What’s in a name?
Street names can provide one of the most important clues to the history of an area. Where did the names come from? What does this tell us about the past? Some names are fairly obvious, such a High Street but others are not – some do not even exist anymore. Have you ever wondered about Thorter Row, Peep-o-Day Lane or the Beefcan Close?
We have also included the origins of some parks and areas of Dundee.
Albert Insitute – Arthurstone Terrace
The Albert Institute was built in 1865–67 as part of the nationwide desire to share in the Queen’s sense of loss at the death in 1861 of her beloved and high-minded husband. It also coincided with a wish on the part of the members of Dundee’s emergent business class to acquire a visible symbol of their participation in the current cultural renaissance. The Albert Institute is Dundee’s lasting memorial to the Victorian era, although since 1984 it has been known as ‘the McManus Galleries’ in memory of a former Lord Provost.
Source: ‘Dundee Names, People and Places’ – David Dorward
The site of meadows which had been partially drained in 1799 and enclosed with stone walls for a bleaching green. In c.1864 the square was laid out on 1.5 acres of marshy land by the Albert Institute Co. Ltd. Formed with intention of creating a public square as monument to Albert, Prince Consort.
Source: ‘Historic Dundee – The Archaeological Implications of Development’, Scottish Burgh Survey 1988
Close in backlands buildings by 1858 between Seagate and East Dock Street. Widened and extended through frontages of these two streets by 1901 when frontages fully built. No new building episodes visible 1921–1952.
By 1982 the south west side of the street was cleared north of the junction with Seagate; rebuilt back from old Allan Street frontage; street widened so earlier south west frontage now beneath car park south of junction with East Dock Street built on land reclaimed from river in 19th century and now vacant. Between 1982–1986, 2–12 Allan Street cleared together with 32–36 Allan Street; sites now vacant south east of junction with East Dock Street. Areas beneath upper part of Allan Street and Seagate junction most important archaeologically as it may be possible to detect early frontages.
Source: ‘Historic Dundee – The Archaeological Implications of Development’, Scottish Burgh Survey 1988
Americanmuir Road has, disappointingly, nothing to do with the United States of America. It was originally merely a road to Meric Muir and only gained the transatlantic-sounding title when the growth of Dundee engulfed and vulgarised it.
When Ancrum Road was laid out it was so named by Mr. Harry Scott of Balgay, as it ran through part of his property. He was the son of Sir William Scott, sixth Baronet of Ancrum, in Roxburghshire, and his mother was Elizabeth Anderson of Balgay. His eldest brother, Sir William, inherited the title, and Balgay and Logie estates came to the younger brother, Harry Warren Scott. He was born in 1833, and though he did not take active part in Dundee civic affairs, he was greatly respected.
In 1870 Mr. Scott’s brother, Sir William, sold Balgay Hill to the Town Council; and in 1886 Mr. Harry Scott sold Will’s Braes to the Council. He died in May, 1889, leaving no children.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Reputed to be named after Arygllis lodging, home of a Campbell of Argyll. On its north west front woodenlands constructed by possibly late 15th century on town side of Overgait ‘barass’. On south side, just outside barass, home of the Boece family, 16th century, and probably birthplace of Hector Boece. Country gentry abandoned traditional ‘lodgings’ in Overgait and from mid 16th century spinners and weavers subdividing property and workshops in backyards supplied with water from Scourinburn. The south east end of the street was referred to as the ‘luckenboothe’, being lined with locked booths at the front of tenement buildings. ‘Overgait’ is the upper gait, above ‘Nethergait’ the lower.
Overgate formed one of the two thoroughfares providing access to the town from west. From Long Wynd junction it skirted foot of Corbie Hill on north passed St. Mary’s Church on south and emerged on High Street at the Cross. In 1746 Overgate reputedly possessed a few houses. Lay without early medieval town, but sufficiently developed by 16th century to be enclosed by town wall and barass; frontages well developed by 1776 with limited backlands repletion. South frontage by St. Mary’s built over erstwhile kirkyard. Relatively unchanged 1793 though town expanding west and Corbie Hill quarried south side of Overgate, street narrowed between High Street and Thorter Row by projection of luckenboothe. North Lindsay Street inserted 1821 over levelled Corbie Hill (Windmill Brae). Luckenboothe cleared by 1858 and site rebuilt. 1960s street cleared to make way for Overgate redevelopment.
Source: ‘Historic Dundee – The Archaeological Implications of Development’, Scottish Burgh Survey 1988
Named in memory of David Arklay of Easter Clepington, who died in 1822, and was succeeded by his son Peter Arklay of Dunninald.
Clepington came to Peter’s second son, Robert, who sold it in 1856 to William Neish of Tannadice, who feued most of the Easter Clepington grounds.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Named in commemoration of Peter Carmichael of Arthurstone (1809–1891), long Superintendent of Dens Mill, and at his death senior partner in Messrs. Baxter, Brothers & Co. He acquired the estate of Arthurstone in 1869, and resided there till his decease.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Baffin Street and Baltic Street obtained these names in connection with the Whaling Industry and the Linen Trade.
One was in commemoration of Baffin’s Bay in the Arctic Region; and the other commemorated the trade with the Baltic Sea, as Riga was then the chief source of the flax and hemp so largely used in Dundee. Baffin Street was completed in 1830 as a connecting link between Arbroath Road and Broughty Ferry Road. Baltic Street was opened in 1840 to form an access from Meadowside to the Wellgait.
Adapted from: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Balfour Street and Bell Street were opened in 1824 and 1828, and named after Provost Thomas Bell and Provost Alexander Balfour, who were founders of the firm of Bell and Balfour, merchants and flax-spinners in Dundee.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
The beautiful avenue which separates Balgay Park from the neighbouring Cemetery in former times was known as “The Windy Glack”. No doubt it deserved the title, as from its conformation it acted as a capacious funnel for the stormy blasts which periodically came scudding down from the Sidlaws. The original condition of the Glack, though it is as windy as in days of yore, has been entirely changed since the grounds came into possession of the Corporation. The coating of rough, irregular sod and broom has been superseded by a fine level road raised to a uniform height, and the surroundings transformed into an attractive pleasureground.
The graceful span bridge and fountain are contemporary with the opening of the park on 20th September, 1871. The height of the bridge from roadway to bottom of parapet is 42 feet 6 inches. To prevent casualties, the rail, which was 3½ feet high was further heightened in 1904 to fully 6 feet by the addition of ornate wire fencing.
“The Glack” in the free and easy days of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, was often traversed by smugglers from the hills, Balgay Hill being then considered a convenient rendezvous for the wily evaders of the law. As late as 1830 these nondescripts were known to frequent the Hill with considerable loads of illegal non-duty paid spirits in their possession.
By the judicious laying-out of walks and carriage drives over the years, it is possible to have easy access to the highest point of Balgay Hill, from which a splendid view of the surrounding country may be obtained.
*Source: Dundee Photographic Survey*
Baltic Street and Baffin Street obtained these names in connection with the Whaling Industry and the Linen Trade.
One was in commemoration of Baffin’s Bay in the Arctic Region; and the other commemorated the trade with the Baltic Sea, as Riga was then the chief source of the flax and hemp so largely used in Dundee.
Baltic Street was opened in 1840 to form an access from Meadowside to the Wellgait.
Baffin Street was completed in 1830 as a connecting link between Arbroath Road and Broughty Ferry Road.
Adapted from: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Bank Avenue, Downfield, received its name, not from any “commercial bank,” but from the estate of Baldovan, which, in 1710, was known as “The Bank”.
The estate dates back to the early days of the seventeenth century, and it was at that date in the hands of the Scrymgeours, Viscounts of Dudhope.
A Fife family, the Nairns of Sandford – now St. Fort – gained control of Baldovan about 1680, and held the estate for 60 years. It was in 1710, while David Wedderburne of that family was in possession, that the estate of Baldovan received the designation of “The Bank”.
In 1740 Walter Tullidelph, upon whom the degree of LL.D. was conferred by the University of St. Andrews, returned to Scotland from Antigua, where he had amassed a large fortune. He was of an old Aberdeenshire family, and he purchased the estates of Baldovan and Balgay. Upon his two daughters, Charlotte and Mary, he conferred the estates of Baldovan and Balgay as “tochers” or marriage dowries. When Charlotte married Sir John Ogilivy, baronet of Inverquharity, in 1754, she obtained “The Bank”. n the marriage of his younger daughter, Mary, to the Hon. Alexander Leslie, son of the fifth Earl of Leven, she received, as her portion, the estate of Balgay.
It was proposed to rename “The Bank, Tullidelph Hall, but ultimately the old name survived.
From 1754 until the present day the estate of Baldovan has been in the hands of the Ogilvys, and at the present time the tenth baronet, Sir Herbert Kinnaird Ogilvy of Inverquharity, resides there.
Dr. Walter Tullidelph also owned the estate of Logie, and Tullideph Road takes its name from him.
*Source: ‘The People’s Journal’, D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. [1] *
Projected in 1824 (with Reform Street) to link Willison Street and Reform Street. Partially laid out in 1832. Cut through ridge of whinstone. Connected with Barrack Street by 1871. Named after Bank of Scotland erected at junction with Reform Street. South east side of street redeveloped 1960s but 19th century frontages maintained on both sides. South west junction with Barrack Street destroyed to facilitate access ramp to roof of car park.
Source: ‘Historic Dundee – The Archaeological Implications of Development’, Scottish Burgh Survey 1988
Barrack Street was the ‘Friars’ Vennel’ from about 1280 to 1580, but after the Howff was opened as a Cemetery the name changed to ‘Burial Wynd’. As a result of a petition from the occupants to the Town Council in April 1807, the designation was altered to – Barrack Street,’ as Dudhope Castle was then occupied by the military.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Baxter Park, named after the donor, the late Sir David Baxter of Kilmaron, Bart., contains about 37 acres, chiefly laid out as ornamental garden ground, but with ample spaces of green sward. It was acquired by Sir David and placed in excellent order before it was presented by him to Dundee in 1863.
It was opened by the late Earl Russell (1792–1878) amid great rejoicings, a general holiday having been observed on this occasion. The Baxter Park was endowed by the donor and placed under the charge of Trustees; but in 1903, when it was found that the investments could no longer maintain the Park, it was handed over to the Town Council, so that any deficiency might be supplemented from the city rates.
It is now, like similar donations, administered by the Parks and Cemeteries Committee of the Town Council. Sir David Baxter (1793–1872) was one of the founders of the firm of Baxter Brothers & Co.
For more information visit the Baxter Park website.
Source: – Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Beechwood was no doubt a descriptive name at one time; Beechwood House had been built on the land that formed part of the large Cox estate which included Clement Park and Foggyley, and as the locus of one of the family homes it would have natural amenities apart from its beautiful setting on the northern heights of the city. In 1934 Beechwood was purchased by the corporation and the mansion demolished, as one of two locations for an extensive slum-clearance programme, the other being Mid Craigie.
Source: ‘Dundee Names, People and Places’ – David Dorward
Beefcan Close, which was off William Lane, between Victoria Road and King Street, was said to once have been a very poor area.
So destitute were the inhabitants, the story goes, that they were forced to pawn their cooking utensils.
But, having to find something to eat from, they went to the local grocers and asked for the empty cans that had contained salted or processed meat and used them as pots and pans – and the close took its name from that.
High Jinks in the Beef Can Close… but where was it?
A query from a London reader started off the hunt and re-opened an old Dundee controversy. “Can you tell me,” he asked “where the Beef Can Close was?”
Off the top of one’s head the answer seems simple – the Overgate.
And, indeed, much evidence points that way, since readers of yesteryear are willing to supply details.
It was between a shoe shop and a butcher’s shop, is the usual answer.
Other folk go into more detail. It was, they assert, between Birrell’s and Alex Munro’s, and the name came from the traffic of stock up the close into the back door of the butchers.
And so the matter rests – at least with the Overgate school.
But there is another faction who claim a different locale.
There is much support for it having been between Victoria Road and King Street, off William Lane.
William Lane, or “Little Weelumie” as it was called, ran parallel to Dens Brae, and at its northern end, where it joined Victoria Road was a flight of steps.
Not far from the end of these steps, and on the left as you descended towards King Street was another, shorter, flight of seven or so steps, which took you into the famous close.
This point of view is even supported in verse. A song of the day “The Ballad of the Beef Can Close”, is quite specific.
The ballad tells of a ploughman lad on the lookout for high jinks in old Dundee.
He falls in with a good-time girl called Jemima Ross, and awakes the next morning lying in the street “at the bottom o’ the Beef Can Close” – which goes to show that being mugged and rolled is by no means purely a present-day phenomenon.
But rural cannieness triumphs over the city slickers as the loon had the foresight to hide his money in the tail o’ his sark.
What is significant in the song is that Jemima Rose tells him she lodges “wi' a wifie in Todburn Lane, at the bottom o’ the Beef Can Close.” (Todburn Lane, incidentally, ran behind King Street and crossed William Lane near its King Street end, so it would be “at the bottom o’ the Beef Can Close”).
But just as significant, perhaps, and especially if you don’t go for the William Lane theory, is that Jemima Ross’s land-lady (a Mrs Bruce) doesn’t figure in any Dundee Directories of the time…
The official view on the disputed location comes from Mr James D. Boyd, Chief Officer of the city’s Museums and Art Galleries.
The Beef Can Close was at 1 North George Street, he says – a view supported by a reader (unfortunately anonymous) who identified the photograph when it was published in 1960.
So where was the famous close? Overgate, North George Street or off William Lane?
The picture supports North George Street; the song supports the William Lane argument. But equally one might expect a close with a name like that to be next door to a butcher’s shop – and there was one in the Overgate…
Source: Article in the ‘Evening Telegraph’ dated 3rd August, 1982
More about the Beef Can Close
Following our recent article on Dundee’s famous Beef Can Close, readers got in touch to add their own memories.
Mrs Margaret Russell of Baltic Gardens says, “I’m going back 75 years, when I lived in the Overgate and my granny lived there”.
“It was between Birrells Boot Shop and Munro the Butchers”.
’There was a shed in the close to store beef. We played there and had to let the beef in”.
And, referring to the song about the ploughman and the good-time girl, Mrs Russell concludes darkly “And anyone who visited Jemima Ross” was advised to tie his money in the tail of his shirt!”
Further fuel is added to the controvery by Mr Fred Worsley of Glenesk Avenue, who phoned to offer yet another possible location.
He suggested the close was in the Overgate, but on the other side, near the Mercat Cross Bar.
The bar, he says, was at one time a flesher’s – a butcher in modern terms – and he places the close in the backlands nearby.
This would mean it was on the south side of the Overgate near its intersection with Lindsay Street, in other words opposite and farther up from its usually fancied position.
So, the location still seems to remain a rich source for debate.
Possibly the answer is that more than one locality in Dundee bore the name, being given it by residents or visitors because of a resemblance, real or fancied, to the original.
But then of course another question arises – if that was the case, which site was the original, or “real” one?
Sadly, the answer has probably passed irretrievably into history.
Source: Article in the ‘Evening Telegraph’ dated 12th August, 1982
Unless you know differently? Add your comments and suggestions via our online form and help us try to solve the mystery!
Bell Street and Balfour Street were opened in 1824 and 1828, and named after Provost Thomas Bell and Provost Alexander Balfour, who were founders of the firm of Bell and Balfour, merchants and flax-spinners in Dundee.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
The Black Friars’ Convent was perhaps one of the latest foundations of the kind in Dundee. It stood on the West side of the Franciscan Monastery, which was situated on the ground now occupied by the Howff, and was separated by the street, Friars’ Vennel, afterwards the Burial Wynd, but now known as Barrack Street.
The site of the Black Friars’ Convent has been long occupied by other buildings, and at present the building, formerly Willison Church, stands on part of the ground which its precinct enclosed.
The brethren of the Order of St. Dominic were called Black Friars from the colour of their habit, and Preaching Friars from their custom of preaching sermons. The erection of the convent is attributed to Andrew Abercromby, a burgess, but there is no mention of the time, though the date of the foundation is supposed to be during the 14th century.
Of the endowments and properties which the Friar possessed, very little is known, yet it may be supposed that the field immediately on the north side of the site called the “Laigh Ward” or Low Hospital Ward and perhaps the ground beyond that on part of it which was chiefly occupied by the Constitution Road Cemetery, had belonged to it.
The convent, with its precincts, including garden and orchard grounds, extended downwards along the west side of the Vennel and thence westwards in the direction of Windmill Hill, which was quarried away to make room for Lindsay Street. Some old sasines mention the convent as a boundary to several properties in both Barrack Street and Overgate.
