scotgaz/towns/townhistory401.html)

Newtyle... Past and Present by Henry Joiner, 1962. (http://crabsody.topcities.com/newtyle/newtyle_online.htm)

Newtyle online (http://www.newtyle.net )

Statistical Accounts of Scotland (http://stat-acc-scot.edina.ac.uk/)