Dundee

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

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Dundee, a town and a parish, or group of parishes on the southern border of Forfarshire. The town stands chiefly in its own parish, but partly also in the parish of Liff and Benvie. It is a royal burgh, a great seat of manufacture, an extensive seaport, the largest seat of population in Scotland next to Glasgow and Edinburgh, and the rival, or more than the rival, of these cities and of the m4mlost prosperous of other Scottish towns, in modern rapidity of extension. It occupies a reach of flats and slopes on the N side of the Firth of Tay, 3½ miles W of Broughty Ferry, 9 W of Buddon Ness, 14 S by W of Forfar, 21¾ ENE of Perth, 42 (viâ CuparFife) N by E of Edinburgh, and 84 NE of Glasgow. The ground beneath and around it rises rapidly from a belt of plain, through undulating braes, to rounded hills, and culminates directly N of the town, about 1¼ mile from the shore, in the summit of Dundee Law. The edificed area, seen in profile, is picturesque; the outskirts are well embellished with wood and culture; Dundee Law, rising to an altitude of 571 feet above sea-level, has a fine, verdant, dome-shaped summit; Balgay Hill, a lesser eminence a little further W, is sheeted with wood; and the entire town and environs, beheld in one view from Broughty Ferry Road, or from the S side of the Tay, look richly beautiful. 'Bonnie Dundee' is a designation originally given to the persecutor Claverhouse, recognising his outward or physical comeliness, and ignoring his inward or moral hideousness; and it applies in a somewhat analogous way to the town, whence he took his title of Viscount, recognising it truly as most attractive in its exterior, but making no allusion to the character of its interior. The site, having at once amenity, salubrity, and commerce, is singularly advantageous; but, for purposes of military defence it is utterly untenable, being thoroughly commanded by the neighbouring heights, and for the uses of facile thoroughfare, social convenience, and sanitary law, it has not, as we shall see, been judiciously aligned.

The ancient burgh stood on low flat ground along the shore, only ¼ mile long, between Tods Burn and Wallace Burn; and comprised only two principal streets, Seagate, next the Tay, and Cowgate, somewhat parallel on the N. The modern burgh as far exceeds the ancient one as a great town exceeds a mere village. In one great line of street, somewhat sinuous, but mostly not much off the straight line, it stretches from W to E, near and along the shore, under the name of Perth Road, Nethergate, High Street, Seagate, and Crofts, nearly 1¾ mile. In another great line, first north-westward, next northward, and again north-westward, it stretches from the shore, through Castle Street, Murraygate, Wellgate, and Bonnet Hill, upwards of ¾ mile; and even there struggles onward through distinct beginnings of further extension. A third line of street, commencing on the W at the same point as Perth Road, but diverging till nearly ¼ mile distant, and called over this space Hawkhill; then, under the name of Overgate, converging toward it till both merge into High Street; then, at the latter street diverging northward through that part of the second line which consists of Murraygate, and at the end of that street debouching eastward under the name of Cowgate, nearly parallel to Seagate, extends about 1½ mile. But while thus covering an extensive area, the town possesses little regularity of plan. Excepting numerous new streets, generally short ones, on the N, and a number of brief communications between the two great lines along the low ground, not even the trivial grace of straightness of thoroughfare is displayed. Most of the old streets, too, are of varying width, and many of the alleys are very narrow. Yet, by its public buildings, by its latest extensions, by its crowded harbour, by its great and numerous factories, by its exhibitions of enterprise and opulence, and by, here and there, a dash of the picturesque, the town offers large compensation for what it wants in the neat forms and elegant attractions of simple beauty.

High Street was anciently called Market Gate, from connection with the public markets; was at one time popularly called the Cross, from its having contained, for a long period subsequent to 1586, the old town cross; forms an oblong square or rectangle, 360 feet long and 100 broad; is mostly edificed with modern, substantial four-story houses, with shops on the ground floor; and presents a bustling, mercantile, and grandiose appearance similar to that of Trongate or Argyll Street of Glasgow. Seagate was once the fashionable quarter of the burgh, the abode of the Guthries, the Afflecks, the Brightons, the Burnsides, and other principal families; is a long, sinuous, and very narrow thoroughfare, quite denuded of its ancient splendour; has, within the last few years, undergone considerable improvement; is prolonged eastward, through Crofts and Carolina Port, with continuity with Broughty Ferry road; and communicates laterally, through Queen Street, St Roque's Lane, and Sugarhouse Wynd, with Cowgate. Murraygate, which is now comparatively wide and well built, branches, its N end, into Cowgate, Wellgate, and Panmure Street. Cowgate inclines eastward; is mostly of disagreeable aspect, but contains some good and lofty buildings; has, of late years, been greatly improved; and terminates a few yards beyond in an interesting ancient gateway, known as Cowgate Port. King Street subdivides and contracts Cowgate; deflects at an acute angle from its N side; is, for the most part, well built; possesses, at its commencement, several elegant private residences and handsome shops; runs north-eastward to Wallace Burn; and merges there in the Arbroath road, leading to the Baxter Park and the Eastern Necropolis. Wellgate rises gently from Murraygate; goes northward to Lady Well, giving name to it; and leads to Victoria Road, Hilltown, Maxwellton, Smithfield, and other suburbs. Victoria Road (formerly Bucklemaker Wynd) goes laterally from the top of Wellgate to Wallace Burn, and is flanked on the N by an extensive rising-ground called Forebank. Hilltown (formerly Bonnet Hill) goes on a line with Wellgate; climbs a steep ascent, and so is called Hilltown; took its name of Bonnet Hill from once being the abode of bonnet-makers; is now a seat of various extensive manufactures; consists generally of illbuilt houses, confusedly interspersed with-jute factories; and presents a motley and grotesque appearance. Maxwellton occupies grounds between Bonnet Hill and Hillbank, northward of Forebank, and is a suburb of recent origin; and Hillbank, situated on the villa grounds, is a still newer suburb. Panmure Street, the third street striking from the N end of Murraygate, possesses some of the best specimens of the town's street architecture.

Castle Street goes from High Street, at right angles with the commencement of Seagate; leads down to the harbour and docks; is well edificed; and breaks at its foot into a fine open space, recently much improved by the removal of the fishmarket, Crichton Street goes from the SW corner of High Street; runs parallel with Castle Street; and leads down to the greenmarket, and on to Earl Grey's Dock. Dock Street runs E and W along the harbour; is a spacious, well-built, and busy thoroughfare; and has at its E end the customhouse and the Arbroath railway station. Under the Improvement Act of 1871 an enlargement and extension of Commercial Street, from Albert Square to Dock Street, was carried out, and this is now one of the handsomest and most architectural streets in the town. Reform Street strikes from High Street in a direction the reverse of Castle Street and Crichton Street; was erected after designs by Mr Burn, of Edinburgh, as one of the finest streets in the town; and both as to the style of its buildings and as to the splendour of its shops, rivals some of the best parts of Edinburgh. Bank Street goes from nearly the middle of Reform Street; was opened shortly before 1870; and takes its name from the office of the Bank of Scotland, occupying its eastern corner. Albert Square opens from the northern extremity of Reform Street; surrounds a space formerly occupied by unsightly tenements and hideous time-worn erections; was formed by clearances of these about the year 1864; contains the Albert Institute, the Free Library and Museum, and the Burns, Kinloch, and Carmichael monuments; adjoins a number of splendid public edifices; and is as handsome a central place as any provincial town can boast. Ward Road goes westward from Albert Square; Constitution Road strikes northward from nearly the middle of Ward Road; Bell Street intersects Constitution Road; Parker Square, named after the late Provost Parker, lies westward from Bell Street; and Dudhope Road, communicating with the north-eastern suburbs, leads westward to the Barracks, the Infirmary, the Barrack Park, the Law, and the open country beyond. The Pleasance also lies in the NW, and is supposed, from its name, to have been once a charming suburban quarter; but is now a dense assemblage of factories, and of miserable unwholesome dwellings.

