Thanks to George Owenson for this article.

Remains of Stone Age people have been found locally, and also Bronze Age cists in the centre of town. Skeletons and artefacts were buried over 4000 years ago. A bronze dagger found in one of the cists indicated a man of considerable importance. These cists were preserved at the shopping centre in the new town.  

Dalgety existed in the middle ages as a community, first recorded in 1178, when Pope Alexander III issued a Bull declaring that "The Church at Dalgetty with its appurtenances" be founded.  This was St Bridget’s Church on the coast, and it was in use until 1830, when it became unsafe and was unroofed.  

James Stuart, the 'Bonnie' Earl of Moray, lived in Donibristle House. He was supposed to have dallied with the affections of Mary, Queen of Scots, and was suspected of plotting treason against James VI. The house was set on fire by Gordon, Earl of Huntly. Moray escaped using a concealed passage towards the shore. Legend says that the ‘toorie' on his highland bonnet caught fire from the burning house, and he was spotted by the glow in the dark. He was killed by Huntly who was never punished for the crime.  The incident is recalled in the ballad – dirge ‘the Bonnie Earl O’ Murray’.

Round about this time, the Parish deteriorated. By the time the Rev. Andrew Donaldson was appointed minister in 1641, the parish was in sore need of pastoral care and attention. He raised the respectability of the Parish by building a school and insisting on education for all.

Body-snatching was a lucrative 'occupation' in those days. Burke and Hare were 'at large' in Edinburgh and supplies of bodies for experiments were always required. Beadles were employed to keep a 'sharp look-out' for body snatchers but were not always effective. Indeed, some were suspected of sending signals over the water to Edinburgh to advise of fresh graves!  

The Fordell Estates were granted to James Henderson by James IV in 1511. Fordell Castle, built in 1567 as the family home, was largely destroyed by fire in 1580, but was later rebuilt.  

In the 16th century coal started to be worked and taken to Inverkeithing for shipping on flat-bottomed boats in Dalgety Bay, near St. Bridget's Kirk. St. David's harbour was built in 1752 by Sir Robert Henderson to take 500/600 ton vessels. In later centuries, as they worked the coal inland, the seams became deeper and pits were sunk. After the closure of the railway, the harbour became a scrap metal yard until the land was sold in the 1980's.

The railway which transported coal from the pit head to St David's was one of the first railways in Scotland.   The 5 mile track consisted of rails made of wood, and the trucks were drawn by horses.   

During the First World War, the Earl of Moray gifted land for use as a military airfield which opened in 1917.   Under the control of the R.A.F. between 1918 and 1939, it then saw service in World War II as "HMS Merlin", the Royal Naval Aircraft Repair Yard.