Reference has been made to the names of streets that perpetuate the designations of mansions in the locality. One of the latest instances of this kind is Blackness Avenue in Perth Road. This was originally the approach to Blackness House, which is still an inhabited mansion. In 1642, Sit Alexander Wedderburne, Knight (1610–1675) began to acquire portions of the estate from Donald Thornetoun of Blackness, and ultimately purchased the whole of the grounds and the mansion. He was Town Clerk of Dundee from 1633 till 1675, and was a prominent personage in the burgh, taking the territorial title of “Sir Alexander Wedderburne of Blackness”.
There is still at Blackness an oak tree, said to have been planted by Charles II when he visited Sir Alexander. His second son (1641–1706) was the first Baronet of this family; and the title and property were continued until the time of Sir Alexander, fourth Baronet of Blackness (1675–1744), who was Town Clerk in 1715, and was deposed for his Jacobite opinions. He got into monetary difficulties, and had to sell Blackness in 1743, when the estate and mansion were acquired by Alexander Hunter of Balskelly, whose descendant is the present (1924) proprietor.
The greater portion of the estate has been feued and formed into streets and terraces.
Adapted from: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Blackscroft was at one time part of the estate of Craigie, which belonged to Isabella de Bruce, second daughter of David, Earl of Huntingdon, and wife of Robert de Bruce, ancestor of King Robert the Bruce. About 1240 she granted her lands of Craigie to the Abbey of Lindores, which her father had founded.
In 1340 the estate belonged by purchase to Walter of Balmossie; and on his resignation, in 1378, it was granted by Robert II to Patrick of Innerpeffer, who died in 1390. After his death at Falkland of the hapless Duke of Rothesay, his father, Robert III, assigned part of this property to the Altar of St. Salvador in the Church of St. Mary of Dundee, so that prayers might be put up for his murdered son.
The Abbot of Lindores held the property in feu till 1540, at which time it was tenanted by David Wedderburne.
The river-side part of the estate was then possessed by George Rollok, and he feued it to Patrick Black, wright. This Patrick Black was entered as a Burgess in 1524, and was employed to repair the carpenter-work at the Church of St. Mary, his payment being deducted from his rent of this part of Craigie estate. His son, George, succeeded him, and in 1581 the name of “Blackscroft” first appears in the accounts of the Hospital-master.
The ground came into possession of the Kyd family, and in 1684 Kyd sold Blackscroft to David Lyon, who disposed it to James Ross. In 1730, Ross disposed the property to the Nine Trades of Dundee. After various attempts to feu the ground, the Nine Trades ultimately sold it to James Guthrie, Jun., of Craigie, in 1766. Guthrie began at once to feu out the land for building, and it was then that the first buildings on Blackscroft were erected. At that time the gardens of these houses extended to the margin of the river; but the reclamation of ground from the Tay altered the whole appearance of the locality.
By 1858 a vast tract had been reclaimed; Camperdown Dock and Victoria Dock had been constructed; East Dock Street formed; the Railway Mineral Depot laid out south of Foundry Lane; and the whole vacant space north of Blackscroft had been closely built upon. One of the peculiarities of the Blackscroft houses was that because of the declivity towards the river the main entrance from Broughty Ferry Road was by a short flight of steps, while the gardens to the south sloped gently to the Tay.
Some of the older houses were acquired by the Town Council, and removed to prepare a site for St. Roque’s Library and Reading-rooms, erected in 1911 as part of the Carnegie Library Gift to Dundee.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Blinshall Street was named after the Rev Dr. James Blinshall, who was Minister of the Third Charge (St. Paul’s) in Dundee from 1764 till his death in 1803. He was the son of David Blinshall, Minister of Lamington; studied at Aberdeen University; was licensed by the Presbytery of Biggar in 1744; and became Minister of the English Church, Amsterdam, in 1758, having D.D. conferred upon him.
In 1764 he was appointed to Dundee, where he took an active interest especially in Gilbert Guthrie’s Mortification, dated 1674, for educational purposes. The funds were chiefly derived from ten acres of land in the Westfield of Dundee; but when Dr. Blinshall found that the town Council, without warrant, were about to take over these lands, he protested along with the Kirk Session against this unlawful proceeding, and was successful. In commemoration of this action three of the streets on the ground were named respectively, Guthrie Street, Blinshall Street and Session Street.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
The Bonnet-hill, or Hilltown, was so called because it was chiefly inhabited by bonnet-makers, who frequently plied their vocation when seated outside of their dwellings.
The Bonnet-maker Trade was the fifth in the order of the Nine Trades; and though the early documents before 1600 have been lost, it is probable that 1529 was the date of its institution. Though now a continuous street in a populous locality, there were few houses on the Bonnet-hill a hundred years ago, and these were of humble appearance. Almost every building of an earlier time has been cleared away, and the name “Bonnet-hill” is a misnomer. In 1832 there was only one surviving bonnet-maker who plied the knitting needles as in the olden time, and he died in 1848, on the verge of his hundredth year.
The Bonnet-makers still hold rank among the Nine Trades of Dundee. The manufacture of bonnets of the Dundee kind was transferred to Kimarnock.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Bradbury Street, Downfield was called after Mrs Bradbury, who succeeded her father, Colonel David Laird, in the estate of Strathmartine, in 1872. This estate was acquired by Admiral Laird in 1785 for £15,000, and he expended large sums in improving it. He was the son of a Dundee corn-merchant, and entered the Royal Navy as a youth, attaining distinction during the American War, rising to the rank of Admiral.
After his retirement he resided at Strathmartine Castle, where he died in 1811, and was buried in the churchyard of Strathmartine, though no stone marks his grave. The Admiral’s grandson, Colonel David Laird, of the Forfar and Kincardine Militia, succeeded to the estate, and continued the work of improvement which had been initiated, thus greatly increasing the value of the property. The Colonel died in 1872, and his daughter, Catherine, became proprietrix.
She married in 1874 August Beatty Bradbury, who died in the succeeding year. It was in her time that Bradbury Street and Laird Street were laid out, hence the two names. After her death in 1887 the estate was purchased from the Trustees by the late Mr. Thomas H. Cox, of Maulesden.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Bright Street and Cobden Street were named respectively after Richard Cobden (1804–1865), the famous advocate of Free Trade, and his renowned co-adjutor, John Bright (1811–1889), who gained renown in many Parliamentary conflicts.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee‘ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Brown Constable Street, on the estate of Wallace-Craigie, was included in the feuing-plan of part of the ground which was drawn up in 1828 before any feus had been taken. The feus then offered were east of Dens Burn, and “Constable Street” was to be forty feet wide, and named after George Constable of Wallace Craigie, the friend of Sir Walter Scott, and the original of Monkbarns in “The Antiquary”.
It was acquired in 1779 by George Constable, and after his death the heir of entail was Lawrence Brown-Constable, whose youngest son, Colonel Charles Brown-Constable succeeded to the estate in 1852 and died in 1887. The street was named after him. Craigie estate has supplied a name to an Avenue, a Street, and a Terrace.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Several of the extinct industries of early times are only kept in remembrance by the names of streets associated with them; and in some cases even these names have disappeared.
For instance, the Bucklemaker Wynd (now Victoria Road) refers to a branch of the Hammermen Trade; and as in the olden time occupations were hereditary, descending from father to son, the members of a trade usually congregated in one locality. At one period the trade must have been fairly extensive, as in old maps of Dundee this Wynd extended, as shown, from the Meadows to the Dens Burn. The work done by these craftsmen included the making of buckles of all kinds – for saddlery, for sword-belts, and for every kind of buckle used alike in war and in peace. At a later date the decorative shoe-buckles and scarf-pins fell into the hands of jewellers – also a branch of the Hammermen – and gradually the buckle-makers dropped out of notice.
The Bucklemaker Wynd for centuries formed one of the chief routes from Dundee to the east. When the Dundee Improvement Act of 1871 came into operation, the Wynd was removed, and Victoria Road, a broad thoroughfare, was constructed on the old line of the early street.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Butcher Row, which stood near the Greenmarket, dated back to the latter part of the 17th century. Almost two hundred and 50 years old, it was cleared away some time ago. The tenements between Butcher Row and Fish Street were acquired in 1875 by the Commissioners of Police, and were gradually removed to make way for Whitehall Crescent.
The name Butcher Row was quite a modern designation for the street. The first known name was Flesh Market Street, taking that name after the new flesh market was established on the south side in 1775, the old market being situated at the east end of the High Street, and known as the Shambles. This thoroughfare was known by that name until 1793, when the name of Shore Head Street was adopted. Ultimately in 1813, the street received the name of Butcher Row.
One of the striking features of it was the somewhat uncommon architecture. On a house, in all probability built by a burgess of refined tastes and ample means, was the date 1684 carved out of the wall in huge figures. The inclusion of several pottery jugs built into the wall was also unique.
It is conjectured that the mansion was built by James Wedderburn, second son of Sir Alexander Wedderburne of Blackness. He had two sons, the elder of whom, Alexander, became Sir Alexander Wedderburn of Blackness, having purchased the estate from his cousin, Sir John Wedderburne, and succeeded to the title.
Butterburn, at the top of Hilltown, was a rivulet that took its rise in the Law Hill, ran down what is now Hill Street, and by the existing Main Street course became the tributary of the Dens Burn.
Its oldest name is “Bitterburn” (aqua mara), but the origin of that designation is unknown. A tradition exists that in the time of a plague that afflicted persons were segregated on the north side of the Burn and that generous inhabitants passed packets of butter to the plague-stricken folk across the dividing stream, but this may be reasonably doubted.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Fintry Castle, or, as it is more generally called “Mains Castle”, occupies a pleasant situation on the south side of the Gelly burn, a tributary of the River Dichty. It probably has been erected upon the site of a Castle that belonged in early times to the Earls of Angus, who were Lords of Strathdichty. William, Lord Graham of Kincardine, was married in 1413 to Lady Mary Stewart, daughter of Robert III., and his grandson became Sir Robert Graham of Strathcarron and Fintry, two properties in Stirlingshire. As Sir Robert was married to a daughter of the Earl of Angus, he obtained the lands of Strathdichty as her dowry, and changed the name to that of his ancestral Stirlingshire property, calling the estate “Fintry”. From that time the Grahams of Fintry have continued till the present day (1924) with uninterrupted male succession.
Mains Castle was begun by the grandson and completed by the great-grandson of Sir Robert Graham. The latter – Sir David Graham of Fintry – finished the building of the Castle in 1582, as is shown by a dated stone in the structure. It was his misfortune to be concerned in the Popish plot known as the “Spanish Blanks”, for his complicity in which he was executed at Edinburgh in 1592. The property remained in the possession of the Grahams of Fintry until it was acquired by David Erskine, W.S., about 1788, the seller – Robert Graham of Fintry, the friend of Robert Burns – stipulating that the old name of Linlathen should be taken as the proprietory designation of the purchaser, whilst Graham’s family would retain the distinction “of Fintry” for all time. The Grahams of Fintry settled in South Africa, where they founded Grahamstown, and have held high positions in the politics of the locality.
In 1912 the late Sir James K. Caird, Bart., purchased from the late David Erskine of Linlathen the ruinous Mains Castle, and that part of the estate upon which it had been erected, and presented the ground to form a splendid recreation place called the Caird Park. It is furnished with a golf course, an artificial pond and cascade, and recreation grounds for football and other games. The Caird Park was formally opened on 27th October, 1920, by Mrs. Marryat, sister of Sir James Caird, Bart. The estate of Belmont, near Alyth, which was the residence of the Earls of Wharncliffe, and afterwards of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Prime Minister, which had been purchased by Sir James Caird, was also handed over to the Town Council by Mrs. Marryat.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Though Edinburgh had a candle-maker Craft so early as 1517, no such trade seems to have established in Dundee. Soap-making and Candle-making were occupations akin, and the name survive in Soap-work Lane and Candle Lane, where the two workshops carried on for many years by Joseph Sanderson.
He was born in Dundee in 1746, and started business about 1780 as a “tobacconist and candle-maker”. Before 1804 he had established a lucrative business, having many customers among the neighbouring gentry. His death took place in 1809, and a tombstone marks his grave in the Howff. The business was continued by his widow, Elizabeth Smith, till her death in 1823, when she was buried beside her husband. Two sons, John and james Sanderson, took up the work until 1844, when John, the elder son, died, and the business disappeared. By that time the introduction of gas as an illuminant had largely discounted the business of candle-making.
Castle Street derives its name from the fact that the thoroughfare was cut through the vast rock on which the ancient Castle of Dundee stood.
No trace of the castle now remains, and though from its history it is apparent that it was regarded in warlike times as a place of great importance, there are few clues afforded as to its extent or appearance. It is not known when it was built nor whether it was the chosen residence of King Edgar. The earliest reference to the building is found in connection with the occupancy of Scotland by Edward I.
It is often stated that, by the instructions of Sir William Wallace, the castle was totally destroyed, but it seems probable that the fortress was dismantled though not utterly demolished, by Sir Edward Bruce when he razed other fortalices in Scotland, so that the whole of the Scottish forces might be concentrated at Bannockburn.
Certain it is that from the date of that battle the Castle of Dundee disappears entirely from history. It is not improbable that the English forces, not receiving the support which they expected, abandoned the castle, destroying its fortifications, and made their escape by sea.
Cherryfield Lane was a narrow avenue from Blackness Road to Walton Street, which at one time marked the western boundary of the extensive gardens that formed the nursery belonging to Mr Urquhart – hence its name. These gardens at one time filled the triangular space from the junction of Blackness Road with Brook Street, west to Cherryfield Lane, and included the ground occupied by Blackness Foundry. Urquhart Street preserves the name of the proprietor of these gardens.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
This is just about the most prosaic and unprepossessing name that could have been given to a castle. It must in origin have referred to some long-forgotten clay-pottery in the vicinity, which eventually gave its name also to a main road, and has more recently been adopted by a Terrace, a Place, a Court and Gardens. To imagine the castle in its heyday we must mentally eliminate all these features, instead, imagine the castle standing on the verge of an ornamental lake (later a skating pond, now drained), with views south over the fields sloping down to the river and north to the Grampian foothills.
The lands of Claypotts belonged to the barony of Dundee and as such came into the possession of David, Earl of Huntingdon, at the end of the twelfth century, as a gift from his brother William the Lion. Alexander II granted the feudal superiority of the lands to the Abbey of Lindores, and in the sixteenth century the feu came to be held by John Strachan of the family of Carmyllie. His son, also John, started building the castle in 1569; the initials ‘I.S.’ (Iohannes Strachan) on one of the stones with the date 1588 show that the castle took almost twenty years in the building.
Most Dundonians, even those speeding along Arbroath Road, will be familiar with the castle’s external appearance, unchanged for centuries. In architectural terms it is a good example of a Z-plan keep, with two circular towers capped with square attic towers, corbelled from below with crow-step gabling. It is roofed with grey flake stones, as characteristic of Angus as red pantiles are of Fife.
Claypotts Castle has not had a happy history. During its tenure by the Strachans there were attacks, sieges, an attempted kidnapping and numerous matrimonial disputes, often ending in violence. Since ours is an unromantic and incredulous age, we perhaps no longer have need of legends such as that of the white lady who, every 19th March, stands at one of the upper windows wringing her hands and waving a kerchief in the direction of her lover in his castle in distant St. Andrews. (The lady is supposed to be Marion Ogilvy, her lover Cardinal Beaton: but the fact that Miss Ogilvy never lived in Claypotts, which in any case is not visible from St. Andrew’s Castle, must render the story apocryphal).
In the 1600s the superiority of the lands passed to the Scrymgeours, who gave a charter of Claypotts to Sir William Graham of Claverhouse; the property remained in the Graham family for three generations, one of which included John Graham. This produced a new crop of legends: John Graham, Viscount Dundee, traduced by historians and reviled by the Presbyterian kirk, probably resided from time to time at the castle, but there is no basis for the stories of wild orgies, of witches’ covens, bargains with Auld Nick, and other unseemly goings-on which were once associated with Claypotts. Nor do we deal much nowadays with legends of fiery black charges from the devil’s stable nor with the silver button which was responsible for the death of (bullet-proof) Bonnie Dundee; and the baleful fires which were said to light up the castle every Hallowe’en could now scarcely be seen above the lights of Claypotts roundabout.
Source: ‘Dundee Names, People and Places’ – David Dorward
Cleghorn Street was named after William Cleghorn, manufacturer, who long occupied Logie House as tenant, and afterwards became proprietor of the estate of Logie. The mansion has now been removed, and tenements erected on the most of the lands.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Clepington Road is a name that explains itself. It was the main access to the two estates of Easter Clepington and Wester Clepington, these being divided by part of the old Glamis Road, which runs from Dens Road to Clepington Road, and was recently named “Provost Road”, in memory of Provost Patrick Hunter Thoms, who belonged to the family of the Thoms of Clepington.
The name of the estate was in early times “Clephane-toun”, when the Clephanes of Carslogie, in Fife, were proprietors.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Cloan Road and Haldane Street, both in Downfield, were laid out by Robert Haldane, related to the Haldanes of Gleneagles, who was proprietor about 1822, of part of the estate of Kirkton, lying south of Strathmartine estate.