Overgate, going westward from the NW corner of High Street, is one of the oldest thoroughfares of the town; possessed in former times town mansions of the Marquis of Argyll, the Earls of Angus, Viscount Dundee, Stirling of East Baikie, and other magnates; was originally called Argyllgate from its connection with the family of Argyll; sends off various wynds or alleys to the right and the left; exhibits, together with these wynds, an utter recklessness of architectural taste or uniformity, feebly redeemed by the presence of many good houses; has a total length of more than ¼ mile; and terminates at the West Port, one of the most busy and stirring parts of the town. South Tay Street, forming the principal communication from Overgate to the lower part of the town, is handsomely edificed, and possesses a beautiful square. Hawkhill, diverging in a line westward from the West Port, contains a number of large factories and many good buildings, and joins the Perth Road at Blacknessgate. Gowrie Place, at the W end of Hawkhill, is a large and splendid block of houses. Scouringburn, running north-westward from the West Port, contains extensive factories and a dense population, and joins the Lochee Road opposite Dudhope Free church. Lindsay Street, Barrack Street, and other modern thoroughfares northward from Overgate and Scouringburn present good lines of new and pleasingly constructed buildings. Nethergate, going westward from the SW corner of High Street, is prolonged to the western outskirts by Perth Road; forms, jointly with Perth Road, a continuous reach of about a mile in length; is of very unequal breadth, and of somewhat unequal architecture, but averagely spacious and well edificed; exhibits, in its middle and western portions, and in streets branching from it, as aristocratic an air as can comport with proximity to manufacturing and commercial -stir; contains, in its Perth Road- section, some handsome villas with flower-plots in front; and leads, through a forking continuation seaward, into the promenade of Magdalene Green. Union Street goes from Nethergate, opposite the town churches, northwards towards the West and Tay Bridge stations, the esplanade, the Tay ferries, and the harbour; was formed in 1828 on clearances of many old, unsightly, time-worn houses; is a spacious and handsomely edificed thoroughfare; and had its southern extremity greatly improved in 1882 by the removal of a block of old houses, the abodes of the very lowest classes of inhabitants. Yeaman Shore and Exchange Street are well-built thoroughfares of comparatively modern construction adjoining the harbour. Several other streets, in addition to those we have named, contribute good features to the new parts of the town and to its outskirts.

Although rich in historical associations, few buildings now remain which are of much interest to the antiquary. The imperious demands of an ever-increasing population and of a constantly expanding trade, have led to the removal of numerous tenements of historic value, which for many centuries had withstood the destroying hand of Time. No fewer than 19 ancient churches or chapels, all now extinct, stood within the town or its suburbs; and in many instances were so prominent as to give their names, in some manner or other, to localities near or around them. St Paul's Church was the oldest, stood within Murraygate and Seagate, and gave the name of Paul's Close to an alley which was closed so late as about 1866. St Clement's Church occupied the site of the present Town-Hall in High Street; was a large, oblong structure, with a high steep roof, and with small circular turrets at the four corners; is seen towering above the surrounding buildings in Slezer's view of the town, published in 1696; and gave its name to St Clement's Lane, leading to the shore. St John's Church stood on a rock a short way E of Carolina Port, nearly 1¼ mile from High Street; was called originally Kilcraig, signifying 'the church upon the rock,' but called afterwards by the Roman Catholics the Church of the Holy Rood; and is commemorated in the name of an adjacent burying-ground, called Rood Yard. St Roque's Chapel stood outside of Cowgate Port, between Denbridge and the E end of Seagate, and is commemorated in the name of an alley running from Seagate to King Street, and called St Roque's Lane. St Salvator's Chapel stood on a rocky rising-ground N of High Street and Overgate, and is commemorated in the name of an adjacent close. Our Lady's Chapel stood at the foot of Hilltown, and is commemorated in the names of Ladywell and Ladywell Yard. St Nicholas' Chapel stood on a rock at the western part of the harbour, and gave to its site the name Nicholas Rock, afterwards changed into Chapel Craig. St Michael's Chapel adjoined to the town mansion of the old Earls of Crawford, and was demolished to make way for Union Street. St Mary's Chapel stood on the E side of Couttie's Wynd, and was represented recently by a vestige of its basement. Logie Church stood westward of the town, within the present parish of Liff and Benvie, and was a mensal or table-furnishing church of the Bishop of Brechin. St Blaise's Chapel stood on the W side of Thorter Row. St Thomas' Chapel occupied part of a rock which was cut away to make room for Reform Street. Cowgate Chapel, also called Our Lady's Chapel, stood on the S side of Cowgate, at the top of Sugarhouse Wynd, previously called Fintry's Wynd, and originally called Our Lady's Wynd. St Serf's Chapel, St Stephen's Chapel, St Fillan's Chapel, St James the Less's Chapel, St James the Greate 's Chapel, and St Margaret's Chapel occupied sites which cannot mow be identified.

The Greyfriars' Monastery, adjacent to what is now the Howff, is said to have been founded about 1 260 by Devorgilla, mother of King John Baliol; was the meeting-place, in 1309, of a great national ecclesiastical council recognising Robert Bruce as King of Scotland; and was entirely -demolished at the Reformation. A Blackfriars' monastery stood on the W side of Barrack Street, originally called Friars' Vennel, is said to have been founded in the 15th century by a burgess of Dundee; had gardens and orchards extending westward to Lindsay Street; and was swept away at the Reformation. A Redfriars' monastery stood conjunctly with a hospital at the foot of South Tay Street; was founded, in 1392, by Sir James Lindsay of Crawford; seems, with the hospital, to have formed a large and splendid group of buildings, surmounted by a tower; was partly burned, in 1645, by the Marquis of Montrose; and continues still to figure in the town's landscape at the publication of Slezer's view in 1696. A Franciscan nunnery, or nunnery of St Clair, stood at the top of Methodist Close, off the N side of Overgate; was a large, massive, lofty pile, forming three sides of a quadrangle round a small court; came to be occupied in modern times by a number of poor families; retained in its interior, even then, some relics of ancient grandeur; and was demolished so late as Nov. 1870. A Magdalene establishment stood near the river, at the SW side of the town; seems to have occupied a spot there, at which several fragments of statues were exhumed at the digging of foundations for modern houses; and gave name to the open ground still called Magdalene Green.

