The great-great-grandson of a Tayside town’s founding father has given his backing to a new heritage group.
David Lowson, who has lived in Carnoustie all his life and is still active aged 99, gave a talk to the first meeting of the Friends of Carnoustie and District Heritage.
Carnoustie’s “dibble tree” took root in 1797 when itinerant shipwright and salmon fisher Tommas Lowson left his dibble, or planting stick, embedded in the ground.
As the tree began to grow, Mr Lowson put his wandering days behind him and decided to settle down, where previously there was only a barren wilderness lying empty beside the sea.
He built himself a house, and as others came to join him, the tree became a symbol of their newly-founded town.
Even the town’s name derives from the Scottish phrase craw’s noustie or crow’s nest, after the birds which nest in the tree once a year.
Mr Lowson said: “I’m very pleased the new heritage group has been formed because it’s so important to preserve our history.
“I’m very proud of my great-great-grandfather who lived to the age of 92 which in those days was incredible.
“I’m 99 and will celebrate my 100th birthday early next year so I have inherited his genes.”
Mr Lowson said his great-great grandfather used his job as a salmon fisher to gain exemption from the press gang during the Napoleonic wars and spent years as sea fencible or militiaman, keeping look-out over the bay.
Willows are not expected to live for more than 150 years but the “dibble” survived a 19th Century lightning strike that split the trunk almost to the roots.
The town’s theatre, the Dibble Tree, was named in its honour and the tree is protected by a conservation order.
“Over 200 years ago this area was vastly different from what it is now,” said Mr Lowson.
“Nobody was interested in it but he knew the ground had possibilities and there was an underground stream which ran through it.
“Agriculture was very primitive and there had been a great famine which had spread to Scotland.
“Lowson lived on the edge of insecurity and he built his house with the very scarce cash which he had.”
Chairman Robbie Murray welcomed more than 70 people to the first meeting of the Friends of Carnoustie and District Heritage which took place in the Braid Hall.
The principal speaker was Norman Atkinson who talked about the early history of Carnoustie and the evening concluded with local musician Eddie Cairney who entertained the audience with his own work, ‘The Dibble Tree Song’.
Carnoustie Golf Links Committee pledged a donation of £1,000 and said they would look forward to future events.
There will be another meeting in November and this will let the steering group assess the level of support for the new venture.