The ground is largely feued since Mr Haldane’s time. Cloan is the name of the seat of the present Viscount Haldance, near Auchterarder.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Cobden Street and Bright Street were named respectively after Richard Cobden (1804–1865), the famous advocate of Free Trade, and his renowned co-adjutor, John Bright (1811–1889), who gained renown in many Parliamentary conflicts.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Constitution Road, is a very old highway, which acted as a connecting link with the town via the wards and meadows to Over Dudhope, Lawhill and Strathdichty in times gone by. Few buildings graced its slopes, however, and a century ago most of the ground, with the exception of a number of market gardens near Meadows and East and West Chapelshade, was little else than moorland.
At the time several cottages, which collectively bore the name “Culloden” stood on the ground now occupied by Bell Street Church, and close to the cottages a row of elm and beech trees provided an agreeable lounge in summer. Bell Street was laid out about 1828–30, and derived its name from Provost Bell, who was then Chief Magistrate.
Before the cemetery was made in 1834 the ground was let as allotment gardens. The plotholders removed to another stance north of the cemetery to be again displaced in 1866 to make way for Garland Place and the Catholic Apostolic Church. The coach building premises in the forefront (demolished at the end of the 19th century to make way for the General Post Office) were erected in 1845–46 by Mr Thomas Cuthbert, who belonged to Perth. Mr Cuthbert subsequently became a magistrate.
The public bleaching green in line of the Meadows was inaugurated in 1830, and the terraces opposite were gradually built from 1840–50. Chapelshade UF Church was opened a few years after the Disruption, and was sold for commercial purposes in 1916.
About 1860 a one-storey cottage stood at the foot of Constitution Road, west side, and a slater‘s yard adjoined. A few years later both were removed to make way for the iron merchants‘ offices and warehouses which probably now demolished fill in the corner.
Cotton Road runs through the site of a once famous city mansion house, Hillbank House, the residence of the Wyse family (now spelled Wise)? The mansion was built on the eminence to which Cotton Road now leads, and had a very artistic layout.
The estate has been in the hands of that family for nearly two centuries, Alexander Wyse having bought the estate of Lunan in 1734. His eldest son, David Wyse, who was an able engineer, erected a cotton-spinning machine and installed it in his own factory. In turn, his eldest son, Thomas Wyse, a physician, went to Jamaica in that capacity, and there he made a large fortune.
On his return he married the daughter of William Chalmers of Glenricht, who was Town Clerk of Dundee, and acquired the estate of Hillbank, which was near his father’s mill.
The name Hillbank survives in the name of the upper portion of Cotton Road/Hillbank Road, while a memorial of the early life of Thomas Wyse remains in the name Jamaica Street.
Couttie’s Wynd, or as it was originally called, “Spalding’s Wynd,” can claim a remote antiquity. It was one of the oldest accesses from the shore to the burgh, and was certainly a passage before 1200, and was chosen at that time for the site of the mansion of David, Earl of Huntingdon, brother pf William the Lion.
In 1380 Robert II gave a charter of part if this Wynd to a famous burgess, Patrick of Inverpeffer; but it was not till 1453 that it was described in a charter as “the common vennel vulgarly called Spalding’s Wynd”. The first of this family recorded was Peter de Spalding from Berwick-on-Tweed, who was personal attendant on King Robert the Bruce, and obtained from that monarch in 1319 the “lands of Balzcondie and Petmethie, in Forfarshire”. His son, Richard Spalding, settled in Dundee previous to 1342, and held important offices in the burgh, being a Bailie, and Collector of the King’s Customs. David Spalding, his descendant, was prominent in local affairs in 1430; was a member for Dundee in the Scottish Parliament of 1456–58; and as he resided in this vennel it came to be known as “Spalding’s Wynd”.
This name continued till 1521, when William Couttie, butcher – probably one of the early members of the flesher trade acquired property here; and the place was then called “Couttie’s Wynd”. His last descendant died in 1604, but the name still survives as a memorial of departed reknown.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Cowan Street was called after James Cowan (1822–1893), salt merchant, who was a prominent Town Councillor from 1875 for 17 years. He took an active part in many civic improvements, was the first to propose Dundee as a Cattle Port, and strongly supported the idea of District Reading Rooms long before these were realised.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Medieval street declined in 15th century, some of the buildings removed for extra defence on construction of 17th-century wall. Devastated in 16th and 17th centuries by attacks on town and sparsely inhabited in 18th century. Chiefly yards and old walls on both sides in 1756, when claimed only two houses inhabited. North frontage in process of development 1776. South frontages virtually build up by 1793.
King Street inserted into north frontage between 1776 and 1793. Widened on south west frontage at Murraygate junction 1909. Position of East Port suggests frontages here stepped back at construction of East Port Works in 19th century and works on south side of street. Frontages on north and south side of Cowgate were extensively cleared in 1987.
Source: ‘Historic Dundee – The Archaeological Implications of Development’, Scottish Burgh Survey 1988
Crichton Street received that name from a peculiar circumstance. Dr. John Crichton, who was an eminent surgeon, was the son of Baillie Thomas Crichton, and was born at Dundee in 1772. He studied Medicine at Edinburgh University, and settled as a young doctor in his native city, from which place he never re-moved during his long life of 88 years.
In 1820 it was proposed to open a new street to connect Nethergait with the Harbour, but Dr. Crichton’s house stood directly in the line of the suggested plan. After some negotiations, Dr. Crichton at last consented to sell his house to the Town Council on condition that the street should be named after him hence the origin of Crichton Street. The doctor’s death took place in 1860, so that he survived to see the street become a thriving thoroughfare.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Dalgleish Road was named in honour of the late Sir William Ogilvy Dalgleish, Bart. (1832–1913), a highly esteemed benefactor to the city in many ways.
In 1860, during the early years of his married life, Sir William resided at Mayfield House, Arbroath Road, which was sold at a reduced price to the Provincial Committee to be occupied as a Hostel for Students attending Dundee Training College. When the street was made beside Mayfield House to connect Arbroath Road and Broughty Ferry Road, it was called Dalgleish Road in memory of Sir William Ogilvy Dalgleish, Bart.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
The name “Dalhousie” appears five times thus: Dalhousie Terrace, Perth Road; the same designation twice in Broughty Ferry; and Dalhousie Place, Lochee Road, and Dalhousie Road, Broughty Ferry.
The older place-names are probably from Fox Maule, 11th Earl of Dalhousie (1801–1874), and the later from John Ramsay, 13th Earl of Dalhousie (1847–1887).
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Dallfield Terrace and Dallfield Walk were feued on the small estate of Dallfield, which once belonged to the Scrymgeoures of Dudhope. The old avenue which led from the foot of the Hilltown to Dudhope Castle is now Dudhope Street.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee‘ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
The “Deeriers” lived in a close near the foot of the Hilltown called Deerhorn Close because of the carved deer’s antlers above it.
The name was applied to the locality between its Hilltown frontage and Dallfield Walk to the west. Deerhorn Close has long been demolished, but its memory lives on.
The close led to an almost rectangular concrete-paved court, flanked on the south side by two-storey houses with outside stairs and on the north by a row of one-storey houses fronted by a flagged path.
At the far end the court narrowed to a passage formed by some white-washed cottages with slabstone, moss-covered roofs and baked-clay floors.
These had been the dwellings and workshops of the first Irish handloom weavers to settle in Dundee before the middle of last century.
Beyond them stood the factory of Duncan & Son, reed makers.
The Deerie in its heyday was a sunlit court in which robust-looking women in striped flannel petticoats and bare feet sat sewing sacks.
Some were also threading heddles for the loom cams made by Messrs Duncan.
Source: ‘The People’s Journal’, Saturday 23rd June, 1973
Downfield has nothing to do with any meadow on a gradient.
A new village was founded in 1835 on land once owned by a poultry farmer, John Wishart, who dealt in feathers and down from his birds.
He rejected the idea of calling the new village Wishartfield to perpetuate his own name.
But he obviously felt the animals that had made his fortune were more worthy, as the name Featherfield was considered before he finally decided on Downfield.
Named after George Drummond, proprietor of tenement between this close and Mitchell’s Close, at end of 18th century. Property in existence at least early 17th century.
Close removed as a result of layout out of North Gellatly Street. Site occupied by warehousing in late 19th century. These in ruin 1952 and site rebuilt by 1984 maintaining 19th-century frontage with Seagate/Gellatly Street.
Source: ’Historic Dundee – The Archaeological Implications of Development–, Scottish Burgh Survey 1988
This castle is the ancient seat of the Scrymgeours, Constables of Dundee. Now grievously altered, debased and fallen on evil days, it still retains some vestiges of its proud past, as it stands on high ground looking out over the rooftops of the city. It has suffered much at the hands of time, neglect, vandals and improvers, but still survives threats of demolition. The building has undergone great changes in appearance – as is not to be wondered at, when, amongst other shifts of fortune, it has been used as a barracks and a woollen factory.
The original fortalice was probably an oblong tower, to which wings were added to form an L-plan, this now represented by that portion of the structure nearest to the viewer in the sketch – that is, the south-east corner. But, at a fairly early date, Dudhope was converted to the more ambitious courtyard or palace plan, with the rise in importance of the Scrymgeour family. Two sides of the courtyard still remain, to south and east. Whether the north and west sides were ever erected, or were merely enclosed by curtain walling, is not known. Round towers, with conical roofs, command the angles, with splayed gun-loops in their bases. A little stair-turret connects third and fourth floors in the angle of the south-west tower. The north-east tower has a tall chimney-stack rising from it, which is unusual – but can be seen also at Earlshall, in Fife.
The entrance was, and is, between two drum towers, now foreshortened, in the middle of the east front. The gablet and belfry surmounting these are modern. The roof level of both wings has been raised, which has not improved the looks of the building. The upper windows were formerly dormers, and would appear much more attractive.
The arched entrance pend leads into what was formerly an enclosed court. Here, the corbelling of what has been another stair-turret alone remains projecting from the face of the south wing. Over one of the courtyard windows is the date 1660. The building as a whole, is older than this. Within the entrance passage is a recessed space for the guard – very uncomfortable. The steps that lead up from here are modern. The old stairway, a wide square one, is reached from a moulded stone doorway just to the left inside the courtyard, leading up to all floors.
A vaulted passage runs along the inner side of the main south wing, giving access to a series of vaulted cellars. Owing to the fall of the ground to the south they are semi-subterranean. At the west end this passage leads into a large kitchen with great arched fireplace provided with its own window. The south-west tower has its own outer door, allowing access to the kitchen, and contains a wide circular stair rising to the upper floors. There has been an enormous amount of internal alteration, window enlargement etc. The building is at present not in very good condition.
William Wallace, as Governor of the Realm of Scotland, conferred the lands of Dudhope, with the title of Hereditary Constable of Dundee, on his lieutenant, Alexander Scrymgeour, in 1298. Dudhope remained with the Scrymgeour family until 1668. Over two windows of the east front are panels depicting the arms and monograms of Dame Magdalen Livingstone, of the family of Linlithgow and Callendar, wife of Sir James Scrymgeour, but no date. King James the Sixth paid a visit to Dudhope in 1617.
Sir John Scrymgeour, the 11th Constable, was created Baron Scrymgeour of Inverkeithing and Viscount Dudhope in 1641. James, second Viscount, was mortally wounded fighting for King Charles the First at the Battle of Marston Moor.
John, the third Viscount and 13th Constable, was created Earl of Dundee. The earldom went into abeyance for a long period, but has of recent years been restored to Henry J. Scrymgeour-Wedderburn, former Member of Parliament and Under-Secretary of State for Scotland.
It would be pleasant if this ancient home of the family could likewise see a modern restoration.
‘Dudhope Castle has a Proud Past’ – Nigel Tranter
Article in the Evening Telegraph dated 25th March, 1960
Dudhope Park was acquired from the late Earl of Home in 1893, though it had been leased from the Government, then holding a current lease, for many years before that date.
Several improvements, such as bowling greens and cricket fields, as well as a gymnasium for children, have been introduced over the years. The park contains 23 acres.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Dura Street runs between Dens Road and Albert Street, and was in the heart of Dundee’s factory-land. The street clearly takes its name from the Dura works, which were built there by the firm of J. & W. Walker about 1836.
Dura as a place-name is from a Celtic word ‘dubron’ meaning water, found in various forms all over the British Isles. Kemback was originally Kenebach and is probably from the Gaelic ‘cinn beag – at the little headland’.
Source: ‘Dundee Names, People and Places’ – David Dorward
Associated with dyers trade early 16th century at least, perhaps because of proximity to burn. Murraygait remained centre of dyers craft until late 18th century.
Appears with fully built frontages 1793. Apparently little change 1858. Cleared 1874 when Commercial Street formed close now beneath 80 High Street (built 1876–92 with extensive basement area); survival potential of frontages poor. South east extremity of close beneath High Street. Frontage may survive here but possibly cut by services trenches. North west end of close may lie beneath present Rankine’s Court.
Dyer’s Close extant 1514, removed 1874.
Source: ‘Historic Dundee – The Archaeological Implications of Development’, Scottish Burgh Survey 1988
Erskine Street was named either after Dr. Thomas Erskine of Linlathen (1788–1870) or his nephew and successor, the late James Erskine, Erskine of Linlathen.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
The name “Exchange Street” is a puzzle to the modern Dundonian, as there is not now any Exchange in existence to justify the title of a street running between Castle Street and Commercial Street. The evolution of the Royal Exchange, now in Albert Square, has a shade of historical romance about it. In the seventeenth century (say 1650) the only place where the Dundee merchants could meet to transact business was in the Green Market, now absorbed in the site of the Caird Hall. The space occupied was known as “The Merchant’s Walk”. After the opening of the Trades Hall at the east end of the High Street in 1778, the principal apartment was rented by the merchants; and here they established what was called “The Dundee Exchange Coffee-room and Reading-room”. As the room was often occupied for theatrical performances, lectures etc., the merchants determined in 1805 to erect a building for themselves, and subscriptions were taken for that purpose.
Two years afterwards they established the new Exchange on the south side of a rude footpath that led from Castle Street to the Burnhead. In 1809 a Library was added to the Exchange Coffee-room and a glowing poem upon this new feature of Dundee life appeared in the “Dundee Advertiser” of 30th November, 1810, of which this is the first verse of the “Ode to the Exchange Coffee-Room, Dundee”:
The Nine the Scottish Lily Shades,
The Nine Incorporated Trades
I dare in Minstrel Lay presume
To sing the Dundee Coffee-Room.
In 1828 it was decided to extend the modest building, and Mr. George Smith, architect, Edinburgh, prepared plans which were approved. It was designed to have shops in the under portion, and the principal hall measured 73 feet by 36 feet. On 5th August, 1830, the new Exhange Coffee-Room was to be opened by a Ball, attended by the principal burghers of the time, but this was altered to a Dinner and Ball, which took place successfully in the following month.
In the year 1838 the Subscribers to the Exchange Coffee-Room were in a position to dispose of a surplus fund of 80 guineas – £50 to the Royal Infirmary, and £34 to the Orphan Institution. Ten years before this date (February, 1828) the Town Council arranged to form a street, 40 feet wide, from the Burnhead to the foot of the Castle Street, and that was the origin of Exchange Street. In 1859 the present Royal Exchange was built from designs by David Bryce, R.S.A., on the north side of the meadows, now Albert Square, and gives the name to “Royal Exchange Court”. The lower portion of Commercial Street was laid out and partially completed in 1834 by the Town Council, chiefly to give an easy access to Exchange Street.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Fairmuir, on the east side of Strathmartine Road, near Downfield, was long used as a market-place for cattle, in lieu of Stobsmuir, which had been used for Fairs and weekly Markets from remote times. The Annual Fairs were usually held on the day of the patron Saint of the burgh; and as St. Clement held that position till the close of the twelfth century, the Fairs in the Market-gait of Dundee were held on the day of his martyrdom, 23rd November. When the Church of St. Mary, founded by David, Earl of Huntingdon, about 1190, eclipsed the older Church of St. Clement, the Fair Day was changed to the day set apart for celebrating the Assumption of the Virgin, 15th August, which was known as “Our Lady Day”. This was afterwards corrupted into “Lady Mary Fair”. In the fourteenth century the Scrymgeours, Constables of Dundee, instituted a second Fair on the day of the Nativity of the Virgin, 8th September (now 19th September), which was known as “the Latter Fair”, and still retains that name.