The most notable of still existing antiquities is St Mary's Tower, or the Old Steeple as it is popularly termed, situated in the Nethergate. This massive and venerable tower is among the most ancient piles in the country, having survived storm and tempest, fire and siege, for many centuries. According to the commonly received account, this tower was founded by David, Earl of Huntingdon, in 1189, but recent research assigns it to the middle of the 14th century. The tower rises to a height of 156 feet, is square, the inside of the square measuring 8 yards, with walls nearly 8 feet in thickness. The grand entrance is in the W front, and exhibits a great variety of decoration. The ascent to the top of the tower is by an octagonal staircase, in the NE wall, in one unbroken line from base to summit-the frequent repetition of loop-holes or windows surmounting each other giving an air of loftiness to the imposing mass, which completely neutralises the lowering effect of the horizontal lines prevailing on its different stages. On entering the lower part of the tower by the western door, the visitor finds himself in a spacious apartment, with an area of 576 square feet. The sedilia, or stone seats, still remain entire, and extend along the N, S, and W walls. The groined roof, remarkable for its loftiness, is supported at each corner by pillars of huge proportions, and has a rich as well as a dignified effect, the bosses on its groined arches being bold and full, with a large circular aperture in the centre of the groin. On the W front of the middle parapet is an admirable figure of the Virgin and Child; a figure of our Lord, sitting on his throne, with a sceptre in his right hand, and an orb in his left, occupies a niche on the E side; and a standing figure of St David, the founder of the tower, with his sceptre and orb, is on the S side. In 1871-73 the fabric underwent a thorough restoration under the supervision of Sir Gilbert Scott, at a cost of about £8000, the most of which was raised by public subscription, but latterly the work was taken in hand and completed by the town council. The tower contains a splendid peal of bells, which were formally inaugurated on May 21, 1873, on which day also the memorial stone of the restoration was laid with masonic honours. Previous to the restoration the Old Steeple had a clock, with four dials; but those were abolished, as not being in harmony with the architectural features of the venerable pile; but in 1882, in deference to public opinion, the town council restored the clock, substituting ornamental skeleton dials, at a cost of £130. The Old Town's Cross, originally erected in 1586, at first in the Seagate, at the S end of Peter Street, subsequently in the middle of the High Street, now stands to the S of the Old Steeple; was removed from the High Street in 1777, the place where it stood being still indicated by the stones being arranged in a circular form; for many years the stones forming the Old Cross were stowed away about the base of the Old Steeple; and were re-erected in their present position in 1876. The shaft, which is still in a pretty good state of preservation, is the original one; but the unicorn is a reproduction, the original having been so broken and decayed as to be incapable of restoration. At the top of one of the sides of the shaft are the burgh arms, with the town's motto, 'Dei Donum,' now somewhat obliterated, and the date 1586.

The Cowgate Port, at the eastern extremity of the street which bears this name, has a central archway, 8½ feet wide and 11 high; but must have been higher originally, as the ground has been raised in the course of years; has been frequently 'improved,' the most recent having been in 1877, when a plate was fixed on the outer or E side, with the following inscription:- 'During the plague of 1544 George Wishart preached from the parapet of this port, the people standing within the gate, and the plague-stricken lying without in booths.' 'He sent His Word and healed them' (Psalm cvii.). Restored in 1877.' Dundee was in olden times the occasional residence of royalty, and a palace formerly stood on the S side of the Nethergate (then known as Fleukargate), a little to the E of Union Street. A close leading from the Nethergate still bears this name, but the only portion of the original wall of the palace that now remains, and has traces of antique carving upon it, is now doomed to demolition in the course of contemplated town improvements. In March 1879 an old building on the N side of High Street, nearly opposite the top of Crichton Street, and known as 'Our Lady Warkstair's Land,' was taken down; was four stories in height; had a wooden front with two triangular elevations; was supposed to have been built about the year 1500, to have been a repository of a charity or almshouse under the church, and dedicated, according to the fashion of the times, to Our Lady the Virgin. The old Custom House, at the corner of Fish Street and Greenmarket, is another ancient building destined to early demolition; furnished the scene of many of the incidents in the novel of The Yellow Frigate, by Mr James Grant; and is remarkable from the fact that, at the beginning of the present century, a large quantity of silver coin, numbering nearly 200 pieces, was found embedded in the mortar-this money, it is believed, having been concealed by some townsman prior to the siege of the town in 1651. The Luckenbooths stood at the eastern end of the Overgate, where it joins the High Street, and is still recognisable by the flat-capped turret at its north-eastern angle, and is noteworthy as having been the residence of General Monk, after he captured the town, and as being the birthplace of Anne Scott, Countess of Buccleuch. Dudhope Castle, originally the principal scat of the Scrymseours, hereditary constables of Dundee, and situated on a terrace at the foot of the Law, is now used as an infantry barracks; towards the end of last century was turned into a woollen manufactory, which proving unsuccessful the building passed into the hands of the Government, in whose possession it has since remained. In quite recent years the removal of the Trades' Hall at the E, and of Union Hall, at the W end of High Street, has caused two well-known public buildings to disappear from view, whilst greatly improving that central thoroughfare.

