Publication Account
Date 1987
Event ID 1016884
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016884
Broughty Castle dates back to the 15th century but by the mid 19th century it comprised a ruined shell. The site had obvious strategic importance and it was purchased by the Government in 1855 to protect the Firth of Tay from Russian warships. The Crimean War ended without any further action on the Government's part. The site stood derelict until the next war scare in 1860-61, when it was decided to reconstruct the castle as a small self-defensible coastal battery. The work was carried out by a young Royal Engineer, Robert Rowand Anderson, who was later knighted and received the RIBA Gold Medal for Architecture.
The project was ill-conceived in that the limitations imposed by this exposed and restricted site were not fully appreciated or considered, especially in the light of the recent introduction of built-up rifled guns. The brief called for a battery to control the entrance to the Firth of Tay and to be self-defensible from a possible surprise land attack. The Tay is only 335 m wide at this point and any problems in the siting of the guns were created partly by the shape of the site and partly by Anderson's decision to utilise the ruined tower house and enclosing wall.
The tower was increased in size by the sensitive addition of another wing and was used as the barracks, apart from the vaulted ground floor which became the only magazine. Two 68-pound guns were placed behind the west curtain to engage ships in the river. Two 10-inch guns covered the channel and three more faced the approach from the open sea. Between the two groups of 10-inch guns was a third 68-pound gun which could cover the sea approach or the channel. A fourth 68-pound gun was positioned at the landward end of the battery to cover the sea approach and the beaches to the east. A guardhouse was constructed to the east of the tower, controlling the drawbridge entrance. An enclosure was constructed at the southwest of the west curtain to cover the harbour area in case of land attack. This is considered to be the site of the hospital.
The tower-house and guardhouse were treated as an essay in historical architecture and contrast with the stark simplicity of the rest of the works which are unadorned military engineering.
Twenty-five years after the building of this fort, it was decided to make provision for laying a minefield in the Tay. An addition was made to the north-east of the fort to accommodate the Tay Division Submarine Miners RE (Volunteers) raised 17th March 1888. That same year Captain J G Grant lectured on 'The Defence of the Tay' describing Broughty Castle as:
'badly built, badly designed, and utterly useless
for the purpose for which it was
constructed . . . A fort such as this could never
defend our river, for its total demolition would
only afford an enemy an hour's pleasant and
agreeable recreation, unharassed by any
thoughts of possible danger to themselves.'
This brought about a number of compromise alterations. More alterations were made during both World Wars. In 1935 it passed into the care of the Office of Works.
Broughty Castle was opened as a museum in 1969. This is a branch of Dundee Museum and has galleries depicting: the history and development of Broughty Ferry; the local fishing community; and the Dundee whaling museum.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Fife and Tayside’, (1987).