Early in the eighteenth century another Fair was organised, which, of course, in Protestant times had no Saint’s dedication, and the scene was removed from the Market-gait to Stobsmuir, the name of “Stobs Fair” being given to it. This Fair continued to be held there till about 1830, when a murder that occurred during the turbulence of this Carnival led to the removal of the site of the Fair to the ground in Strathmartine Road, which came to be known as ”Fairmuir”. The ground was on the property of the Ogilvys of Inverquharity, who had a right to exact payment for its use and this continued until 1883, when the late Sir John Ogilvy of Inverquharity, Bart. (1803–1890), generously gave over the Fairmuir to Dundee to be used as a recreation park. The Town Council accordingly made it suitable for cricket, football, and other games. It contains about 17 acres.
Adapted from: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Fintry embodies the Pictish words fionn (white) and tref (place, stead), and the street names in the scheme were studiously taken from other place-names containing the syllable fin. Thus, Finavon Street, Findhorn Street, Findowrie Street, Finella Place, Finlow Terrace: truly a celebration of whiteness – and the name of the adjacent Whitfield has of course the same sense.
But all this is somewhat fortuitous, for the name Fintry was brought to these parts by the family of Graham who held the lands of Fintry in Stirlingshire. The Grahams – not a Highland clan but a Lowland family – accompanied the Earl of Huntingdon (brother of William the Lion) to Scotland on his return from England in 1124. The family rose to great prominence in the wars of Wallace and Bruce but were unjustly deprived of the earldom of Strathearn in the early fifteenth century. A branch of the family had acquired lands in Angus which earned their owners the earldom and later dukedom of Montrose; hardly less notable were the Stirlingshire Grahams, one of whom, Sir Robert graham of Fintry and Strathcarron, married a Scrymgeour of Dudhope. From this union came the junior branch who took the designation of Claverhouse from their newly acquired estate of that name; the other branch retained their title of Fintry, and gave it to the castle which they commenced building in the Den o’ Mains.
The Grahams had always been a royalist family and were to continue so for at least another two centuries. Sir David Graham, builder of Mains Castle (or Fintry Castle as he would have called it) had supported the Roman Catholic Church during the reign of Mary Queen of Scots. He was implicated in a plot, known to history as the Spanish Blanks, and when it failed he became the scapegoat, although several high-ranking nobles (possibly even the king, James VI) were mainly responsible. He was executed in 1593.
Thereafter the Grahams of Fintry fade into relative obscurity, leaving the honours to their kinsmen Montrose and Claverhouse. They retained their lands however until the early 1800s, and the last of them, Robert Graham (a friend of Robert Burns) was forced for financial reasons to sell the lands of Fintry to David Erskine, and although Graham retained the territorial designation ‘of Fintry’ he moved with his family to the nearby estate of Duntrune. The Grahams went to the Cape during the South African wars, and the settlement of Grahamstown was named after the thirteenth laird of Fintry, ‘in testimony of the service of Colonel Graham, through whose exertions the Caffre hordes have been driven from that valuable ‘district’; thus the family name and fame were to be preserved on another continent.
The remains of the Graham family vault can still be seen in the old Mains churchyard just across the den from the castle.
Source: ‘Dundee Names, People and Places’ – David Dorward
Fintry Place, Broughty Ferry, preserves of the old name of the Grahams of Fintry, long associated with Dundee. One member of this family built Mains Castle. An ancient building known as “Graham of Fintry’s Chaplainry” stood in one of the Closes that was cleared away when Gellatly Street was formed. It had been the dwelling-house of Robert Graham of Fintry, who was four times Provost of Dundee after 1466; and who gave his house in 1493 to support a Chaplain at the Church of St. Mary.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Probably built on site of 16th-century harbour. Some building hereby 17th century (Provost Pierson’s house) on shore line.
At shore on site of present Caird Hall. Appears in 1776 and 1793 and 1821, as Fish Market at these dates; contained long tree-lined walk to harbour. 18th-century ‘Bason’ occupied south part of Green Market. By 1858 known as Green Market. Extensive piling work at foot of Green Market cobbles of Green Market lifted to lay foundation trench 2–3ft. Suggest animal disturbance of underlying deposits. By 1921 Caird Hall complete and relationship with site of Green Market recorded. Excavation for sinking drains East Whitehall Crescent 1890–01 revealed walling possibly associated with 16th-century harbour suggesting, together with known rise in surface level of Fish Street, early levels may survive here.
Source: ‘Historic Dundee – The Archaeological Implications of Development’, Scottish Burgh Survey 1988
At earliest date narrow passage skirting sea shore. About Reformation, north street frontage made continuous. Sasines c.1560 describe road as the passage to the narrow harbour at the windmill. Houses to north of what was to become north west frontages described as having 'the sea flude on the south'. Old Custom House on south frontage of 'Fish Street' mentioned in weill 1648 of Provost James Pierson; street therefore well establishment by that date. Marketgait burgages gradually built up, eventually forming north west frontage of Fish Street.
Street cleared 1883 to lay out Whitehall Street/Whitehall Crescent. Alignment lost as north east section built over; frontages may survive beneath road at Whitehall Crescent. Drain laying c.1890 disclosed distinct archaeological levels below the existing level of Whitehall Crescent.
Excavations in 1890 also showed that after Fish Street fully formed with frontages on both sides, width 28ft at widest point, 21ft at east end.
1776 West Shore
1793 West Shore Street
1814 Fish Street
Source: ‘Historic Dundee – The Archaeological Implications of Development’, Scottish Burgh Survey 1988
Built on land reclaimed from river late 16th century. New shore built from site of present Gilfillan Church to St. Nicholas Craig. Land reclaimed as far north as future Butcher Row; only partially levelled and consolidated but adequate for construction of Packhouse, south of present Whitehall Crescent. Flesh Market build on south frontage 1776. North frontage, some development mid-17th century.
Cleared 1883 to lay out Whitehall Crescent; frontage of north west section lies beneath 19th-century redevelopment which followed demolition. Recent office development on corner of Crichton Street / Whitehall Crescent has probably removed any surviving traces of early levels here. South west frontages lie beneath modern Whitehall Crescent. Although almost certainly disturbed by services, the earlier street alignment may be traceable.
Flesh Market Street 1776
Short Head Street 1793
Butcher Row 1821
Source: ‘Historic Dundee – The Archaeological Implications of Development’, Scottish Burgh Survey 1988
Early medieval thoroughfare gradually developed with expansion of town westwards past St. Mary’s parish church. Tradition that original name from ‘fluker’ a type of fish. Nethergait means the lower gait. Overgait being the upper. The part of the street from High Street to Tally Street called Our Lady Gait.
Nethergate from High Street to South Lindsay Street constructed 1776. South frontage well and evenly developed but north frontage at St. Mary’s Church built over kirkyard. Street widened beyond this point to Nethergate port at foot of Long Wynd. Burgages at this date. Still relatively free of buildings on both sides of the street. Appearance little changed 1793. Buildings apparently removed from south side at this point, though construction at site of port remains. This cleared by 1812 and laying out of South Tay Street and Crichton Street put through south frontage 1783. Union Street also on south frontage, 1828. Whitehall Street put through 1883. Otherwise frontages maintained until 1975. Nethergate Centre developed at end to the rear of 66–80 Nethergate. South frontage now chiefly occupied by 19th century and later buildings mostly with cellarage.
Source: ‘Historic Dundee – The Archaeological Implications of Development’, Scottish Burgh Survey 1988
The names of several estates in Dundee and neighbourhood which have now been absorbed in the City are perpetuated by the designations of some of the streets that have been formed on the grounds. Three of these estates lay to the north of Buckle-maker Wynd, now Victoria Road, and marched with the eastern boundary of Clepington estate. In Crawford’s map of Dundee in 1777, the mansion and estate of Bonnybank are shown in a succession of cultivated fields with trees, extending from a little east of Hilltown to about the present William Street, the house being on the east side of Bonnybank Road, which was the avenue from Bucklemaker Wynd. The estate near the east was Forebank , the house being near Nelson Street, though the name is given to Forebank Road which is west of Bonnybank Road. The northern boundary of these two estates is marked on Crawford’s Map as “Road to Hillbank,” and this plainly was the course of the present Ann Street. Hillbank House is drawn on this map, occupying an eminence near existing Cotton Road, and showing a decorative approach to the mansion, with curved lines of flowers and bushes leading up to the doorway.
The estate of Hillbank has belonged to the Wyse family (now spelled Wise) for nearly two centuries. Alexander Wyse purchased the estate of Lunan in 1734. His eldest son David Wyse, was an ingenious mechanician, erected a machine for spinning cotton, and built a manufactory for cotton-spinning at Dundee, near what is now called Cotton Road, and died in 1803. His eldest son, Thomas Wyse, was a physician, and went in that capacity to Jamaica, where he acquired a large fortune. Returning to Dundee, he bought the estate of Hillbank, near his father’s cotton-spinning mill, married the daughter of William Chalmers of Glenericht, who was for a long tome Town Clerk of Dundee; and died in 1816. The northward portion of Cotton Road is still named Hillbank Road, and when part of the estate was feued, in 1819, it was arranged that the street running north from Ann Street should be called Jamaica Street in memory of the early life of the deceased proprietor. The territorial title of “Wise of Hillbank” still survives.
Regarding Forebank estate, it is worth noting that in 1803 an advertisement appeared in the “Dundee Advertiser” stating that “summer lodgings” could be obtained at a farm there. Still more wonderful is the following announcement in that newspaper, dated 21st December, 1821:
“A field of ripe barley, sown in the month of August, was cut down yesterday at Forebank in this neighbourhood. Two crops in one year”.
This seems almost like an agricultural phenomenon; and shearing in December is not usual. The fields of Forebank are now covered with houses; but some of the old trees of 150 years ago are still flourishing.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Gellatly Street was laid out by the removal of two old closes that ran from the Seagait to the river, called respectively Drummond’s Close and Mitchell’s Close. In 1810 Peter Gellatly became proprietor of several of the buildings there and when the street was completed it was named after him. He died in 1841 as the result of an accident.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Referred to as Goat Wynd in 17th-century charters and in documents relating to proposed extension of Town House 1824. Chaplainry lands of St. Andrew Apostle and St. Clement’s manse on north west frontage in late 15th century – suggest possibility of thoroughfare.
North west frontage and Wynd survived until 1930–32 when site cleared to construct City Square and underground car park.
Goat Wynd 17th century to c.1825
Castle Wynd 1825–1932
Source: ‘Historic Dundee - The Archaeological Implications of Development’, Scottish Burgh Survey 1988
Gray’s Close, in the High Street, which was contiguous to Rankine’s Court, has disappeared entirely. No definite trace has been found of the Gray who gave his name to the Close; but so early as 1520 the name was so applied to the passage in documents of that time.
For generations the family of Smith, clock-makers-or “knock-smiths,” as they were called – lived in one of the houses in this Close, from about 1660 till at least 1732, when the existing clock in the old Town House was made and erected by one of them. Here also resided in one of the mansions, only recently removed, no less than six Provosts of Dundee, as shown in the following lists:
William Kinneris, 1646–47; Sir Thomas Mudie, 1648–53; David Maxwell, 1723–25; James Fairweather, 1729–34; Patrick Maxwell, 1735–36; David Brown, 1820–25. These names might give some dignity to the principal mansion in Gray’s Close. Sir Thomas Mudie was Provost when the Siege of Dundee took place in 1651; David Maxwell of Bogmill was projector of Newport-on-Tay, and became bankrupt by that speculation; and it was James Fairweather that proposed and carried through the building of the old Town House in 1732.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Blinshall Street was named after the Rev Dr. James Blinshall, who was Minister of the Third Charge (St. Paul‘s) in Dundee from 1764 till his death in 1803. He was the son of David Blinshall, Minister of Lamington, he studied at Aberdeen University, was licensed by the Presbytery of Biggar in 1744 and became Minister of the English Church, Amsterdam, in 1758, having D.D. conferred upon him.
In 1764 he was appointed to Dundee, where he took an active interest especially in Gilbert Guthrie‘s Mortification, dated 1674, for educational purposes. The funds were chiefly derived from ten acres of land in the Westfield of Dundee but when Dr. Blinshall found that the Town Council, without warrant, were about to take over these lands, he protested along with the Kirk Session against this unlawful proceeding, and was successful. In commemoration of this action three of the streets on the ground were named respectively, Guthrie Street, Blinshall Street and Session Street.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Haldane Street and Cloan Road, both in Downfield, were laid out by Robert Haldane, related to the Haldanes of Gleneagles, who was proprietor about 1822, of part of the estate of Kirkton, lying south of Strathmartine estate.
The ground is largely feued since Mr Haldane’s time. Cloan is the name of the seat of the present Viscount Haldance, near Auchterarder.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
The name of Hawkhill can be traced back to the late fifteenth century – say about 1490. It was the main access from the west until Perth Road was formed; and was the highway from Dundee to Perth for a very long period. This was what made it necessary, for defensive purposes, to maintain the West Port. The designation suggests that in early days this quarter may have been devoted to the sport of hawking, as the Meadows were set apart for archery, and a long retained the name of “the Butts,” after the days of wappinshaws were over.
The mansion known as Hawkhill House is of a much later date, and probably took its name from the street that ran beside it. Perth Road, which diverted the westward traffic, was one of the plans of George Dempster of Dunnichen towards the close of the eighteenth century. As he was then the head of the Dundee Bank, he agreed to advances for the purpose of forming Perth Road, and one of the earliest builders to take advantage of this privilege was James Miln, builder, who was made a Burgess gratis for his assistance at a fire in the old Town House in 1770. Almost the first houses in this part of the Nethergait were the houses known till the present day as “Miln’s Buildings,” on the south side of the thoroughfare. The ground upon which this continuous tenement was erected had belonged to the Red Friars’ Monastery, which after the Reformation, was an Almshouse, and afterwards the Seminary from which the High School was developed, and is now the site of St. Andrews R. C. Cathedral.
This stretch of ground between the new Perth Road and the river was known as “Monksholm,” and unquestionably belonged to the Red Friars’ Monastery, though all the Church lands were secularised in Queen Mary’s time, and handed over to the Town Council for administration under special conditions. James Miln erected this terrace of houses in 1788, principally that they might be occupied as the town residences of the country gentry. At a much later date, Perth Road was extended westward until it was joined by Hawkhill at the gushet known locally as “the Sinderins,” or separation of the roads. The old road to Perth ran on the upper reaches, passing over Menzies Hill at Invergowrie, and coming down to the course of the present highway beyond that village.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
The towering tenement known as the “High Land” is one of the most conspicuous objects in that part of the city which for over a century has been known as ‘Scourin Burn’, and which in 1906 was re-christened under the title of ‘Brook Street’.
It was erected in the middle “sixties” by Mr. Robertson, a gentleman of eccentric habits. Situated in the Larch Street / Walton Street / Urquhart Street area, it was built to house the workers of a nearby jute mill.
The frontage to Larch Street is 126 feet, and to Urquhart Street 44 feet. There are nine storeys 10 foot high, giving a total height of 90 feet. None of the flats are underground, the building commencing from the level of the street. The height from the ground to the top of the highest chimney is 102 feet. The view from the top flat of the building on a clear day is very wide, extending from the Bell Rock on the east to Newburgh on the west. The site is in a very elevated part of Dundee, and the building itself is higher than any other houses in Dundee. There are 187 rooms in the building, each fitted up with water and water-closets.
Eight storeys high on the Larch Street frontage and nine at the back, the top three storeys were closed in the 1890s because they were beyond reach of fire escapes.
The building was condemned some time between 1936 and 1946 and demolished c.1965.
Home Street, Broughty Ferry is named after the Earls of Home, who have been proprietors of a large portion of Broughty Ferry, as heirs of the Duke of Douglas.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Horse Wynd in early days formed almost the only communication between the Murraygait and the Seagait. It is of unrecorded antiquity. Within the range of written documents it is found so early as 1449, when it was described as being built on both sides, which would carry its date very far back. Indirectly its date is shown by a charter of 1465, in which it is referred to as “the King‘s Vennel, anciently called the Horse Wynd“. At that time the property on the west side belonged to Robert Graham of Fintry, Provost of Dundee; and many of the principal burgesses had mansions in the Horse Wynd. As the first Cross of Dundee stood in the Seagait, this passage would afford a ready access thither from the centre of the burgh. Immediately opposite to it, on the south side of the Seagait, was the Sea Vennel, which ran to the river precisely on the course of the present Candle Lane.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Hospital Wynd is not so called because there was ever a hospital there, but because when Mary Queen of Scots, after the reformation, handed over the ecclesiastical lands to support the “Hospital” (or “Poorhouse” as we now call it) the land at the top of Hilltown was thus transferred to the Town Council.
Hyndford Street received its name in commemoration of the Carmichaels, Earls of Hyndford, though these noblemen had no immediate connection with Dundee. John Carmichael was created Earl of Hyndford in 1701, chiefly because of the support he gave to the Treaty of Union of the Parliaments of Scotland and England. On the death of Andrew, sixth Earl of Hyndford, unmarried, in April 1817, the title became dormant, but has been claimed several times.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Kerrsview is the name suggested for the new street running to the east of Graham Street, Dundee.