The increase of Dundee has been strikingly exhibited in its population, which has almost quadrupled in a single generation:-1841, 63,732; 1861, 90, 426; 1871, 120, 547; 1881, 140, 054. The municipal and parliamentary constituency was-1871, 16,281; 1877, 18, 964; 1881, 15, 827. The revenue of the town proper-known as the 'common good'-consists of lands, houses, churches, and salmon fishings, and has varied considerably at different periods, and now amounts to about £6000 annually. The revenue from the common good, however, is dwarfed by that of the several Boards into which the Town Council has been constituted by recent acts of parliament. The accounts for the year 1881 showed that as a police board it raised £93, 878, expended £96, 211, and had a debt of £687,037. As a water commission it raised £37, 532, expended £39,440, and had a debt of £430,938. The harbour board, to which it appoints members, had a revenue of £50,163, expended £45,533, and had a debt of £349,621. The gas commission had a revenue of £58, 609, expended £61, 238, and had a debt of £121, 309. In addition, the school-board had a revenue of£22,217, expended£20, 444, and had a debt of £60, 995. The combination parochial board raised £25, 786, expended £26,052, and had a debt of £15, 466. Several other minor boards brought the revenue of the various public corporations for 1881 to £303,991, the expenditure to £303,121, and the total debt to £1, 724, 258. The increase in the value of ground in Dundee has been very remarkable. According to an authentic statement, in 1746 'the highest rent in the High Street did not exceed £3,' and some extraordinary instances are recorded of the manner in which property has since risen in value. A wood-yard, bought at the beginning of the century for £600, was sold in 1826 for £5000; and in 1835 it was resold in portions at prices which brought the total purchase-money up to £15,000. In more recent years the same upward tendencies have been exhibited. In 1858 a tenement on the W side of Reform Street to the N of Bank Street was purchased at equal to £1600; in 1875 it was sold at £4500. In 1867 a shop in the W side of Union Street was sold by public roup at £750; at the end of 1876 it was resold at £3200. In 1859 a property in the High Street was purchased at £1400; it was resold in 1873 at £5250. In like manner, the feuing of ground in the centre of the town has greatly increased, and in some instances in recent times has been known to be trebled in about three years. Union Street was opened up in 1828, when the population of Dundee was some 40,000. The lots on either side of this street were sold at feu-duties ranging from £2, 6s. 1d. to £8, 17s. 2d. per pole. Reform Street was opened up about the year 1833, and the feus in it vary from £2, 0s. 10d. to £19, 16s. 5d. per pole. Panmure Street, the next of the more important improvements of Dundee, was opened about the year 1841. The feu-duties there ranged from £3, 4s. to £15, 9s. 2d. per pole. Bank Street followed, and was given off at rates varying from £1, 10s. 11d. to £3, 4s. Lindsay Street was opened up earlier than Bank Street or Panmure Street; and the rate varied from about £1, 15sto about £2, 16s. 10d. per pole. Under the operation of the Improvement Act of 1871, the whole property constituting what is called the Victoria Road Improvement has been feued by the commissioners of police at rates varying from £3, 10s. 6d. to about £19, 14s. 8d. per pole; while the feus in the centre of the town have gone up to rates varying from £28, 5s. 4d. to £35, 13s. 7d. per pole. If Lindsay Street be contrasted with Victoria Road-and the contrast in point of situation appears to be all in favour of Lindsay Street-we have on the whole an increase of fully. 400 per cent.; and if Reform Street be contrasted with the new feus in the centre of the town-in other words, with the new Commercial Street feus-there is an increase on the average of fully 300 per cent. also. This, in little more than a generation-viz., from say 1830 to 1877-is marvellous. The details of purchases along Victoria Road are probably even more instructive. For instance, the property in Ladywell Lane belonging to the town of Dundee was sold to the police commissioners in 1872 at about £3 per pole, and, after providing for the formation of the street, what remained was refeued at double that rate. The same remark applies to the property on the W side of Powrie Lane; while, with regard to property in Bucklemaker Wynd, purchased by the police commissioners in 1870 at equal to £1, 12s. per pole, it was feued to the Victoria Road Calendering Company at equal to £3, 16s. 3d. per pole. The upward tendency in the value of property and ground, however, received a severe check in 1877, and for a number of years subsequently there was a continuous deterioration in values. Under the extended powers of the Town Council, a large number of assessments of different kinds are now levied. The tendency of late years has been to have these reduced. The following was the assessable rental of the town, and the rates per £1 of the police and other burgh assessments for a series of years-1831, £72, 821, rate 1s. 3d.; 1841, £107,126, rate 1s. 5d.; 1851, £111,003, rate 1s. 2d.; 1861, £209,333, rate 1s. 111/8d.; 1871, £370,122, rate 1s. 6d.; 1876, £541,551, rate 1s. 11d.; 1880, £588,829, rate 1s. 11d.; 1881, £595,570, rate 1s. 11½d. The Improvement Act of 1871 did very much to improve the town, by procuring the demolition of old and dilapidated buildings, widening the leading and more crowded thoroughfares, and forming additional means of communication between important business parts of the town. A spacious thoroughfare, known as Victoria Road, has been constructed along what used to be known as Bucklemaker Wynd, extending from Bell Street to Cotton Road, substituting a handsome street, 60 feet wide, for the gullet of the Bucklemaker Wynd, which had only 13 feet of a carriage-way, and over which at least 1000 vehicles daily passed and repassed. A commodious bridge was also constructed across the Dens, now known as Victoria Bridge, connecting the south-eastern district of the town with the north-eastern. The approaches to the eastern district by Powrie Lane and Water Wynd have been greatly improved. The continuation of Commercial Street, between Meadowside and the Murraygate, not only gives a short cut from the High Street to the Exchange, but also provides a large number of first-class shops and business premises. The widening of what was previously known as the Narrow of the Murraygate, by demolishing all the old buildings between it and the Seagate, has got rid of a description of property which was a disgrace to the town. The opening up of the High Street by the remova1 of the Clydesdale Bank at one end and the Union Hall at the other, and the removal of the old houses in the neighbourhood of Fish Street, are all palpable improvements. The gross value of the property scheduled for these extensive improvements was £400, 000, the police commissioners having power to borrow to the extent of £200, 000, and to levy an improvement rate of 4d. in the £1.

