Monifieth

At Ardestie outside Monifieth, is the Ardestie Souterrain. Souterrains are earth houses from the Iron Age, often used as dwellings but also as farm buildings, ritual sites and hiding places. The Ardestie, like its neighbour at Tealing, is now roofless but a sunken, stone-lined passageway lying about 80 feet long and can clearly be seen. The bay is guarded by a fine lighthouse

The passageway is complete with a stone drain, and on the banks next to the passageway, the outlines of surface huts and other buildings can be seen. A water tank remains, in which it's likely the inhabitants kept shellfish. The overall layout of the Ardestie Souterrain suggests that the people of the time lived in the surface buildings and kept their livestock in the underground building.

To the north of the crossroads, a more extensive souterrain - the Carlungie Souterrain - can be found. This earth house dates from the same period as the Ardestie Souterrain. Its passage is nearly twice as long at 150 feet, and minor passageways lead off it. Eight huts have been found close by and this suggests that this souterrain too was not used as a dwelling.

Until the 19th century, Monifieth was a small village, but like neighbouring Broughty Ferry, it grew and prospered with the jute boom of Victorian times. With the reorganisation of local government in 1975, Monifieth became part of Dundee District. In 1996, however, the city of Dundee's boundaries were again changed and Monifieth regained its previous status as the seventh Angus town.