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Local Events
Riding of the Marches
A walk by the people of Newburgh which traditionally takes place every three years to mark the burgh boundary, and maintain continued access to the common lands and the right of way to the Tay granted to the town in the eighteenth century.
Newburgh Highland Games
The annual Newburgh Highland Games which incorporate the famous boat race traditionally take place in the third week in June.
Plum Fayre
This annual late summer event is organised by the Newburgh Orchard Group.
Oddfellows March
The Oddfellows meet on Hogmanay every year to march up the High Street in fancy dress to raise money for local good causes.
Local History
Newburgh is a Royal Burgh with a population of around 2000. The town climbs the hillside overlooking Mugdrum Island and the south shore of the Firth of Tay.
Newburgh’s traditional industries included fishing, making linen and floor-cloth, malting, and quarrying. The harbour was at one time busy with the transshipment of cargoes of Perth-bound vessels of over 200 tons. As with so many small Scottish towns, most of the traditional industries, with the exception of quarrying, have now gone. The closure of the town’s linoleum factory in 1980, with the loss of many jobs, was a particular blow to the local economy.
In recent years however strenuous efforts by the ever-resourceful people of Newburgh have resulted in a remarkable regeneration, and the town is now notable for the number of small community groups it supports. SteepleArts takes its place among a variety of successful ventures like Newburgh Orchard Group, the Thursday Club, the Waterfront Regeneration Group, Newburgh Action Group, the Local History Club, the Bowling, Sailing and Wildfowling Clubs, and the exotically named Oddfellows and Dicky Tickers Club.
For more details see our Community Groups page.
The ruins of Lindores Abbey, a Benedictine Abbey founded in 1178, lie close to Newburgh. The monks were noted agriculturists, and their orchards were famous. Many of the houses in Newburgh's High Street have orchards with trees descended from the original plantings, which have given Newburgh its distinctive long gardens.
Mugdrum Island divides the Firth into “North Deep” and “South Deep” channels. For many years cattle were ferried over to the island for summer grazing, but practice has now been discontinued. There are reed beds and occasional seal sightings.
Another of Newburgh’s famous landmarks is the figure of a bear carved into the hillside on land belonging to Parkhill Farm.
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