The Town-Hall stands on the S side of the High Street; occupies the site of the old church of St Clement; was erected in 1734, after designs by the elder Adam; projects several feet from the line of the adjacent buildings; is in the Roman style, with piazzas and Ionic pilasters; is surmounted, through the roof, by a spire 140 feet high, in which is a clock, with bells that chime every quarter of an hour; underwent restoration in 1853-54; contains the council chamber, the guildhall, and the offices of the town clerk. The new Town-Hall, erected to the rear of the town buildings, was erected in 1873, and is now used as the offices of the Dundee Combination Parochial Board. The Royal Arch, on the S side of Dock Street, was erected in 1853, to commemorate the landing of the Queen at Dundee in Sept. 1844, by public subscription at a cost of more than £3000, towards which the harbour trustees voted £500 and the late Lord Panmure contributed £750; comprises a great central arch and two side arches, surmounted by two central turrets; and is in the Anglo-Saxon style, with profuse ornamentation. The Custom House stands at the E end of Dock Street; was erected in 1843 at a cost of £8000; is a large fine structure, with a portico in the Roman Ionic style; and contains accommodation for the Customs, the Excise, and the Harbour Trust. The Albert Institute stands in the centre of Albert Square; was erected in 1865-68 as a subscription memorial to the late Prince Consort, after designs by Sir Gilbert Scott; stood then and for some years afterwards incomplete, with an unsightly gap in its SW wing; was nevertheless even then an imposing structure, particularly in its northern front; is in the Gothic style, with an exquisite wheel window in the N gable, a splendid fleche on the summit, and other richly artistic features; contains in the upper story a noble hall, with fine open roof, and has a commodious suite of rooms attached; the eastern portion, used as a free museum and picture gallery under the provisions of the Free Libraries Act, was completed in 1874, having been erected from a plan by Mr D. M 'Kenzie, a local architect; has a public fountain on the E, which is made to play on certain special occasions, the architectural features being in keeping with the nature of the ground and the style of the Institute buildings; the basins are of Polmaise stone, flanked by polished shafts of Peterhead granite, and ornamented with carved heads of lions, etc. The Albert Institute having been wound up, the building was, on March 28, 1879, put up for sale by public auction, and acquired by the Corporation for the nominal upset price of £1000, it being a condition of sale that the building shall not be otherwise used than for a philosophical institute, comprising a museum, lecture-rooms, reading-rooms, and picture gallery; and that they shall in all time coming be appropriated to the purposes for which they were originally designed. The Royal Exchange stands at the N end of Panmure Street; was built in 1853-56, after designs by David Bryce, of Edinburgh, at a cost of more than £12, 000; is an elegant structure in the Flemish style of the 15th century, common in Brussels and other large towns of the Low Countries; shows a side frontage of two stories, surmounted by a range of dormer windows, with traceried heads and crocketed gables; contains a lofty handsome hall, or reading-room, 77 feet long and 34 wide, with fine ornamented roof; and has a tower which was intended to be 120 feet high, with a stone crown, but could not be finished in consequence of the ground beneath it threatening to sink, and was terminated at only one stage above the main building, in a curved parapet and flat roof. The Eastern Club stands on the S side of Albert Square, opposite the Albert Institute; was erected in 1870; is in the Venetian style; and has a highly ornate front. The Court - House buildings, for the holding of justiciary and sheriff courts, are in West Bell Street; consist of a long-drawn and lofty range of massive stone buildings; were erected in 1864-65, with aid of £13, 587 from government; and are a handsome and spacious edifice, with portico surmounted by the royal arms in bold relief. The Kinloch monument stands to the NW of the Albert Institute, facing towards the SW; commemorates George Kinloch, the first member for Dundee in the reformed parliament; was inaugurated on Feb. 3, 1872; and consists of a bronze statue by Sir John Steell, R. S.A., of Edinburgh, about 8 feet high. The Carmichael statue stands to the SE of the Albert Institute; was erected by public subscription to commemorate the leading member of the firm of James and Charles Carmichael, iron-founders, who conferred a boon upon the trade with which he was connected by the invention of the fan blast; the sculptor was Mr John Hutchison, R. S.A., of Edinburgh, and the statue was cast in bronze at the Manor Iron-works, Chelsea; the figure is in a sitting posture, and, including the red granite pedestal, the monument stands about 18 feet high; the statue was formally unveiled on June 17, 1876. The Burns statue stands to the SW of the Albert Institute; is by Sir John Steell, being a replica in bronze of a statue sent to New York, and represents the poet in a sitting posture; the figure is colossal, being about 12 feet in height; the cost of the replica was 1000 guineas, and of the pedestal, which is of Peterhead granite, £230; the total cost of the work was about £1400, the greater portion of which was raised by means of a bazaar; the statue was formally unveiled on Oct. 16, 1880, on which occasion a grand procession, numbering between 6000 and 7000 persons, and composed of representatives of the different trades, took place. The Market Shelter is opposite the Albert Institute on the N side, and in a recess at the W end of the Exchange buildings; was erected for the accommodation of the gentlemen attending the market, which is held on the street facing the Exchange; is 123 feet long, 36 feet wide, and in the centre of the roof 25 feet high; has an open passage, averaging 8 feet in width, at the two ends and at the back; has three entrances open from Albert Square, one at each end of the market and one in the centre; and was opened for business in the summer of 1882. The Kinnaird Hall is on the S side of Bank Street; was erected in 1856-58 after designs by Charles Edward, of Dundee; contains a hall 130 feet long, 60 wide, and 40 high, capable of accommodating from 2500 to 3000 persons; has a fine open roof supported by iron girders, and the side walls are tastefully decorated; and has a fine organ, built by Messrs Fosters & Andrews, of Hull, and inaugurated on Oct. 5, 1865. The Volunteer Drill Hall, on the N side of West Bell Street, is a plain brick building of ample proportions; is 160 feet in length, including one gallery, 80 feet in breadth, and 42 feet in height to the apex of the roof; and was erected in 1867, mainly by means of subscriptions among the friends of the volunteer movement. The other public halls are- Albion, Overgate; Ancient Mason Lodge, High Street; Arcade, Arcade Buildings; Buchan's, Bank Street; Camperdown, Barrack Street; Cutlers', Murraygate; Dundee, Barrack Street; Forfar and Kincardine Mason Lodge, Meadow Street; Good Templars', Reform Street; Gray's Assembly Rooms, Perth Road; Larch Street; Operative Mason Lodge, Overgate; Operative Tailors, Overgate; Panmure, Bain Square; Plasterers', Tally Street; Smellie's, Barrack Street; Strathmore, Sea Wynd, Nethergate; Thistle, Union Street; Trades', King's Road; Victoria, Victoria Road; Wellgate; and Wright's, Key's Close, Nethergate.

Three parish churches under one roof-called variously St Mary's, St Paul's, and St Clement's; the East, the South, and the West; the Old, the New, and the Steeple-stand between Overgate and Nethergate, near the W end of High Street; are adjoined, at their western extremity, by a massive ancient tower 156 feet high; and form a cathedral-looking structure, both historically interesting and scenically prominent and imposing. The pile has for ages been popularly called the town churches and the tower; and it is conspicuous at once as visibly connecting the town with antiquity, as bulking largely among its public edifices, and as constituting the most distinctive feature in its burghal landscape. Whether seen in full front, or seen through a vista from any part of the town's interior, the tower looms largely in the view, looking the impersonation of Time casting its gloom upon the evanescent scenes around; or seen from any point or distance in the environs or in the circumjacent county, whether from the E or from the W or from the S, the tower lifts its grand bold summit high above the undulating surface of a sea of roofs, and suggests thoughts of many generations who have spent their ephemeral life beneath its shadow. The churches originated in a chapel founded somewhere between 1196 and 1200 by Prince David, Earl of Huntingdon, on ground then beyond the limits of the town, and long known as the 'Kirk in the Field;' they grew, by reconstruction of the chapel and by successive extensions, into a great cruciform edifice 174 feet long, with a choir 95 feet long, 29 broad, and 54 high; they comprised, besides three churches of the same names as the present three, a fourth one, called variously St John's, the North, and the Cross; they suffered damage from the English, before the national Union, to an extent which required St Clement's to be entirely rebuilt in 1789; they were almost totally destroyed by accidental fire in Jan. 1841; they were partly restored, but mainly renovated, in periods thence till 1847, after designs by Messrs Burn & Bryce, of Edinburgh, at a cost of £11, 135; they retain the crucial form of the original structures, with the choir or chancel for St Mary's, the transept for St Paul's, and the nave for St Clement's; and they are in a laudable variety of the Decorated Pointed style. St Mary's and St Paul's were entirely rebuilt, and the former has a very fine stained-glass window; but St Clement's was merely restored, and is an extremely plain portion of the pile. The tower, which has already been noticed, is the only part of the early pile now standing.

