Editing Dalgety Bay

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2015}}
{{infobox UK place
| country                          = Scotland
| official_name                    = Dalgety Bay
| local_name                       = 
| gaelic_name                      = Bàgh Dhealgadaidh
| scots_name                       = Dalgety Bay
| population                       = {{Scottish locality population|name|POP=Dalgety Bay and Hillend}}
| population_ref                   = ({{Scottish settlement population citation|year}})<ref name="Population Estimates">{{Scottish settlement population citation}}</ref>
| os_grid_reference                = NT149841
| edinburgh_distance_mi            = 8.5
| london_distance_mi               = 339
| coordinates                      = {{coord|56.04295|-3.36755|display=inline,title}}
| unitary_scotland                 = [[Fife]]
| lieutenancy_scotland             = [[Fife]]
| constituency_westminster         = [[Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (UK Parliament constituency)|Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath]]
| constituency_scottish_parliament = [[Cowdenbeath (Scottish Parliament constituency)|Cowdenbeath]]
| post_town                        = Dunfermline
| postcode_district                = KY11
| postcode_area                    = KY
| dial_code                        = 01383
| london_distance                  = 
| edinburgh_distance               = 
| static_image_name                = Dalgety Bay.jpg
| static_image_caption             = View of Dalgety Bay from North Queensferry across Inverkeithing Bay
}}

'''Dalgety Bay''' ({{IPAc-en|d|æ|l|ˈ|ɡ|ɛ|t|i|_|ˈ|b|eɪ|audio=Dalgety Bay2.ogg}}) is a coastal town and parish in [[Fife]], [[Scotland]], on the north shore of the [[Firth of Forth]], 9 miles from [[Edinburgh]] city centre. It is part of the Greater Dunfermline Area and is connected to [[Inverkeithing]] to the West. The civil parish is the 8th largest in Fife, with a population of {{Scottish locality population|name|POP=Dalgety Bay and Hillend}} in {{Scottish settlement population citation|year}}.<ref name="Population Estimates" />

Dalgety bay was named after the original village of Dalgety, evident by the ruins of the 12th century [[St Bridget's Kirk]]. The root of the place-name Dalgety is the [[Scottish Gaelic]] word ''dealg'', 'thorn', and the full name originally meant 'the place of the thorn[-bushes]'.<ref>{{cite web |title=Dalgety |url=https://fife-placenames.glasgow.ac.uk/placename/?id=373 |website=Fife Place-name Data |access-date=23 May 2020}}</ref> The new town, of which building started in 1965, takes its name from the main bay it adjoins, but the town stretches over many bays and coves including Donibristle Bay and St David's Bay.

Dalgety Bay is a [[commuter town]] and around 30% of the towns' workers work in Edinburgh.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dalgety Bay {{!}} Understanding Scottish Places |url=https://www.usp.scot/Town?mainTownName=Dalgety+Bay |access-date=2024-04-11 |website=www.usp.scot}}</ref> While the architecture of the town reflects construction by volume housebuilders, the town is a regular winner of the Best Kept Small Town title.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dalgetybay.org.uk/page.asp?id=6|title=Welcome to Dalgety Bay & Hillend CC|access-date=28 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130814134605/http://dalgetybay.org.uk/page.asp?id=6|archive-date=14 August 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> Dalgety Bay contains 9 [http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/scotland/fife/dalgety+bay Listed Buildings] or structures by [[Historic Scotland]], and features on the [[Fife Coastal Path]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Limekilns to Burntisland |url=https://fifecoastandcountrysidetrust.co.uk/walks/fife-coastal-path/limekilns-to-burntisland/ |access-date=2024-09-22 |website=Fife Coast & Countryside Trust |language=en-US}}</ref>

== 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 [[Earl of Moray|Earls of Moray]] who built [[Donibristle|Donibristle House]] as their residence. In 1592 [[James Stewart, 2nd Earl of Moray]] was murdered on the seashore near Donibristle by his rival [[George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly|George Gordon, Earl of Huntly]], which is remembered in the popular ballad [[The Bonnie Earl O' Moray]]. 

Towards the end of the 18th century, the village was destroyed by order of the Earls of Moray.<ref name="Omand p176">Omand ''The Fife Book'' p.176.</ref> and the inhabitants dispersed. During the [[First World War]] [[Earl of Moray|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 town also sent 30 men into the First World War, with only eight returning unharmed. The Royal Naval Air Service improved and expanded the aerodrome during the [[Second World War]] as [[HMS Merlin|HMS ''Merlin'']], an [[naval air station|air station]], and constructed an extensive aircraft maintenance facility there.