The matter comes up at the Works Committee of the Town Council tomorrow. The name is intended as a recognition and commemoration of the work that Mr James Kerr accomplished on behalf of the city in securing for it the Caird Park.
The city engineer is also suggesting that the street to the west from Graham Street should be called Barnes Avenue, to perpetuate the name of the first convener of the Housing and Town Planning Committee.
Source: ‘Evening Telegraph’, Tuesday 8th May, 1934
Still another of the ancient Closes swept away to make Whitehall Street was that which was latterly known as “Key’s Close.” It stood between Whitehall Close and Scott’s Close, to the east of the former. This passage was in existence about 1450, and in it was the house of Treasurer Brown, where his son George, afterwards Bishop of Dunkeld, was born. In 1485 the Bishop founded the Altar of the Three Kings of Cologne in St. Mary’s Church, and handed over the house of his birth, with other properties, for this purpose. The occupant at that time Will Schippert, a leading baker of the period and in the charter; the passage is described as “Will Schippert’s Close”. For centuries afterwards the Close was associated with the Baker Trade.
About 1730 Andrew Watson, baker, acquired property in the Close, and the name changed to “Andrew Watson’s Close,” which designation remained till long after his death in 1780. William Key, cabinet-maker, and Deacon of the Wright’s Trade, purchased a house here in 1804, and the name was again altered to “Key’s Close,” which was retained until the Close was removed.
The Wright Trade acquired an extensive portion of buildings, and formed the Wright’s Hall, which was used for trade and public meetings. Thomas Colville & Son, the leading printers in Dundee, occupied Key's house in 1816, and from it was issued the first number of the “Dundee Weekly Courier” in September of tthat year.
In November, 1823, David Hill succeeded Colville, and continued to issue the “Courier” from Key’s Close till Aprill, 1861, when the printing-office was removed to New Inn Entry. Here it remained till November 1892 when it was transferred to the new building in Lindsay Street. In June, 1906, Messers. D. C. Thomson & Co., Ltd., again removed to splendid new “Courier Buildings” in Albert Square and Ward Road, erected by the firm.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
The Kingsway, Dundee’s indispensable outer ring road, was the dream-child of James Thomson, the City Engineer who was responsible for the initial design of the Caird Hall as well as some superior municipal housing. The Kingsway, originally to be a wide, tree-lined avenue, was a long time in the planning and construction. For some years after its completion it marked the effective perimeter of the city, and the spread of housing beyond it is mainly post-1945. More recently the creation of new industrial estates has largely obliterated this concept. The name Kingsway, devised during the planning stage, was meant to commemorate the current monarch, Edward VII, although the actual completion was in the reign of Victoria and Albert’s grandson, George V.
Source: ‘Dundee Names, People and Places’ – David Dorward
Kinloch Place was named in memory of the famous local Reformer, George Kinloch (1775–1833), whose speeches in Dundee in 1817 and 1819 claiming Reform of the Representation of the People in Parliament were so distasteful to the authorities that he was indicted to the Court of Session for trial. He was advised to leave the country for a time, which he did. Ultimately, when George IV, was at Edinburgh in 1822, he pardoned Kinloch, who then returned to Dundee. He was the first M.P. chosen for Dundee after the Reform Bill of 1832 became law but unfortunately he died in March, 1833, in his 58th year. His name is still revered as that of a pioneer of Reform.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Did you know that the Kinnaird Hall, now known as the Kinnaird Picture House, was started as a corn exchange?
It was in 1853 that prominent citizens, including the then Lord Kinnaird and the late Rev George Gilfillan, conceived the idea of having a large hall for a corn exchange and public meetings. It was not until three years later that any definite step was taken. Two schemes came into view at the same time – one for a public hall and the other for a corn exchange.
An attempt was made to combine the two proposals, but they were kept separate. The site most favoured for the public hall was the Meadows, near where the Albert Institute now stands. The fatal objection to this site was the cost. For the corn exchange Lord Kinnaird offered a piece of ground in Bank Street.
In March 1856 the committee that was appointed reported that the subscriptions promised were totally inadequate to purchase the Meadows ground, and the idea had to be abandoned. The corn exchange movement, on the other hand, seemed to “go” from the first.
By the summer of 1858 the corn exchange was so far completed that a concert was given in it. On 11th November of that year it was completed, and brilliant functions were held at the inauguration. It was not till the spring of 1861 that the place was opened for corn exchange purposes.
As a meeting place for the farmers it career was short-lived, and at a meeting of the shareholders in Dundee in 1865 it was agreed to change the name from the corn exchange to the Kinnaird Hall – in honour of Lord Kinnaird, who had taken such an active part in its promotion.
Kinnaird Street perpetuates the name of George, ninth Lord Kinnaird, (1807–1878), who was much interested in the progress of Dundee, and gave assistance frankly towards many of the civic projects.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
A narrow passage linking Thorter Row with Tally Street. Emerging at old kirkyard of St Mary’s and probably originally an access route to church from east.
In 15th century and early 16th century many church alterages supported by property between Tally Street and Thorter Row e.g. alter of St. George Martyr, property of which described in sasines 9th November, 1567 suggesting path laid out at early date.
Appears on late 18th-century plans un-named 1776; designated Kirk Wynd 1793. North frontage intact from 1776 until c.1865, south frontage probably rebuilt along same line at time Nethergate widened c.1812; street apparently maintained width until demolition in 1960s, as part of Overgate redevelopment with extensive basement area. It is unlikely any traces remain.
Kirk Wynd 1793
Church Lane by 1858
Source: ‘Historic Dundee – The Archaeological Implications of Development’, Scottish Burgh Survey 1988
Bradbury Street, Downfield was called after Mrs Bradbury, who succeeded her father, Colonel David Laird, in the estate of Strathmartine, in 1872. This estate was acquired by Admiral Laird in 1785 for £15,000, and he expended large sums in improving it. He was the son of a Dundee corn-merchant, and entered the Royal Navy as a youth, attaining distinction during the American War, rising to the rank of Admiral.
After his retirement he resided at Strathmartine Castle, where he died in 1811, and was buried in the churchyard of Strathmartine, though no stone marks his grave. The Admiral’s grandson, Colonel David Laird, of the Forfar and Kincardine Militia, succeeded to the estate, and continued the work of improvement which had been initiated, thus greatly increasing the value of the property. The Colonel died in 1872, and his daughter, Catherine, became proprietrix.
She married in 1874 August Beatty Bradbury, who died in the succeeding year. It was in her time that Bradbury Street and Laird Street were laid out, hence with two names. After her death in 1887 the estate was purchased from the Trustees by the late Mr. Thomas H. Cox, of Maulesden.
Lamb’s Lane obtained its name from James Lamb, grandfather of the late A.C. Lamb, who had a small factory beside his house in this narrow thoroughfare. This work, an humble four-loom shop, was begun about 1790, and after his death his brother John carried it on till about 1840, though the house was removed many years ago.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
The Law Hill formed part of the estate of Dudhope when it was held by the Scrymgeoures. After the lands were divided and sold to various proprietors, it was included in that portion known specially as Dudhope, the mansion of which was Dudhope House. This ultimately came into the possession of the Rankines of Dudhope.
The Law was acquired from William Macbean Rankine by the Town Council in 1879, and made a recreation place for citizens. A fine carriage-way has been formed, circling around the Law to the summit, from which position an extensive view may be obtained of the lofty hills and eminences in Forfarshire, Fife, Perthshire, Inverness-shire, and even as far north as the Grampian range in Aberdeenshire.
The Memorial commemorating the Great War in 1914–1918 was erected here in 1924, in recognition of the part played by Dundee in that contest. The Law Hill and the ground forming the approaches to it from the city occupy over 17 acres.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Leng Street was called after Sir John Leng, M.P. (1828–1906), whose name has long been familiar in Dundee in every branch of the city’s activities. In 1851 he was appointed Editor of the “Dundee Advertiser”, and by his enterprise he made it one of the leading Scottish journals, besides founding several other important periodicals. He represented Dundee in Parliament from 1889 till his retiral in 1905; and he obtained the honour of Knighthood in 1893. He died in his 78th year.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Lindsay Street was a narrow thoroughfare known in the 17th century as “School Wynd”, after the grammar school had been moved thither from the Vault.
It takes its name from William Lindsay, who was Provost of Dundee from 1831 till 1833, and who had strongly advocated the transforming of the wynd into a spacious street.
He was of the family of the Lindsays of Bowhill, who were directly descended from the Earls of Crawford. He was born in Edinburgh in 1767, and came to Dundee when he was about 25 years of age, forming a large business as a corn merchant, and being very successful in the export trade.
After serving as Dean of Guild in 1827 and 1828, he entered the Town Council as the representative of the Guildry, and in 1831 he became provost. In the next year he was again chosen for that office after the Reform Bill of 1832 came into operation.
He died 17 years later in his 83rd year.
Lochee Park, which lies to the North of Balgay Hill, contains 23 acres, and was presented by Messrs. Cox Brothers, Camperdown Works, in 1890 and partly endowed by them. It is reserved for recreative purposes, and provision is made for football, cricket and golf, as well as a gymnasium for children.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Longair Street was called after Lord Provost William Longair, who held that office from 1905 till 1908, and accomplished many improvements in the City.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Loons Road, which runs from Strathmartine Road to Logie Street, Lochee, is a corrupted form of “the Loan,” or hedged-in lane of former times. It was on the estate of the Scrymgeoures of Dudhope, and is frequently mentioned in early chapters of that family as a boundary when parts of the land were sold.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
McDonald Street, named after Baillie Duncan McDonald, who was long associated with Public Boards in Dundee. He entered the Town Council in 1869, and remained there continuously till 1897, forming a record of service. In 1872 he became a Member of the first School Board, continuing to serve till his death in 1908, when he had reached his 86th year.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Magdalen Green, over 20 acres in extent, is on the bank of the River Tay, and at one time formed part of the estate of Blackness, held by the Wedderburns, and afterwards by the Hunters. It is supposed that the name was derived from a Chapel dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen, which is said traditionally to have been at the foot of what is now Step Row.
After the Reformation the ground was secularised with other ecclesiastical property, and handed over to the Town Council; but up till quite recent times the Laird of Blackness, Mr David Hunter, claimed that he had control of all this space, as the bound of his Barony was the river, maintaining that ““agdalen Green” formed part of the lands of Blackness. Much litigation ensued between the Town Council and Mr Hunter but eventually a compromise was made, and he received £1,500, and the Green became the absolute property of the Town Council.
The place has been skilfully set out for recreation. Probably the original names was “Magdalen Gair”, meaning the garth or garden-ground of the Chapel; but this designation in time was corrupted into “Guard”, and latterly into “Magdalen Yard”, by which it is now known.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Fintry Castle, or, as it is more generally called “Mains Castle”, occupies a pleasant situation on the south side of the Gelly burn, a tributary of the River Dichty. It probably has been erected upon the site of a Castle that belonged in early times to the Earls of Angus, who were Lords of Strathdichty. William, Lord Graham of Kincardine, was married in 1413 to Lady Mary Stewart, daughter of Robert III., and his grandson became Sir Robert Graham of Strathcarron and Fintry, two properties in Stirlingshire. As Sir Robert was married to a daughter of the Earl of Angus, he obtained the lands of Strathdichty as her dowry, and changed the name to that of his ancestral Stirlingshire property, calling the estate “Fintry”. From that time the Grahams of Fintry have continued till the present day (1924) with uninterrupted male succession.
Mains Castle was begun by the grandson and completed by the great-grandson of Sir Robert Graham. The latter – Sir David Graham of Fintry – finished the building of the Castle in 1582, as is shown by a dated stone in the structure. It was his misfortune to be concerned in the Popish plot known as the “Spanish Blanks”, for his complicity in which he was executed at Edinburgh in 1592. The property remained in the possession of the Grahams of Fintry until it was acquired by David Erskine, W.S., about 1788, the seller – Robert Graham of Fintry, the friend of Robert Burns – stipulating that the old name of Linlathen should be taken as the proprietory designation of the purchaser, whilst Graham's family would retain the distinction “of Fintry” for all time. The Grahams of Fintry settled in South Africa, where they founded Grahamstown, and have held high positions in the politics of the locality.
In 1912 the late Sir James K. Caird, Bart., purchased from the late David Erskine of Linlathen the ruinous Mains Castle, and that part of the estate upon which it had been erected, and presented the ground to form a splendid recreation place called the Caird Park. It is furnished with a golf course, an artificial pond and cascade, and recreation grounds for football and other games. The Caird Park was formally opened on 27th October, 1920, by Mrs. Marryat, sister of Sir James Caird, Bart. The estate of Belmont, near Alyth, which was the residence of the Earls of Wharncliffe, and afterwards of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Prime Minister, which had been purchased by Sir James Caird, was also handed over to the Town Council by Mrs. Marryat.
Maitland Street, Malcolm Street and Ogilvie Street were called after prominent members of the manufacturing firms of Baxter Brothers Ltd., and of Malcolm Ogilvie and Co Ltd.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Makkeson’s Close was another of the old passages removed when Whitehall Street was formed. It stood to the east of Scott’s Close, and took its name from a leading Dundee family. The name of John Makkesoun appears in the Seal of Cause of the Skinner Craft or Glover Trade in 1516 and in 1539 a charter under the Great Seal refers specifically to the passage as “Makkesoun’s Close”. After many alterations it was latterly designated “Harris’s Entry,” from Roderick Harris, baker, uncle and predecessor of late Bailie William Harris, founder of the Harris Academy.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Malcom Street, Maitland Street and Ogilvie Street were called after prominent members of the manufacturing firms of Baxter Brothers Ltd., and of Malcolm Ogilvie and Co Ltd.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
The names of the Marketgait (now High Street), the Nethergait, and the Overgait are self explanatory. The place of execution stood in the Marketgait, and was known as the “The Heding-Cross”. The earliest name of the Nethergait was “Flukergait,” and the Overgait of the olden time was called “Argyllis-gait,” because the house of Campbell of Balruddery (a scion of the Campbells of Argyll) stood in the street, and was called “Argyllis Ludging”. Nether and Over simply mean Lower and Upper.
It will be noticed that all such names as “Murraygait” are correctly spelled thus: “Murraygait” which is accordance with the Scottish language. The word “gate” means a doorway, while “gait” means a road. Thus, the Well-gait is the road to the well, not a door at the Well, Sea-gait is the road to the sea, Cow-gait the road to pasture-land, and so on. The affix “gate” is a modern corruption.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Legend has it that Mary Ann Street had two nameplates – spelt differently at either end. One had it as Ann, the other Anne. It is thought the Mary Ann(e) in question was one of the philanthropic Baxter family who gave the city the park that bears their name.
Maxwelltown was formed by the feuing of ground near the upper part of Hilltown, which belonged to the family of the Maxwells of Tealing. The first Maxwell of Tealing was Eustace, son of Sir William Maxwell of Caerlaverock, having obtained the lands by his marriage, about 1240, with Agnes, heiress of Sir John Gifford, and from him descended a long line of Maxwells, many of whom where distinguished in history. About 1780, the land at Hilltown was acquired by David Maxwell, Lord Dean of Guild, the last of the name holding the estate of Tealing. When the feuing-plan was prepared setting out the new streets that were to be formed, Maxwell arranged that these should be named after members of the family. This accounts for the names of these streets – Ann Street, Eliza Street, George Street, Alexander Street, Elizabeth Street, and William Street. Several of the members of this branch of the Maxwells were Provosts of Dundee.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Meadowside for many centuries was the Public Bleaching Green, and extended from the east side of Albert Square almost to Lochee Road, the water supply being the Scouring Burn, which ran through the ground and joined Tod’s Burn at the north corner of Commercial Street. Ward Road was opened as a finished pathway in June 1803, but the Bleaching Green was still in use till 1825, when the Town Council gave in exchange the ground in Constitution Road for this purpose.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Michelson’s Close was cleared away, together with Whitehall Close, so as to form Whitehall Street. At the time of its removal in 1883 it was known as “Scott’s Close;” but in documents dated 1529 it is described as “Michelson's Close,” and that name continued to be used for nearly two centuries afterwards. It was one of the earliest Closes in the quarter which led directly from the Market-gait (High Street) to the river, and was the first to be built continuously on the east side at a very early date. This is proved by the fact that in 1450 it was described as “a finished close,” meaning that there were houses on both sides, or nearly so, save for intervening gardens. Alexander Michelson, from whom the close took its name, was a merchant, and in 1529 was admitted burgess of Dundee. His descendents held the property till the middle of the seventeenth century (1650), after which the houses were gradually acquired by George Crockatt, merchant, Bailie, and Treasurer, and in 1690 the name was changed to “Crockatt’s Close”. Thomas Crockatt, grandson of George, removed to London, and sold the property in 1744 to Thomas Scott, Deacon of the Hammermen, when the name was again altered to “Scott’s Close,” which designation was retained until its demolition.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Craigie, or craggy, bank slopes down to the river, but the ’Mid” part is not in the middle of the bank or anything like it. It is, if anything, behind Craigiebank.