St John's parish church, formerly called also the North or Cross Church, ceased at the burning of the town churches in 18 41 to stand conjunct with St Mary's, St Paul's, and St Clement's, and is now an edifice in South Tay Street, formerly used as a Gaelic church. St Andrew's Church, on the N side of the Cowgate, is now the oldest established church in the town; was originally built in 1772 by means of voluntary subscriptions by the kirk-session and trades of that period, and continued to be owned and managed by them as a proprietary body until 1872, when the congregation obtained the entire management and control of the church, and of the property connected with it; was endowed in the following year, and put on the footing of one of the parochial charges of the Church of Scotland; is a plain building with a handsome spire, which rises to an altitude of 139 feet, and contains a set of fine musical bells; has undergone repeated renovations, the most recent being in 1874, when extensive alterations, both internally and externally, were made upon it, costing about £2000. Chapelshade Church, in Constitution Road, is a large, plain-looking building with about 1200 sittings; was erected into a parish church in 1872, with a suitable district attached. St David's Church stands in North Tay Street; was originally an Independent chapel, built in 1800; passed by sale to the Church of Scotland in 1823; is exteriorly a very plain edifice, but interiorly handsome; and contains nearly 2000 sittings. Wallacetown Church was opened in May 1840, and in March 1874 was erected into a parish quoad sacra. St Mark's stands in Perth Road; was built in 1869, after designs by Pilkington and Bell, at a cost of £6000; and is highly ornamental. St Enoch's, in Nethergate, was originally a Free church, erected in 1873, standing on the street line adjoined by other buildings; has a highly effective character; and was erected into a parish church in March 1876. Rosebank Church, in Constitution Street, was erected as a mission station in 1872 at a cost of nearly £2000; is a Gothic structure in the Early Church form, with about 600 sittings; and in Jan. 1875 was erected into a parish church. St Matthew's, in the Ferry Road, is in the Early English Gothic style, with transepts; stands in a district inhabited chiefly by the poor and workingclasses; and was built in 1875, as a chapel of ease, at a cost of about £3400. Clepington Church is in the Early English style; was the last of five churches built under a scheme for providing additional accommodation for members of the Church of Scotland in Dundee; and was opened on Jan. 16, 1881. St Paul's Free Church, in Nethergate, was built in 1852, after designs by Charles Wilson, of Glasgow, at a cost of about £5000; is a cruciform structure in the Early Pointed style; and has a finely proportioned spire 167 feet high. St Peter's Free Church, in St Peter Street, was built in 1836; is a plain structure, with a neat spire containing a peal of bells rung by water power; and was the scene of the ministry of the lamented M 'Cheyne. The M 'Cheyne Memorial Church, in Perth Road, was built in 1871 after designs by Pilkington & Bell, and is an edifice tastefully and elaborately ornate. Chapelshade, Wallacetown, Dudhope, Chalmers, Wellgate, Willison, and the High Free churches are all tasteful edifices; but St Andrew's, St David's, St Joh's, Hilltown, Bonnethill, and Ogilvie Free churches are remarkably plain structures. The Bell Street U.P. Church is a assive, elegant, and spacious edifice. School Wynd Church, known also as George's Chapel, in Lindsay Street, erected in 1825, was for 42 years the scene of the pastoral labours of George Gilfillan. The Dudhope Road U.P. Church superseded a previous one in Temple Lane; was built in 1870 after designs by Pilkington & Bell; and is a handsome structure. The Tay Square, Cowgate or Wishart, James', as well as those in Butterburn, Victoria Street, and Ryehill, are internally comfortable, but externally plain. The Gilfillan Memorial Church, formed of adherents of the Rev. David Macrae, deposed from the ministry of the U.P. Church in 1879, and who number over 1300, temporarily worship in the Kinnaird Hall. The Reformed Presbyterian Church and the Original Secession churches, are small but substantial buildings. Of the Congregationalist places of worship the oldest is Ward Chapel in Constitution Road; was built in 1833 after designs by Mr Smith, of Dundee; and is a beautiful edifice in the Second Pointed style. Panmure Street Chapel was built in 1855 after designs by Mr Bryce, of Edinburgh, and is a picturesque structure with a boldly traced circular window and two octagonal towers. Castle Street, Lindsay Street, Princes Street, and Russell Congregational chapels are all respectable. The old Scotch Independent Chapel, in Euclid Street, was built after designs by Mr Maclaren, of Dundee, and is a handsome edifice. Trinity and St James's Evangelical Union chapels are plain but comfortable buildings. Baptist chapels are in Rattray Street and in Long Wynd, the former being erected in 1878 in place of a chapel in Meadowside that had to be removed to make way for the town improvements. The Catholic Apostolic Church, at the corner of Constitution Road and Dudhope Crescent Road, is a very handsome edifice, and is -divided into nave and aisles, the latter being lighted by two light windows, and the nave from a clerestory. Wesleyan Methodist chapels are in Ward Road and Wellington Street; both are neat structures; and the latter was built in 1869 after designs by Alexander Johnston, of Dundee. The Unitarian Christian Chapel, in Constitution Road, was built in 1870, also after designs by Alexander Johnston. St Paul's Episcopalian Church, at the top of Seagate, was built in 1852-55, after designs by Sir Gilbert Scott, at a cost of £13, 000; is in the Second Pointed style, of crucial form, with nave, aisles, transepts, chancel, and octagonal apse; has both a noble exterior and a very beautiful interior; and is surmounted, at its W end, by a tower and spire rising to the height of 220 feet, and figuring conspicuously in almost every view of the town. St Mary Magdalene's Episcopalian Church, in Blinshall Street, is a recent edifice in similar style to St Paul's Episcopalian Church but of smaller size, and erected at about one-fifth of the cost. St Salvador's Episcopalian Church, in Clepington, also is a recent erection. The Catholic Apostolic Church, in Constitution Road, was built in 1867; is a large and handsome edifice in the Pointed style; and has a very tastefully decorated interior. St Andrew's Roman Catholic Church, in Nethergate, was built in 1836; is an elegant edifice in the Pointed style, with a beautiful interior; and contains 1200 sittings. St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, at Forebank in Hilltown, was built in 1851; has a plain exterior in Anglo-Saxon style and a very striking and gorgeous interior; and contains 2500 sittings. St Joseph's Roman Catholic Chapel, in Wilkie's Lane, was built in 1872-74 at a cost of about £5000; is a cruciform structure 147½ feet in length from N to S, and 40 in width in both nave and transepts; and contains 1200 sittings. The Glassite Meeting House, on the N side of King Street, is an octagonal-shaped building, having a very plain appearance. Salem Chapel, in Constitution Road, erected in 1872, is a neat specimen of Gothic architecture.

The Howff or old burying-ground lies off Barrack Street; superseded the three ancient burying-grounds of St Paul, St Roque, and St Clement, all now quite extinct; was for ed, about 1567, in what had been the garden of the Greyfriars' Monastery; became so crowded and insanitory as to be closed by order of the Privy Council in 1858; and equals or surpasses every other old burying-ground in Scotland, not excepting that of the Edinburgh Greyfriars, in the number and variety of its interesting old monuments. The burying- ground, on the W side of Constitution Road, was opened in 1836; is tastefully laid out in mounds and walks; but, like the Howff, is now closed against interments. The Western Cemetery, on the N side of Perth Road, was opened in 1845; co prises six acres, beautifully laid out in compartments and promenades; has a very grand gateway; and contains a monument to the poet William Thom, who died in Dundee in 1848. The Eastern Necropolis, on the N side of Arbroath Road, about 2 miles from High Street, was opened in 1862; is laid out with great taste and beauty in serpentine walks; and has an admirably designed gateway. A project for a Roman Catholic cemetery was started about 1860, and won some contributions, but fell to the ground. Balgay Cemetery, which occupies the western portion of Balgay Hill, is very tastefully laid out.