Construction of the modern town of Dalgety Bay as Scotland's first "enterprise town" began around 1965 on the site of RNAS Donibristle <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.abct.org.uk/airfields/airfield-finder/donibristle/|title=Donibristle - Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust UK|website=www.abct.org.uk}}</ref> and much of the remaining ground of the Earls of Moray family seat, Donibristle House.<ref name="Omand p90">Omand ''The Fife Book'' p.90.</ref> The town stretches across several bays and coves of the northern coast of the Firth of Forth including Donibristle Bay and St David's Bay.

==Education==
There are two primary schools in Dalgety Bay: Dalgety Bay Primary School and Donibristle Primary School.<ref>{{cite web|title=Dalgety Bay: Facilities and Services|url=http://www.fifefire.gov.uk/yourtown/index.cfm?fuseaction=town.services&pageid=DDBC0615-AAE9-081A-3929B1D4B041180A&town=D2647D9C-B6A4-47D0-9CC9115104EA65A2|work=Fifedirect|publisher=Fife Council|access-date=12 September 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722174919/http://www.fifefire.gov.uk/yourtown/index.cfm?fuseaction=town.services&pageid=DDBC0615-AAE9-081A-3929B1D4B041180A&town=D2647D9C-B6A4-47D0-9CC9115104EA65A2|archive-date=22 July 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> Dalgety Bay sits within the catchment area for [[Inverkeithing High School]].

==Radioactive objects==
A series of radioactive objects have been found on the shoreline of Dalgety Bay since the 1990s. The objects come from an eroded landfill that contains debris from [[Second World War]] aircraft that originally had [[radium dials]]. One found in 2011 measured 10&nbsp;[[Becquerel|MBq]]. Since 1990, more than 2,500 radioactive hotspots have been found on the Dalgety Bay foreshore, one-third of them since September 2011. On 25 April 2012, the [[Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Defence]] and the [[Scottish Environment Protection Agency]] agreed a joint survey of the problem.<ref>MOD, News Article [http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/EstateAndEnvironment/ModAndSepaAgreeDalgetyBayPlan.htm MOD and SEPA agree Dalgety Bay plan An Estate and Environment], 2012-04-25</ref>  As of 2012, the MoD was conducting a 12-month investigation of the contamination to try to avoid Dalgety Bay "becoming the first place in the UK to be legally designated as radioactive contaminated land".<ref name="guardian">{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/may/02/radioactive-waste-contaminating-uk-sites |title=Nuclear waste 'may be blighting 1,000 UK sites' |author=Rob Edwards |date=2 May 2012  |work=The Guardian }}</ref> In 2013, SEPA found that the MoD was solely responsible for the contamination.<ref>{{cite news |title=BBC News - Dalgety Bay radiation: Sepa says MoD was responsible for contamination |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-23098001 |access-date=28 June 2013 |work=[[BBC Online]]}}</ref> In early 2014 the MoD made four proposals regarding how to deal with the contamination, ranging from erecting fences to keep the public out, to sealing it in with concrete.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-25834837|title=BBC News - Dalgety Bay radiation: MoD's proposals unveiled|work=[[BBC Online]]|access-date=23 January 2014}}</ref>

In September 2023, SEPA announced that the operation to remove the contamination had been successfully completed and that the relevant stretch of shoreline was now safe for public access for the first time since 2011. Some 6,500 radioactive particles, mostly of low activity, had been removed, with a purpose-built scanner being used to detect the particles. The project had previously been reported to cost £10.5 million.<ref>{{cite web |title=Dalgety Bay cleared for visitors after radioactive clean-up |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-66819219 |website=BBC News |access-date=15 September 2023 |date=15 September 2023}}</ref>

==Twin towns – sister cities==
*{{flagicon|Hungary}} [[Ócsa]], [[Hungary]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081120192012/http://www.fifedirect.org.uk/DalgetyBay Dalgety Bay on FifeDirect]
* [http://www.dalgetybay.org.uk/ Dalgety Bay and Hillend community website]
* [http://www.owenson.org.uk/db/dbnow/dbtour.htm A short tour of Dalgety Bay] - includes maps and aerial photographs
* [http://www.dbweather.co.uk/ Dalgety Bay Weather Station] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191019172903/http://www.dbweather.co.uk/ |date=19 October 2019 }}
* [https://fife-placenames.glasgow.ac.uk/placename/?id=373 Fife Place-name Data :: Dalgety]
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20081017180110/http://www.fleetairarmarchive.net/Aircraft/Airstations/FAAAirStationsHomepage.htm#UK Fleet Air Arm archive]}}
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15834582 Radioactive contamination]

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[[Category:Dalgety Bay| ]]
[[Category:Towns in Fife]]
[[Category:Parishes in Fife]]
[[Category:Populated coastal places in Scotland]]