The names comes because there were once three farms stretching out along the crag, and what is now the housing scheme is on the middle one on the way east. The three farms were: Old Craigie, Milton of Craigie and Strips of Craigie.
Name derived from Robert Mitchell, wright, proprietor of front tenement 1786, but earlier origins perhaps 15th century. So-called ‘Graham of Fintry’s Chapel’ built here c.1550, probably on site of earlier 16th-century tenement. Mid 16th-century building extant at time of demolition.
Close demolished 1870–1 to allow improvement to Seagate and extension to Gellatly Street. Site now lies partly beneath the Seagate, partly beneath cinema (theatre 1885) at junction of Gellatly Street and Seagate.
Source: ‘Historic Dundee – The Archaeological Implications of Development’, Scottish Burgh Survey 1988
Moncur Crescent was named after Provost Alex. Hay Moncur, who occupied that position from 1880 till 1883. He was born in 1830, and succeeded his father as a jute manufacturer in Victoria Works, Ure Street.
In 1868 he became a Town Councillor and served with great ability and popularity until his term of the Provostship was completed in 1883, when he did not seek re-election. He entered the first Dundee School board in 1872, and for 15 years was Chairman, during which time he carried out many educational reforms.
In almost every notable philanthropic movement he took a prominent part, and was a munificent donor towards leading Institutions. His death took place on 5th August, 1908, when in his 78th year.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
In the early years of the eighteenth century the linen thread of Dundee was famous as the cotton thread of the present time. For a long period the firm of James Weemys & Co. had a thread factory on the east side of Castle Hill, using the burn at Burnhead (now Commercial Street) as their motive power. One of the principal partners was William Morison, who amassed a considerable fortune through this industry, and purchased in 1737 the estate of Naughton in Fife. He was the son of a Bailie, and was himself Dean of Guild and Treasurer of Dundee. The estate still belongs to his descendant. The thread-making trade expired about 1790, having been transferred to Johnstone, near Paisley, where it flourishes. The only record of the Morisons, who were long civic dignitaries in Dundee, is the name Morison’s Court in the Wellgait.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
One of the most important streets of ancient Dundee, the name of the Murraygate is commemorative of the Battle of Bannockburn, for tradition has it that the name was given to the street in honour of the derring-do of the Earl of Moray, who was henchman of the Bruce at Bannockburn, and who came to Dundee with the King in October 1314.
In the days when the Town House stood in the Seagate, the Murraygate was the central business quarter of the burgh. The northern end of the street was guarded by a gate, and the walls of defence were the back dykes of the gardens of Murraygate householders. Until nearby the end of the sixteenth century the city was without the protection of a surrounding wall, and the greatest care was taken to see that “all back dykes were biggit up and repairit sufficiently quhair the same are decayit or broken down”. It was enjoined moreover, that the “back yetts of every tenement be made sufficient with locks, bands, or other necessities, and closit every nicht” under the pain of a fine of forty shillings. People found to have climbed the walls were fined eight shillings “to be applyit to Kirk wark”, and so in every way it was made sure that the gates of the town were "steukit and made close". It is worthy of note that the defence of the Town Wall at the northern end of the Murraygate gave the soldiers of General Monk more trouble than they had at any other quarter of the burgh.
In January 1568 we find the Council resolving that the Murraygate Port be “repairit and biggit with all possible diligence be the Treasurer, with the assistance of Bailie Findlason, and that the money of unlaws appointit thereto be tollit and inbrocht for the repairing thereof”. But it was not till nearly twenty years later that the new Port was erected. The one end rested on the angle formed by the junction of the Cowgate, and the other stood on “Andro Masson’s heirs’ land beneath the Port”, where Panmure Street now is. When the erection was completed the Treasurer received instructions to cause bing the Murraygait Port, and mak the expenses thereof upon the tollbuith rents; and if the same should not serve, the Council obliged them to relieve him”, and they “disponit to Robert Bawand and Patrick Lowrie, masons, ane burgess-ship in recompense of their bounty, and skayth in the town's wark in biggin the Murraygait Port; and agreed that the persons presentit be them be insert in the lockit buik”.
At the time the Murraygate was a fair example of an ancient Scottish burgh street. From the High Street at Rankine’s Court down to very near Meadow Entry, it was a vennel or lane, through which it was difficult to drive the mail coach. From Meadow Entry to the Cowgate the street was wider, but as the thoroughtfare generally was blocked by carriers’ carts, hucksters’ barrows, and stands, the Broad of the Murraygate was not much wider than the Narrow of the Murraygate.
The Trades Hall at the east end of the High Street, the frontage of which was in line with the centre of Castle Street, divided the Murraygate from the Burnhead or Seagate. In rear of the Trades Hall was a narrow pass in which stood the famous shop of Toffee Reid. The Clydesdale Bank, erected in 1877–78 used to occupy the site of the ancient buildings in which the little toffee shop was a central feature.
Source: Dundee Year Book, 1914
Neish Street was called after William Neish of Tannadice and Easter Clepington, who had become proprietor, in 1856, of the land on which the street was formed.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Nelson Street had a rather curious origin. This street was planned in 1841, and it was intended to call it Parnell Street, after Sir Henry Parnell, who had been M.P. for Dundee from 1837 until he was raised to the House of Lords with the title of Baron Congleton in the year 1841, when the street was being constructed. But in the following year, after a long period of ill-health he committed suicide, and the Town Council decided that this street should be named after Admiral Lord Nelson, and another thoroughfare in the neighbourhood should be called Wellington Street, after the famous military hero, the Duke of Wellington.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Ogilvie Street along with Maitland Street and Malcolm Street were called after prominent members of the manufacturing firms of Baxter Brothers Ltd., and of Malcolm Ogilvie and Co Ltd.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Orchar Park Broughty Ferry, in which district this Park is situated, became a part of the City of Dundee in 1923, under the Extension of the City Act. In 1887, on the occasion of the First Jubilee of Queen Victoria, the conversion of the lease of the ground was acquired by the Commissioners, of the Burgh at that time and in 1890 James Guthrie Orchar (1825–1898), who was for many years Provost of Broughty Ferry, at his own expense, erected the wall and railing by which the Park is surrounded. This public resort was named “Orchar Park” in honour of Provost Orchar, who had done much towards obtaining the Park for the community.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
The churches had much to do with the naming of streets and closes. That part of the Nethergait from High Street to Tally Street was called "“ur Lady Gait,” because it formed the access from the east to St. Mary’s Church. A similar origin may be ascribed to Mid Kirk Style and Kirk Wynd, now Church Street. St. Clement’s Lane stood on the east side of the Church of St. Clement, the original principal church in Dundee, the site which is now occupied by the Old Town House.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Panmure Street was first projected by the Improvements Bill of November, 1824 and in the following March the Town Council began to acquire the intervening properties so that there might be formed “a new street opening from the Cowgait to the Meadows”. In May, 1839, this street was opened, and was named after William Ramsay Maule, the first Baron Panmure, in recognition of “Lord Panmure’s recent munificent donations to the funds of the infirmary”. Lord Panmure acknowledged the honour thus conferred upon him in January, 1840. The dwellings on the site of the new street had all been removed previous to that date.
Many of the streets of Dundee were named after individuals by their Christian names, and cannot be readily identified without a knowledge of local family history. For instance, the district of Maxwelltown was formed by the feuing of ground near the upper part of Hilltown, which belonged to the family of the Maxwells of Tealing. The first Maxwell of Tealing was Eustace, son of Sir William Maxwell of Caerlaverock, having obtained the lands by his marriage, about 1240, with Agnes, heiress of Sir John Gifford, and from him descended a long line of Maxwells, many of whom were distinguished in history. About 1780, the land at Hilltown was acquired by David Maxwell, Lord Dean of Guild, the last of the name holding the estate of Tealing. When the feuing-plan was prepared setting out the new streets that were to be formed, Maxwell arranged that these should be named after members of the family. This accounts for the names of these streets – Ann Street, Eliza Street, George Street, Alexander Street, Elizabeth Street, and William Street. Several of the members of this branch of the Maxwells were Provosts of Dundee.
Some of the modern streets have been named in connection with estates and their proprietors in the vicinity of Dundee.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee‘ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Parker Street was named after Provost Charles Parker, a native of Bentham, Yorkshire, who was born in 1796. He came from Darlington to Dundee, in 1849, and started an engineering work and iron foundry. He entered the Town Council in 1857, was Treasurer in 1859, and raised in 1861 to the position of Provost. The last-named office he held for the double term of six years, but did not survive to complete that period, as he died in 1867 while in office, being then in his 71st year. He took an active part in many reforms of municipal affairs.
He was specially interested in the founding of the Free Public Library and it was mainly through his advocacy that the Public Libraries Act was adopted in September, 1866, though he did not survive to see the completion of the work.
Adapted from: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Very few Dundonians know the origin of the name Peep o’ Day Lane, and are apt to associate it in some remote way with the Irish rebels of 1798 who call themselves “Peep o' Day Boys”. But it has a much more aristocratic history than that. In a map of Dundee dated 1803, there is shown as existing at this spot the Peep o’ Day Mansion, which had formerly been the residence of the Hon. Walter Ogilvy of Clova, who became sixth titular Earl of Airlie. This Walter Ogilvy was the younger brother of the famous Lord Ogilvy of 1745, who raised a Forfarshire Regiment to fight for Prince Charlie, and escaped from Culloden to France.
Walter was born at Cortachy Castle in 1733, educated at Edinburgh University and was admitted as an Advocate in 1757. He never practised his profession, but led the life of a younger son of the nobility. It seems probable that he had built this mansion either at the time of his first marriage in 1761, or at the time when his brother, Lord Ogilvy, returned from France in 1778.
He was married for the second time in 1780, and lived at Peep o’ Day Mansion when not in resident at Balnaboth in Glenprosen. By his second wife he had eleven children. When his nephew, David, son of Lord Ogilvy, died in April, 1812, Walter succeeded to the title. He died in 1819, aged 86 years.
His eldest son, David, became seventh Earl of Airlie, and the Peep o’ Day Mansion was abandoned. It was removed when the Dundee Gas Works were established in Dock Street; but the name of the old aristocratic dwelling still survives in “Peep o’ Day Lane”. It is probable that the name was descriptive of the position of the house – facing towards the east where the dawn would be visible.
Adapted from: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Perrie Street, Lochee was named after Bailie Perrie, who was long known as “the Provost of Lochee”. He was born at Burrelton, Coupar Angus, in 1835, came to Dundee as an apprentice baker in 1846, started in business as a baker on his own account in 1854 and carried on till his retiral shortly before his death. In 1876 he entered the Town Council and continued to serve, without a break, as Councillor for Lochee, with an unbroken record, till 1917.
During that time he was Bailie, and Convener of most of the Municipal Committees; served under 12 Provosts, and had so much influence in the Town Council that he was known as “the Provost-Maker"” He died in January 1917, aged 82 years, and was then “the Father of the Council”.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
The Pleasance, in Lochee Road, at one time formed part of the gardens connected with Dudhope Castle when it was occupied by the Scrymgeoure family. What is now Lochee Road was originally a pathway through this garden, which latterly gave form to a winding street. In the olden time the word “Pleasance” was applied to a secluded portion of a garden, shut in from intrusion by trees and shrubs, and affording security from interruption. Now, the pathway of other days is a very busy thoroughfare; the garden-ground is covered by closely crowded buildings and works – including the brewery that belonged to the late Provost Ballingall – and nothing remains of the old Pleasance of Dudhope save the name that has so long survived. Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Polepark Road presents a problem. The name does not appear in any of the old documents relating to the burgh and its origin must be mere conjecture. The public Playfield of Dundee, where some of Wedderburne’s plays were performed about 1550, was situated at West Port, and the Scouring Burn (now Brook Street) runs at an angle to the north-west, leading into Polepark Road. It may be that there was a primitive public park here, with a Pole or Standard upon which flags might be displayed on special occasions. This would account for the name, which still survives in Polepark Road and Pole Street.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Opened in 1854, and named in honour of Lord Raglan (1788–1855), who was a distinguished officer under Wellington during the Peninsular Campaign, and was Commander of the Forces in the Crimean War, gaining the battle of Alma, Balaclava, and Inkerman, and dying in the Crimea after the attacks on Malakoff and the Redan. Many Dundonians were engaged in this campaign.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
This street was named in memory of William Macbean Rankine, of Dudhope, who sold the Law Hill and its approaches to the Town Council in 1878, for the sum of £3,888, and thus the citizens obtained possession of one of the distinguishing features of Dundee.
The portion of the property of Dudhope which included the Law was acquired about 1770 by William Rankine, a merchant of Perth, who died near 1790, leaving a daughter and heiress, Margaret Rankine of Dudhope. In 1802 she was married to John Campbell of Kilberry, a scion of an old Argyllshire family, who died in 1838. His second grandson was William Macbean Campbell, who assumed the name of Rankine through his grandmother, whose estate he inherited. He was born in 1848 and died in 1879, when the succession fell to Walter Lorne Campbell Rankine, born in 1877.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Probably obtained its name from Andrew Rankine, an energetic burgess, who built a remarkable house in the Vault called “Andrew Rankine’s Tower” in 1607. The building was demolished when the old Town House was extended in 1868. He was a shipowner in Dundee, and his name frequently appears in the Shipping Lists of the period. Apparently his residence was here previous to 1607, and the name has persisted till the present day. The most notable fact in connection with Rankine’s Court is that within a mansion in this Court the famous George Dempster of Dunnichen was born in 1732, and spent his early years here.
In 1677 the first George Dempster was born at Monifieth, and settled early in Dundee, where he became a leading merchant and banker, and lived in Rankine’s Court, acquiring the estates of Dunnichen, Newbigging, Conachie, Laws, and Ethiebeaton, all in Forfarshire. He made the most of his fortune as an exporter of grain, and was so blamed by the inhabitants for this traffic during a time of famine, that in 1720 his house in Rankine’s Court was raided by the mob and many valuables were carried away. His son John carried on the business, and George, the eldest son of John, was born in the Dempster mansion house. For many years George Dempster was Member of Parliament for Dundee, and his name is familiar to this day as a practical philanthropist. He died in 1818, respected by all classes of the community. An extension of Messrs. Keiller’s confectionary Works in 1887 absorbed some of the buildings in Rankine’s Court and the adjoining Gray’s Close, the latter of which had been in existence for over four hundred years.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Refrom Street was projected in 1824, having been suggested by William Burn, the well known architect. Previous to that time the north side of the High Street presented a continuous frontage of houses and Mr. Burn proposed a new street to the Meadows to run northward from the old Town House. Although negotiations were begun at that date for the acquiring of the properties, these were not completed till November, 1832, and the street was opened in the following year, and named after the Reform Bill. Several architects sent competitive designs for the frontage, but the plan submitted by Mr. George Angus, Edinburgh, was accepted. He was the architect of the High School and the Court-house Buildings in Bell Street. Much controversy arose as to the naming of the street; amongst those suggested being Kinnaird Street, after George, ninth Lord Kinnaird; Jobson Street, after Provost Jobson; and Brougham Street, in recognition of Lord Brougham; while some of the facetious Town Councillors proposed to call it Bond Street or Mortgage place in allusion to the money borrowed for the work, and Weathercock Street in reference to the difficulty of finding a name. As the name Reform Street had been used to designate the new thoroughfare in the titles, it was finally adhered to.
The first feus were taken in 1834 on the west and east side of the new street, facing the old Town House; and the last building erected to complete the street was Lamb’s Hotel (now Meadow House) at the north-west corner, which was finished in 1867. In the original plan a street was contemplated running at right angles with Reform Street to join Willison Street and it was named Bank Street after the erection of the Bank of Scotland. In this street the Corn Exchange was built in 1857, the building being afterwards the Kinnaird Hall, and finally the Kinnaird Picture House.