The Baxter Park, at the north-eastern extremity of the town, is so named from having been the gift of the late Sir David Baxter and his two sisters; is about 38 acres in extent, and cost the donors nearly £40, 000, in addition to which they gave a sum of £10, 000 for the maintenance of the park in all time coming; and is well laid out, with a pavilion in the centre of the terrace in which is a marble statue of Sir David Baxter, erected by public subscription. Balgay Hill, to the westward of the town, was acquired by the police commissioners of the burgh as a place of public recreation in 1871; covers 60 acres of ground, a portion of which has been laid out as a cemetery; enjoys the advantage of having been previously beautifully wooded; commands a gorgeous view over all the lower Tay and the Carse of Gowrie, with their periphery of hills and mountains; is encircled with a drive 25 feet wide, and intersected with umbrageous drives and walks, looking like well-shaded avenues; has its main approach on the S, from Blackness Road, through a handsome entrance-lodge in the Scottish Baronial style; and has two other approaches, respectively on the W from Hillside and on the N from the Ancrum Road. The cemetery and the park jointly cost about £13, 000, and were opened by the late Earl of Dalhousie, amid great public demonstrations, in Sept. 1871. In May 1882, Sir John Ogilvy, who for any years was one of the Parliamentary representatives of Dundee, made a gift to the town of his rights in the Fair Muir, a field about 12 acres in extent, lying to the N of the town, which has now been added to the parks available for purposes of public recreation. Dundee Law, which stands to the N of the town, has also been acquired by the police commissioners for use as a public pleasure-ground. It rises gently to an elevation of 571 feet above sea-level, and culminates in a round, green summit, the prospect from which is far-reaching and picturesque. The slopes around the Law, where not built upon, are cultivated. On the summit are the vestiges of a fortification, said to have been erected by Edward I. The Magdalene Green is an open grassy slope, which adjoins the river in the neighbourhood of the N end of the Tay Bridge, and is famous in local history for the large public gatherings which have taken place upon it in times of political agitation. The esplanade, adjoining the Magdalene Green, is a splendid marine parade, extending to the Craig Pier; was constructed at the joint expense of the Caledonian and North British Railway Companies, the harbour trustees, and the town; and was opened in July 1875. The Barrack Park, a spacious piece of ground above the barracks, is leased from the government by the corporation as a place of public recreation. The Bleaching Green is to the E of the Barrack Park, and whilst principally used as an adjunct to the public washing-house that stands in the centre, is also available to the public for recreative purposes.

The harbour extends from Craig Pier on the W, nearly opposite Union Street, to Carolina Port on the E; lies almost all, like the harbours of Greenock and Liverpool, within the line of low-water ark; offers commodious ingress in very reduced states of the tide; and is one of the finest, safest, and most convenient harbours in Great Britain; yet, prior to 1815, had no better accommodations for shipping than a s all pier and a few illconstructed erections, which could not be reached by vessels of any considerable draught. Between 1815 and 1830, at an aggregate cost of £162, 800, a wet-dock, with a graving-dock attached to it, was constructed, the tide harbour was deepened and extended, sea-walls and additional quays were built, and various other improvements were made. The wet-dock then constructed bears the name of King William's Dock, covers an area of 6¼ acres, and has its adjoining graving-dock in corresponding proportion. A second wet-dock was formed subsequent to 1830, bears the name of Earl Grey's Dock, and covers 5¼ acres. Two other wet-docks, further to the E, were partially for ed in 1863-65 and completed in 1873-75; bear -the names of Camperdown Dock and Victoria Dock; cover respectively 8½ and 10¾ acres; admit vessels drawing 20 feet at high water of spring tides, and vessels drawing 15½ feet at high water of neap tides; and are connected with a new graving-dock f-or the largest class of vessels. A stupendous crane, by which eight en easily lift a weight of 30 tons, is on the quay of Earl Grey's Dock; a caisson, on a new and peculiar principle, and working with great facility and ease, is at the entrance of Camperdown Dock; and the great outer sea-wall extends considerably to the E, and has a skilful structure and a massive appearance. All the works formed from 1815 till 1875 are considerably within the range of high-water mark, leaving an important space of ground between them and the town to be occupied as the site of buildings, and as a continuation of Dock Street; and parts of them are also within low-water ark, leaving even there, between the wetdocks and the sea, a space for warehouses and shipbuilding yards. The docks are accessible, in various directions, by spacious streets or roads; and have adaptations, in every way, to secure the speedy and effective loading and unloading of any number of vessels which they may contain. The Camperdown and Victoria Docks lie the furthest to the E, and are used mainly, or almost entirely, by the vessels of largest burden; while the other docks have less depth of water, and are used by middle-class and smaller vessels. By an act of parliament, passed in June 1830, the management of the harbour was transferred from the commissioners appointed under a previous statute to a board of trustees, elected annually; and by a subsequent act, obtained in the year 1869, the constitution of this trust was changed, and the representation enlarged. Previously, the board consisted of 21 members; but the recognition of the Chamber of Commerce, shipowners, and harbour and municipal ratepayers as elective bodies, increased it to 32. Seven members have seats ex officio-the provost, 4 bailies, the dean of guild, and the box-master of the seamen fraternity; the county elects 4, the guildry 6, the Nine Trades 3, the Three Trades 1, the chamber of commerce 3, the shipowners 3, the harbour ratepayers 3, and the municipal ratepayers 2. Shipowners are qualified as electors who possess 100 tons of shipping; and the harbour ratepayers, before being e titled to vote, must show that they have paid £10 of rates in respect of vessels or goods. The county choose their representatives at the Michaelmas meeting in October, and the others are elected in the beginning of November. The trustees of the harbour are thus in all respects a thoroughly popular body, elected by the parliamentary constituency and others who have the deepest interest in the right management of the harbour. Of late years, the powers of the trust have been greatly increased, and their jurisdiction has been correspondingly extended. In 1873, they acquired the management and working of the Tay Ferries from the Caledonian Railway Company, upon payment of a sum of £20, 000-the purchase involving an outlay altogether of £35, 000; and in 1875, they entered into an arrangement with the seamen fraternity for the transference of the lighting and buoying of the river from that body to the trust. The compensation paid to the fraternity was a sum of £15, 000, besides relieving them of a debt of £4060 due to the public works loan commissioners. This arrangement was sanctioned by an act of parliament passed in the same year. This act was a consolidated measure, a d repealed all previous legislation subsequent to the constitution of the trust, with the exception of the acts regulating the Tay Ferries. In this consolidated act, however-which ay, indeed, be said to be the Magna Charta of the port of Dundee all the previous powers and privileges of the board were retained, while additional ones were conferred, and the trustees were declared to be the conservators of the river Tay and estuary. In the act of 6 and 7 Vict., chap. 83, provision was made for the gradual reduction and extinction of the debt, by which the credit of the harbour has been raised, and a large reduction obtained in the rate of interest. Compared financially with any other harbour in the kingdom, that of Dundee ay be said to stand pre-eminent; for while the revenue has more than doubled in the last 20 years, the debt, notwithstanding the gigantic works that have been undertaken, remains about the same. The revenue for 1881 amounted to £50,163. The whole of the moneys levied or leviable by the trustees under their different harbour acts are exclusively applied to the maintenance and extension of the harbour and its works; and the surplus of the revenue over the expenditure is devoted to paying a portion of the new works rather than borrowing the whole sum. The gross cost of the harbour, in 1881, was £844, 957, and the debt £349, 621; and the whole amount has been borrowed at 4 per cent. So well have the affairs of the harbour been managed, that, since the year 1815, surpluses to no less a sum than £278,000 have been applied to the extinction of debt. The accounts of the trustees are made up annually, and audited by a qualified person named by the sheriff of the county; and when so audited, an abstract of the accounts is printed and circulated. The following table shows the progressive state of the finances of the Dundee harbour trust, being the amount of revenue and expenditure in the various years ending May 31, with the amount of debt at date:—

Year. Revenue. Expenditure. Debt.
1854 £23,428 £19,779 £189,368
1860 24,677 20,446 164,062
1865 29,879 24,679 210,808
1870 33,502 24,813 190,232
1871 40,638 25,432 194,073
1872 43,915 31,585 189,699
1873 41,316 32,967 237,308
1874 53,396 34,839 275,283
1875 45,233 39,794 318,367
1876 45,282 38,947 342,320
1877 50,751 42,871 350,405
1878 51,339 43,890 352,148
1879 46,906 46,308 360,183
1880 48,533 44,143 360,494
1881 50,163 45,533 349,621