The formation of Reform Street was attended with considerable difficulty. Sat the upper portion, beside the Little Meadow, there was a range of whinstone rock which ran from New Inn Entry diagonally across the new street to the line of Bank Street, and which in some parts was between thirty and forty feet above the level of the High Street. Part of this rock had been quarried away, but the course of the new thoroughfare required the removal of large quantities of rock by blasting. The north end of Reform Street was so marshy beyond this line of rock that it had to be extensively piled before secure foundations for the houses could be obtained.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Reres Hill, Broughty Ferry – Reres Hill belonged to the 13th Earl of Dalhousie (1805–1880), and was secured to the Burgh of Broughty Ferry in 1868 as a Public Park, and improved by the layout out of walls, and making it popular as a resort for the people. In the year of the First Jubilee of Queen Victoria (1887), Provost Orchar caused the old wall to be removed and replaced by a modern structure, surmounted by iron-work. Archways were designed by Mr T.S. Roberson, architect. Above the doorway is a bas relief sculpture of the head of Queen Victoria, together with carvings of the Scottish and the Imperial Coat of Arms. This work was accomplished at the expense of Provost Orchar, and Reres Hill became a favourite resort of the residents.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Perhaps few people in Dundee, except those versed in local history, have ever heard of Rotten Row, but it is a fact that at one time there was such a place in the town. It is not likely it had any resemblance to the Rotten Row of Hyde Park. People, especially in Dundee, had not time then for that sort of thing. The Rotten Row of Dundee was no ornamental parade. A good many places have, or have had, their Rotten Row and much curiosity has been shown as to the origin of the rather contemptuous designation. It has been derived from “rotteran”, to muster, hence “rot”,a file of six soldiers. Another explanation is that it comes from the Norman “Ratten Row” (roundabout way), being the road that corpses were carried to avoid the public thoroughfare. Still another suggestion is “Route de Roi,” King’s Highway. Yet another derivation is from the Saxon “Rot”,pleasant, cheerful, or “rotten” referring to the soft material with which the road was covered. Much learning has been expended on the name, but as yet to very little purpose.
But if the origin of the name is lost in the mists of antiquity, much is yet remembered about the place itself. It is now known as Hilltown, a designation more expressive to the present-day intelligence, although it is quite possible that the earlier name was as full of meaning to those who invented and used it. Rotten Row, or Hilltown, at one time bid fair to become a very formidable rival to Dundee. Early in the seventeenth century the city had not yet crept up the Hill. The town wall ran along by Wellgate, and outside was open country, a road leading inland through the Dudhope territory up the Hill. On this steep road cottages were erected from time to time. These early Hill Tribes soon developed a character of their own. They lived under the patronage of the lords of Dudhope, and, as that family were often at feud with Dundee, the Hillmen took up the cause of their superior. This community outside the city wall seems to have grown to considerable dimensions, and it gave great trouble to Dundee. It could hardly hope to rival the city, as the latter had control of the port, but it could at least be “the thorn in the flesh”, and, as matter of fact, it was. The Rotten Rowers developed the length of carrying on their own industries, independent of the jurisdiction of the crafts in the city, and assumed the rights of self-government. The Wellgate Port had, in these circumstances, to be jealously guarded, even in the ordinary times of peace. In fact, there was no peace between Dundee and Rotten Row – it was merely an armed truce when there was not actual quarrelling. An unfaithful watchman was convicted of having opened the “Wellgait Port under silence of nicht, and also in the time of preaching”, and for this heinous offence was ordained to be “wardit in the Steeple twenty days on bread and water, and thereafter to be banished the burth perpetually”. Thus was the “traitor” disposed of. The punishment was heavy, but the trust was great, and the douce citizens of Dundee could not afford any slackness at this important post.
Trade matters became the main bone of contention between the rival places. Dundee was at that time fully equipped with all the paraphernalia of trade corporations with their privileges and responsibilities. But the landward men began to take up the same crafts – they were chiefly weavers and bonnetmakers – and adopted the principles practically of Free Trade – which at that time were tantamount to piracy. The town burgesses were heavily taxed for watching and warding, while their unauthorised competitors were free from the local rates, and consequently in time they became formidable competitors. The deacons of the trades, of course, complained of “them that dwell in the Hill and Rotten Raw, without all order, as if they were freemen, handle with staple guids, in great defraud of the freemen of the burgh, that do their duty to the King’s Majesty for their freedom”. Some of the bonnetmakers made submission, but the weavers continued in their evil ways, and, what was worst of all, “even with the connivance of some of the townsmen”. The deacons of the webster and walker crafts came before the Council, and “heavily lamentit” that the “maist part of the inhabitants daily put their work in the hands of unfreemen”, who, “being free from only burden of laws, have greatly increased in number and substances”, doing “all things and mair than to freemen is lesum, quha are decavit in their number and depauperit in substance, and na mair able to bear buden within the town”. To such a pass was Dundee brought, by this enterprising little place. Of course, the Council passed stringent laws against the Hill Tribes, but they also warned the deacons to take heed that the burgh weavers made good cloth, “to the effect that the neighbours may be the better movit to put wark”, into their hands. Was this a case of protection resulting in deterioration of the quality? Were the Hillmen giving better value for money? But the enforcement of the ordinance does not seem to have been very strict, for the number of unfreemen websters “daily increases, be their repairing fra all quarters of the realm to the Rotten Raw”, where they were “eating , as it war, the bread out of the mouths of freemen”. The boys of the Rotten Row also proved a source of trouble. They seem to have been as “lawless”, from the point of view of the freemen, as their fathers. A stringent ordinance was passed against these “insolent puir youth, who were to be skurgit through the burgh and banished for ever”.
The lord of Dudhope claimed certain rights of jurisdiction over Dundee which were disputed. He thought to avenge himself by forming the place into a burgh of barony, and secured the necessary charter “the magic influence of which instantly converted the scattered hovels of the Rotten Row into the Baronial Burgh of Hilltown of Dudhope”. Some improvement in the relations of the two places later, although there continued to be differences, and at times the old animosity reasserted itself. By the Royal grant erecting Dudhope into a barony the lords of Dudhope were confirmed in the patronage of the Church of Dundee, and many were the insults sustained by Dundee in trying to compel the patron to pay the minister’s stipend.
The town, however, did not take all this from his Lordship in silence. They carried the war into the enemy–s camp – Rotten Row. They tried to prevent a merchant who was rebuilding his shop carrying the front wall further forward than it was before, and they objected to his Lordship exacting customs in the burgh during the annual fair. The fight waxed hot. Both parties set all the legal machinery of the day at work against each other. The Viscount raised a charge of law-burrows against the town, and the town raised a similar charge against him. The Viscount won a modified legal victory. The town, however, though often defeated, was not cowed, and finally both parties, exhausted with the dispute, agreed to submit the matter to arbitration. In the final settlement the honours were pretty much divided. Before the agreement was signed Lord Dudhope was killed at the Battle of Long Marston Moor, but his son completed the agreement. He gave up the scheme for erecting Rotten Row into a burgh, together with the liberty to hold fairs and exercise trade, and allowed the inhabitants of the town to “dry their clothes and stent their cloth” upon the “slainting hill”, as they had been in use to do, and agreed that only four tailors should be allowed to remain in the Hill. The town, on their side, acknowledged the Viscount’s right to levy customs at the fair, and granted him other privileges. Since then Hilltown and Dundee have dwelt together with a fair amount of amity. But it was rather a sad ending to the high aspirations of Rotten Row. It aimed at humbling proud Dundee, but itself was finally reduced to four tailors! The subsequent history of Rotten Row has been more peaceful, and perhaps on that account less interesting. Towards the end of the 17th century the city came into actual possession of its rival. The lands had reverted to the Crown, which sold them to the town for “fourtie thousand nyne hundred and nynty pounds Scots”. Not a mere mess of pottage certainly, but Rotten Row was sold all the same. And to Dundee!
About the beginning of the 18th century the town got heavily into debt, and the Council were urged to sell the Hilltown and barony. However, the place was saved this second indignity, for, considering that it had been bought for “weightie reasons”, such as the preventing of trouble and expense “by want of the patronage of the Kirk of Dundie, and for hindering persones to sett up in the Baronie of Hilltowne to the prejudice of merchants residing and trading in the burgh”, and as inhabitants of Hilltown were burgesses of the burgh, it was agreed that the Hilltown be not sold, but that other lands be disposed of. Hilltown had a semblance of local autonomy for a considerable time after that, and it still has a Baron Bailie. The Town Council at first appointed Magistrates, and the Town Clerks for nearly two centuries by their commissions, were also appointed Clerks of the Barony of Hilltown. It had even a Tolbooth. Burgh extensions and new powers granted by Parliament to Corporations swept away most of these remnants of old times. The Hilltown feuars still elect a Baron Bailie but his offices is largely of an honorary character. He is unknown to fame, and few Rotten Rowers, if suddenly asked to name their Baron Bailie would be able to comply.
Source: Dundee Year Book, 1909
The Royal Arch was erected to commemorate the landing of Queen Victoria at the port, in September, 1844, her Majesty having then passed over the spot where the building now stands, and where, on that occasion, a handsome temporary arch was erected. The authorities, considering that such an important event, as they esteemed it, should be adequately commemorated, resolved to build a triumphal arch of stately dimensions, and accordingly offered a premium for the best design.
The architect was Mr. J.T. Rochmead, of Glasgow; and his design certainly indicated considerable originality and taste. The style of architecture is what is termed the Anglo-Saxon, a style seldom adopted for such erections, although the present specimen unquestionably possesses many beauties; the general effect is imposing, and some of the details are truly exquisite. The material used in the construction is fine freestone; and the work has been executed with no less stability than elegance.
This arch is the largest erection of the kind in Britain. Its dimensions are as follows: Breadth – 82 feet; height of side arches – 16 feet; width of side arches – 10½ feet; height of central arch – 32 feet; width of central arch – 21 feet; height of side towers – 54 feet; height of central towers – 84 feet.
A winding stair leads to the summit, which commands an extensive prospect; and it is intended, we believe, to combine the ornamental with the useful, by having a signal-post on the top of one of the central towers. The total cost of the structure is above £3,000, mostly raised by public subscription.
So far as we are aware, this is the first memorial which has been erected in Scotland in consequence of any of her Majesty’s numerous visits to that attractive country.
St. David’s Lane, North Tay Street, like many others in the city, took the name from its vicinity to St. David’s Parish Church. The following are a few of similar derivations: St. Luke’s Road, Downfield; St. Mary’s Lane, Lochee; St. Mary’s Road, Downfield (through part of the Glebe of the Parish Church); St. Matthew’s Street; St. Peter Street; and so on.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
St. Roque’s Lane, corrupted into “Simmirookie” was near St. Roque’s Chapel. St. Roque was the patron Saint of plague stricken inhabitants who were isolated at the grounds beyond the East Port known as “Sick Men’s Yards”. Roodyards Cemetery which still exists was where those who died of infectious diseases were buried.
Old Dundonians may remember St. Roque’s Mill, built by Baxter Brothers in 1889, and others will make an association with St. Roque’s Garage, a once-thriving concern at the corner of Ward Road and what is now West Marketgait; the reason for commemorating the saint at that particular location is obscure. Most people will however be familiar with the appearance, if not the name, of St. Roque’s Library, the only building of any note on the south side of Blackscroft. It was built in 1910 (near the site of the former chapel) as a single-storey French Renaissance pavilion, and the original drawings show it to be set in a formal garden of great elegance. It was funded from part of the Carnegie Library Gift to Dundee, some of the old Blackscroft houses having been cleared when the Town Council acquired the site at the beginning of the century.
Source: ‘Dundee Names, People and Places’ – David Dorward
St. Vincent Street, Broughty Ferry, was named after John Jervis, Earl of St. Vincent (1735–1823), who obtained that title after his defeating the Spanish Fleet off Cape St. Vincent, on 14th February, 1797. It is worthy of note that no less than six street, roads, and places in Broughty Ferry, Downfield, Dundee, and Lochee, were named “Camperdown” in memory of the great victory by Admiral Duncan in the same year.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
You will not find this name on any modern map of Dundee, but it is so central to the city’s industrial history that it must be discussed. You may have heard the name from your grandparents, as that of a thoroughfare, before it was replaced by the inappropriate and uninspiring name of Brook Street.
People used sometimes to ask how it came about that the burgh of Dundee developed on its present site and not, for example, on the south side of the river or further down nearer the mouth of the estuary. Surely the answers are obvious – a south-facing slope, a rocky outcrop for a castle, and a Law with a fort for protection. But the early development of manufacturing industry in Dundee is due not to these factors but to the ready supply of water from the streams that drained into the Tay basin in the vicinity of the first settlement.
There is now little evidence of these watercourses, which have long since been culverted; but they included the Tod’s Burn (‘tod’ being Scots for fox) and the more sizeable Dens Burn and its tributary the Wallace Burn. The old name Scourin Burn, or ‘cleansing burn’ probably referred to the process of waulking and scouring yarn; the burn apparently had in pre-industrial days the alternative names of the Friars Burn and the Mausie Burn. It rose somewhere to the west of the Law, flowed down the line of Brook Street and Guthrie Street and along Ward Road to Meadowside where it was apparently dammed so as to increase its head of water.
The Burnhead, at the top of what is now Commercial Street, was the point where the Dens Burn and the Scourin Burn met, both having taken a wide sweep from different sides of the Law; and the combined stream flowed to the river on a line parallel to Commercial Street ‘… down the slopes of the Castle Rock, driving the Malt Mills, which were common property’; the stream also powered a thread mill until around 1790. The overworked little stream joined the estuary at a creek situated at the intersection of Gellatly Street and the Seagate.
Maps of nineteenth-century Dundee show concentration of manufacturing industry along the courses of the Scourin Burn and its companion streams. Housing was run up nearby to accommodate the workers; and it could be said that Dundee’s early urban development was dictated by the presence of these little watercourses. Most of the factories have now gone, or have been adapted for non-industrial use, and the substandard housing has been cleared. A small section of the culverted Scourin Burn can still be seen running under the floorboards of Verdant Works, built in 1833 and situated between Milne Street and Guthrie Street; but is many a long year since the burn did any serious scouring.
Source: ‘Dundee Names, People and Places’ – David Dorward
Scott’s Close was named after Thomas Scott, Deacon of the Hammermen, when he purchased property here in 1774. The name remained until 1883 when it was demolished along with Whitehall Close, and Key’s Close, to form Whitehall Street.
Blinshall Street was named after the Rev Dr James Blinshall, who was Minister of the Third Charge (St. Paul’s) in Dundee from 1764 till his death in 1803. He was the son of David Blinshall, Minister of Lamington; studied at Aberdeen University; was licensed by the Presbytery of Biggar in 1744; and became Minister of the English Church, Amsterdam, in 1758, having D.D. conferred upon him.
In 1764 he was appointed to Dundee, where he took an active interest especially in Gilbert Guthrie’s Mortification, dated 1674, for educational purposes. The funds were chiefly derived from ten acres of land in the Westfield of Dundee; but when Dr. Blinshall found that the town Council, without warrant, were about to take over these lands, he protested along with the Kirk Session against this unlawful proceeding, and was successful. In commemoration of this action three of the streets on the ground were named respectively, Guthrie Street, Blinshall Street and Session Street.
Sherbrooke Street, Downfield, so called in memory of Robert Lowe, Viscount Sherbrooke (1811–1892), who held many important offices in successive Gladstone Governments.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
To ‘sinder’ in Scots is to part. The ideal number of children in a family was four – ‘twa tae fecht, ane tae sinder and ane tae rin and tell’. The Sinderins in Dundee refers to a parting of the ways or sundering of the roads, one going east along the present Perth Road and the other up the Hawkhill.
Source: – Dundee Names, People and Places’ – David Dorward
Soapwork Lane and Candle Lane. – Though Edinburgh had a candle–maker Craft so early as 1517, no such trade seems to have established in Dundee. Soap-making and Candle-making were occupations akin, and the name survive in Soap-work Lane and Candle Lane, where the two workshops carried on for many years by Joseph Sanderson.
He was born in Dundee in 1746, and started business about 1780 as a “tobacconist and candle-maker”. Before 1804 he had established a lucrative business, having many customers among the neighbouring gentry. His death took place in 1809, and a tombstone marks his grave in the Howff. The business was continued by his widow, Elizabeth Smith, till her death in 1823, when she was buried beside her husband. Two sons, John and James Sanderson, took up the work until 1844, when John, the elder son, died, and the business disappeared. By that time the introduction of gas as an illuminant had largely discounted the business of candle-making.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
The first house in what is now called Somerville Place was built by Charles Carmichael, who founded, with his brother James, the famous engineering firm of James Carmichael & Co., now Ward Foundry. The house was named “Somerville Place” after the wife of Charles Carmichael. The two brothers were natives of Glasgow, their father having been long a Merchant Councillor and Bailie in that city. James Carmichael was born in 1776, and Charles in 1782, but their father died in 1786, and the widow retired with her two sons to her native place at Pentland in Midlothian. James was apprenticed as a mill-wright to Mr. Umpherston, his mother’s brother, and Charles served his apprenticeship to the engineering trade at Loanhead.
The latter came to Dundee in 1805, and started as a mill-wright in partnership with James Taylor, and this business was carried on for five years. At that time Charles induced his brother to join him at Dundee, and founded an engineering business, and this was the beginning of what proved a most successful concern. In 1821 the firm constructed the steam engine for the Newport Ferry Steamer; and in 1832 the brothers built the first steam locomotive for the Dundee and Newtyle Railway. James Carmichael was acknowledged to be the inventor of the Fan Blast, and is commemorated by a statue in Albert Square. Charles Carmichael was a Town Councillor for several years. His death took place in May, 1843. His brother survived him for ten years.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Various derivations have been suggested for the name of the Stannergait. Some ingenious theorist has derived it from “Stannery-gait,” similar in form to the term applied to the tin mines in Cornwall; but no tin has ever been found here. The most reasonable derivation is from “Stanner–gait,” the Stony Road, which is topographically descriptive. The name is found in charters of the sixteenth century.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
It is now known as Market Street, off East Dock Street, and it is thought the old name was earned because the first steam loom in the city came into operation in that locality.
Stevenson Street, Lochee, named after George Stevenson, founder of the manufacturing firm of George Stevenson & Co Ltd., the Ancrum Carpet Works, Lochee.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Stirling Street is really a corrupted form of “Skirling Street”, as the property through which the street runs belonged to Bailie Alexander Skirling in 1341, and was long known as “Skirling’s Park”. This notable Bailie was also possessor of the Wynd, formerly called “Skirling’s Wynd”, and, after 1560, named “Tendall’s Wynd”, which designation it still bears.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Stobsmuir was at one time a piece of barren land, and was about a mile and a half outside the burgh boundaries. From time immemorial the town held fairs and markets upon it, levying tolls and customs upon goods and animals sold at them in aid of the town’s funds. In that way the town acquired or claimed a right of property in the muir or of servitude over it. Disputes arose as to the proprietorship, and litigation was threatened.
An amicable arrangement was, however, reached, under which the muir was apportioned between the disputants, but it was not until about 80 years afterwards – in 1845 – that the town received a formal conveyance of it under a special Act of Parliament in 1831. The burgh boundaries were extended and the muir was thereafter within the bounds of the city. It is surmised that the name “Stobs” may have been derived from the fact that a wooden (or “stob”) cross stood on the site of the muir. The fair held there was known as Stobs Fair.
This fair gained an unenviable notoriety as a place where lawlessness was rampant; indeed, the chronicles of those days state – “This fair has always concluded with a list of broken heads, and too frequently with a list of killed and wounded”. A tragic event occurred at the fair in July 1809, when a pitched battle took place between a recruiting party of the 25th Regiment of Foot, then stationed in Dudhope Castle, and some artillery soldiers. The soldiers used swords and bayonets, and the populace stones. A young man was struck so violently with a stone that, though he was able to go home, he expired the following morning. The soldiers did not escape scatheless, as two of them were carried from the field in a state of unconsciousness.
A melancholy tragedy occurred in 1824 when a band of infuriated men, armed with clubs and a hatchet, attacked a number of young masons. John Allan, one of the latter, was killed when his brother ran forward to see if he could be of assistance he was also knocked down. John Allan was buried in the Howff.
About 1830 the fair was removed to ground in Strathmartine Road, which came to be known as Fairmuir, and the carnival was continued until 1883, when the late Sir John Ogilvy of Inverquharity, Bart., generously gave over the fairmuir to Dundee to be used as a recreation park.
Stobsmuir Ponds (home to the resident swans which give the ponds their local name of “Swannie Ponds”
Stobsmuir’s claim to fame was that its ponds for a time during the nineteenth century acted as a trunk mains for the city’s water supply; the name Stobswell probably reflects an earlier hydraulic function. Not surprisingly the Stobsmuir water was highly unsatisfactory; it was only with the appointment in the 1870s of a qualified water engineer, and the construction of proper reservoirs at Clatto and Lintrathen, that Dundonians had a decent water–supply.
The ‘Swannie Ponds’ as they were known to the children of the locality are still used by them for ‘messing about in boats’; but open–air ice–skating belongs to those far–off days when we had regular seasons and not just a series of arbitrary weather–fronts.
Source: ‘Dundee Names, People and Places’ – David Dorward
The Sugar-House Wynd, which connects Cowgait with Seagait, preserves the name of an industry that has long been extinct in Dundee. The Sugar-Refining Company was established about 1770, the first manager being Mr Wiedemann, who was brought from Holland to control the business. A house was built for him on the south side of the Cowgait, near the works, and here he remained till his death. For some time his widow carried on the business as a merchant in Dundee, and her name appears in the first “Dundee Register” of 1782.
Mr Wiedemann had a son and a daughter, the former being a shipowner trading from Dundee. The daughter was Sarah Reval Wiedemann, who ultimately became the wife of Robert Browning, and the mother of the famous Robert Browning, the poet. Her brother Captain Wiedemann, sold all his property in Dundee, and took his sister Sarah, to Clapham, London, where she met and was married to Robert Browning the elder, and became the mother of the poet. David Baxter (afterwards Sir David) succeeded Mr. Wiedemann in the practical management of the Sugar House, but the rivalry of Greenock made it impossible to carry on the work and in 1826 the Sugar-Refinery Company closed down.
The site of the old Sugar-house is now occupied by the offices of Messrs. Jaffe Brothers, and only the name of the Sugar House Wynd remains as a relic of an extinct industry. It took its origin from the heirs of Mr. Bell, who made a fortune of £30,000, and had a Boot and Shoe Factory for export, on the site of Baltic Street, in 1774, employing about 200 journeymen. The heirs removed the Sugar-Refinery to Greenock in 1826.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Symers Street, Downfield, commemorates Miss Helen Haliburton Symers, daughter of John Symers, agent of the British Linen Company Bank, who was a munificent benefactress of Dundee. To every philanthropic scheme in the City she contributed liberally, and initiated several charitable schemes which are now in full operation. She gave the site of the Arthurstone Branch Library, and took much interest in its progress. In 1899 she was made an Honorary Burgess of Dundee, in recognition of her benevolent gifts to Dundee. She died in November, 1906, in her 75th year.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Thorter Row – can be traced under that name from about 1488, and is supposed to have been so called from a corruption of the word “athwart,” because it ran through the block of houses between High Street and Overgate. The word “Thorter” is an old Scottish term. In this street there formerly was, on the west side, what was known as “St. Blaise Land,” and it is quite erroneously supposed by early Dundee Historians that this implied that there was formerly a chapel here dedicated to St. Blaise.
When James IV was in Dundee in September, 1492, he confirmed a charter by which Elizabeth Masoun, relict of James Scrymgeoure, burgess, instituted one or more chaplains to officiate at the Altar of St. Blaise in the parish church of St. Mary, giving over her land “on the west side of Chakker Raw” (afterward Thorter Row), and also other parts of Dundee, for their sustenance. The property was secularised in 1556, and is still in the hands of the Town Council. The term “Chakker Raw” indicates that the Exchequer Chamber was here, and that the accounts of those who levied dues upon the inhabitants and importers to be rendered to the King were kept in this place. St. Blaise was martyred in 316 A.D. He is often represented as holding an iron comb in one hand, such as were used by the Wool–comber Craft, and has been accepted as the Patron Saint of that Trade.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
The oldest street in Dundee is the passage from the shore to the High Street, which has been known as Tindal’s Wynd for four centuries. In very early days this formed the only access from the harbour to the Castle, hence its original name “Castle Wynd”. The ground beside this passage had formed part of the endowment of the Abbey of Balmerino when founded by David, Earl of Huntingdon, about 1199; and the Abbot’s house was here. One of the earliest burgesses of Dundee named in records was “Rodger del Vend” (Roger of the Wynd), and he lived there in 1270 while the Castle was in existence.
About 1312 the name of the lane was changed to “Skirling's Wynd” from Bailie Alexander Skirling or Scralynge, who at that time had a house there. In 1563 the house ath the north–east side of the lane (where the Royal Bank of Scotland now stands) was purchased by David Tindal or Tendell, a prominent baker and town councillor, when the name of Tindal’s Wynd was adopted and has since remained.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Todburn Lane, which runs east to west from William Street to Dens Brae, parallel with King’s Street, is a narrow avenue, only important because its name preserves that of Tod’s Burn. In early times this was the rivulet that carried the waters of the Dens Burn down the course of the present Victoria Road, until it joined with the Scouring Burn at the corner of Commercial Street and Albert Square, the conjoined burns thus making their way to the River Tay. When Baxter’s Mills were first begun, water was the motive power, of which the Dens Burn was the source but the introduction of steam rendered this primitive method obsolete. These three Burns are now conveyed to the river in culverts, and are only known from references in old documents, or by the survival of puzzling names of streets.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Ure Street marks the place where James Ure, gardener, had a nursery garden in Hawkhill, adjoining that of William Urquhart. He was located here before 1796, as shown by a tombstone erected in the Howff. He was born in 1757, and died in 1836. His sons, James and Peter, carried on the gardens, and were in possession up till 1819, though the father had retired before that time.
When the ground was feued, the name of “Ure” was applied to one of the streets formed through the gardens. Robert Ure, elder brother of James, Sen., was also a gardener, living at Dallfield. He was born in 1737, and died in 1815, aged 78 years.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Named after William Urquhart, seedsman, who had a large portion of ground in the locality as a garden. Reference has been made to him in the notice of Cherryfield Lane. He was made a Burgess of Dundee in October 1817, as “an incomer”, showing that he was not a native of the burgh. The gardening business was carried on by his two sons – David, enrolled as a Burgess in September, 1829 and Edward, similarly entered on the Roll in June, 1842. When the Town Council acquired the gardens for feuing purposes, one of the thoroughfares was named Urquhart Street, and is still known by that designation.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
The Vault was so named because it was the Kirkyard of St. Clement’s Church, which was superseded in 1567 by the Howff, or orchard of the Franciscan Monastery, given as a cemetery by Mary Queen of Scots in that year. St. Roque’s Lane, corrupted into “Simmierookie,” was beside the chapel dedicated to St. Roque. This Saint had care of plague–stricken inhabitants, who were isolated at the ground beyond the East Port known as “Sick-Men’s Yards”. Those who died from infectious diseases were buried in Rood-yards Cemetery, which still exists, and is approached by Roodyards Road.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Victoria Park lies to the south of Balgay Park, and was purchased by the Town Council to form an adjunct to that park for recreation.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
The name of Victoria is familiar to most Dundonians through Victoria Road, now part of the inner ring road but originally constructed to give access to the north of the city by avoiding the unduly steep Hilltown.
Victoria Road was built as a result of the Dundee Improvement Act of 1871; it followed the line of the old Bucklemaker Wynd, which had become something of a slum area but whose name is a reminder of the days before shoelaces displaced buckles, and of the eminence of Dundee in an earlier period in the manufacture of saddlery, sword-belts, straps and scarf-pins.
Victoria Road, on a good day, is a sunny and pleasant place – the imposing Scots Baronial factory-buildings on the north side have been renovated and saved for posterity, and the new flats to the south are a good example of piecemeal urban regeneration.
Source: ‘Dundee Names, People and Places’ – David Dorward
Wedderburn Street is quite a modern passage, running east from Strathmartine Road, and was named to commemorate the Wedderburns who were prominent in Dundee at the time of the Reformation and were for over a century Town Clerks of Dundee.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
The name of the Well-Gait can be traced back to 1409, when the use of the Lady Well at the foot of the Hilltown was granted by Sir James Scrymgeoure of Dudhope to the inhabitants; and this was the “gait” or road to the Well which had been in use since time immemorial. In the charter conferring this privilege the well is described as “the Well of the Blessed Maria of Dundee,” and it formed the chief source of the water supply of the burgh for centuries. There was formerly a stone erection around the well, which was removed when Victoria Road was formed in 1872. The later designation was “Our Lady Well,”.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
The West Port is the name given to the thoroughfare which extends as a continuation of the Overgait from South Tay Street to Hawkhill. There is not, nor ever was, a West Port exactly here, but the name survives to show that in the vicinity the western gateway to the burgh once stood when Dundee was walled for defensive purposes. The veritable West Port stood in the Overgait, a little to the west of Seres Wynd, now called Long Wynd. The Seres family came from Fife to Dundee previous to 1400, and Robert Seres and his son of the same name were Town Clerks of Dundee for over half-a-century. In 1492, Robert and his brother Thomas founded an Altar of St. Magnus Martyr in the Church of St. Mary. Their house stood in the Wynd, hence its original name.
The old West Port was one of the chief Gates of the burgh, as it controlled all traffic going westward or coming from that direction. It is probable that Sir William Wallace made his escape through it to the Carse of Gowrie after he had slain the son of Governor Selbie.
Its antiquity is shown from the fact that towards the close of the sixteenth century it had fallen into disrepair, and as it was still regarded as an important part of the fortifications in the burgh, its decay was brought to the notice of the Town Council. On the 12th October, 1591, the Provost, Bailies, and Council ordained “that the West Port of Ergyilis Gait be anew repairit in maist honest manner, and that ane Master of Wark be appointit thairto.” It was still valued as a defence in 1644 when Alexander Wedderburne was entrusted with the guarding of the “Overgait Barras” during Montrose’s Rebellion.
At the time of the Siege of Dundee in 1651 an order was given by the Town Council to repair the fortifications which “are waik in sundrie pairtes;” and it appears that the West Port suffered severely at the hands of General Monck. In February, 1668 , the ruined structure was ordered to be taken down and “ane broad and even Port to be set up agayne.” This structure was demolished in 1757 because of its being “a great inconvenience or nuisance to all entering at this quarter of the town”.
In Crawford’s map of Dundee, published in 1777, the gate is not shown, but the passage west of its original site is named “West Port”. The Building with clock at the west end of this passage stands on the site where the first Hunter of Blackness erected the Barns of Blackness about 1750, for agricultural purposes. His descendant, David Hunter of Blackness (born 1802, died 1882) feued the sites in South Tay Street, and before 1821 he had replaced the old Barns with existing buildings as far west as Hunter Street in the Hawkhill. The ancient name is still preserved in “Barns Court” on the ground where the Barns once stood.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
Obtained its name from the fact that several of the principal offices connected with the whaling industry were located in this thoroughfare. At one time the main whaling ports on the east coast were Hull, Dundee, and Peterhead and a successful year’s fishing meant a large bonus to each member of the crews.
This industry like several others, has expired. Several reasons have been given for this catastrophe: one is that whale bone is no longer used for many purposes, having been supplanted by other devices, and another is that mineral oil has now replaced the whale oil which was used for diverse purposes. It is also said that the use of steam as a motive power has caused the whaling grounds to be over-fished, beyond the natural increase of slow-growing whales. In any case this once important occupation no longer exists.
Adapted from: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
An entirely modern thoroughfare which was opened in 1883, and the name has continued an unfounded tradition regarding its origin. It has been supposed that there was once a King’s residence on the site to which the name of “Whitehall” had been given long before Scotland sent James VI to occupy Whitehall Palace in London.
The following is the veritable story:
There were two very old Closes removed to make way for the present Whitehall Street: these were Will Spen’s Close and Mitchellson’s Close. The former was one of the oldest passages of the kind in Dundee. On the west side stood the mansion of David, Earl of Huntingdon. Erected in 1200, but removed long ago. In 1364 a house on the east side belonged to Henry de Leyis, a prominent burgess and in 1440 his descendant, Thomas Leyis, lived here, and the passage was then called “Leyis Close”. George Spens acquired this property in 1564, who was long a Town Councillor and one of the wealthiest burgesses. In 1590 he was succeeded by his brother, Will Spens, who was a leading merchant and building contractor. As he erected some new tenements in the passage about 1660, it came to be known as “Will Spen's Close”. One of these houses was in the possession of James Lyon, merchant, in 1650, and was called “Lyon’s Room,” meaning his mansion. From him it passed to Sir Patrick Lyon of Carse, second cousin of the first Earl of Strathmore, Professor at St. Andrews University, and Judge of the Court of Session, with the title of Lord Carse. He was an ardent Royalist, he changed the name of his house to “Whitehall” in 1600, and placed the sculptured arms of that monarch above the doorway. These arms remained over the modernised close till 1883, and the stone is now in the Old Steeple Museum. This was the true origin of the name of Whitehall Street.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
A passage between Barrack Street and Lindsay Street, was so named after the famous Rev. John Willison, 1680–1750, who was Minister of Brechin Parish Church in 1703–16, and translated to the South Church, Dundee, in 1716, where he remained till his death in 1750, when in his 70th year. There were few Ministers of his time so highly revered by his collaborators and by the laity as Mr Willison. His literary output was extensive, including his “Gospel Hymns”, which are still highly esteemed.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 192
Yeaman’s Shore is the designation of a passage from Nethergait to the Harbour, which was in use (under that name) so far back as 1600.
It seems likely that the Yeamans of Dryburgh, near Lochee, had a residence here. The family rose to eminence in the civic annals. George Yeaman was Provost of Dundee from 1706 till 1708, and again from 1710 till 1712, and that at a time when the tenure of office of a Provost was for only one year.
In this street the first regular Dundee Theatre was erected, and is still (1924) in existence, though “fallen from its high estate”. On its stage Edmund Kean acted in his early years, as well as many other less-renowned actors.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925