Attempts have from time to time been made to establish a college in Dundee; but these all failed until Miss Baxter, sister of the late Sir David Baxter, and Dr J. B. Baxter, for upwards of fifty years Procurator-Fiscal for Dundee, took the matter in hand. In Feb. 1882, the details of a scheme which had previously been announced were made public. It was then stated that Miss Baxter and Dr Baxter had executed a deed of trust providing a sum of £110,000 for the foundation of the college. For £35,000 of this sum St John's Free Church, with the dwelling-houses fronting the Nethergate between Small's Wynd and Park Place, had been obtained, and at little expense could be converted into classrooms; while £100,000 was set apart as an endowment for salaries to professors and other charges, the income being about £4000 annually. The governing body had thus from the beginning a larger revenue than the governors of Owen's College, Manchester, whose endowment was £90,000, and for whom no site or buildings were provided. The governing body is divided into three branches-the Governors, the Council, and the Education Board. The Governors, who are supreme in the management, are all subscribers; the Lord-Lieutenant and Convener of the county of Forfar; the members of Parliament for the county and burghs; the Sheriff of the county; the Dean of Guild of Dundee; a representative from the Dundee Chamber of Commerce; one from the High School Directors; and one fro the Committee of the Free Library. The Council, which is the managing body of the College, consists of 18 members, 9 of whom are elected by the Governors. The ex officio members are the Provost of Dundee; the Sheriff Substitutes of Dundee and at Forfar; the embers of Parliament for Dundee; one member elected by Owen's College, Manchester; one by the Lord President of the Privy Council or the Minister of Education; and one by the Principal and Professors of the College. The Education Board consists of the Principal and Professors, under the direction of the Council and Governors. The College begins its work with Chairs for Natural History and Mathematics, Chemistry, Classics and History, and English Literature and Language. The High School stands at the N end of Reform Street, looking down along its area, and facing the Albert Institute; superseded an English school, a grammar school, and an academy, dating from respectively the 13th century, the 16th century, and the latter part of the 18th century; was built in 1833, after designs by Mr Angus, at a cost of ore than £10, 000; is in the Doric style, with a portico of eight fluted columns, copied from the Parthenon of Athens; contains a science room, measuring 42 feet by 40, a museum room of the same dimensions, another room measuring 57 feet by 30, and a total of 14 classrooms; has a gravel playground of about an acre in extent; is conducted by a rector, an English master, a writing and arithmetic master, a commercial master, a mathematical master, a classical master, a French master, a German master, and a master of science and art; affords incomes to its masters ranging from £139 to £480; and is governed by a Board of Directors, one-half of whom are elected by the annual subscribers to the institution, and the other half by the Town Council. When the School-Board was formed in Dundee, an attempt was made, but unsuccessfully, to transfer the management of the institution to that body, on the ground that it was a burgh school. The proposal was revived in 1880, and expensive litigation was threatened, when the difficulty was happily solved by the offer of Mr William Harris, a local philanthropist, to give £20,000 towards the better endowment of the High School, and £10, 000 to the School-Board for the erection of a secondary school, on condition that the School-Board agreed to the continuance of the High School under the existing management - which offer was joyfully accepted by all the parties interested. During the period that the School-Board has been established in Dundee, it has vigorously carried out the Education Act for the elementary education of the people, and a number of new and admirably constructed and equipped schools have been opened by them. The school accommodation required was supplied by a sum of £60, 000, borrowed from the Public Works Loan Commissioners, at a low rate of interest, and on a scale of repayment spread over forty years. The income for 1880 was £5498, and the expenditure £5588; in 1881 the income was £5697, and the expenditure £5575. The assessment imposed by the Board has varied from 1d. in 1874 to 3d. in 1877. Private schools are numerous, various, and generally good; some of high mark for polite education, any of ordinary range for the common branches, a few of special adaptation for the children of certain classes or conditions of the community. In 1861 a Working Men's College was commenced in Dundee; but, after two years' working, the support given was so small that it had to be discontinued. The Young Men's Christian Association, in Constitution Road, has a handsome and commodious building for its various purposes, including a splendid reading-room, well supplied with newspapers and periodicals; classrooms for young men engaged in handicrafts during the day, where instruction is given in those higher departments of education likely to prove of practical value to them in their several occupations. Dundee has of late years made a great advance in the cultivation of music, both vocal and instrumental; and for cultured musical talent it will bear comparison with any other town in Scotland. The late Mr John Curwen, President of the Tonic Sol-Fa College in London, at a musical demonstration held in the Kinnaird Hall on 30 March 1880 (within two months of his death), complimented Dundee by saying that it had more well-taught singing and more well-trained children, in proportion to its population, than any other town he knew. To Dundee also belongs the honour of having introduced the novelty of giving a highly-successful rendering of Handel's Messiah by children, which has been performed in several of the largest towns in Scotland - by a party of youthful choristers trained by Mr Frank Sharp. Dundee now possesses a large number of musical associations, both vocal and instrumental, and concerts are now periodically given, at which classical music is interpreted by the leading vocalists and instrumentalists in the country. The Morgan Hospital occupies a fine site at the junction of the Forfar and Brechin roads, immediately N of Baxter Park; sprang from a bequest of £70, 000 by John Morgan, a native of Dundee, who amassed a large fortune in India; was, subsequent to considerable litigation, erected in 1863-66 after designs by Peddie and Kinnear, of Edinburgh; is in the Scottish Baronial style, with four facades, enclosing an oblong court 125 feet by 50; has a main front 183 feet long, surmounted at the centre by a lofty turreted tower; cost, for its erection, about £18, 000; is surrounded by an extensive playground; and gives board and education, somewhat after the manner of Heriot's Hospital in Edinburgh, to about 60 boys, sons of respectable parents, belonging to Dun dee and other towns of Forfarshire. The Industrial Schools stand in Ward Road, in front of the new Courthouses; were erected in 1856 after designs by Mr Charles Edward; are in the Early English style, both pleasing and commodious; were originally occupied by both boys and girls, but latterly have been occupied by girls only. For the boys a new and additional institution was, in 1878, erected at Baldovan, about 3 miles N from Dundee, on a site, 13 acres in extent, feued from Sir John Ogilvy, where a handsome building in the Gothic style, two stories high and 180 feet in length, was provided. In connection with the Industrial Schools, a Home for Apprentice Boys was opened in Ward Road on 23 Nov. 1881, in which accommodation is provided for 20 boys who had left the institution, and were serving apprenticeships to various trades in Dundee. In 1881 there were 195 boys and 85 girls in the Industrial Schools. The Royal Orphan Institution stands in Ferry Road, about 1 ½ mile from High Street; superseded an old building, amidst crowded tenements, in Small's Wynd; was erected in 1870 after a design by Mr W. Chalmers, Broughty Ferry; is a large and handsome building, well adapted to its special benevolent purposes; and in 1881 the inmates were 27 boys and 28 girls, while the revenue for the year amounted to £1385 and the expenditure to £1233. The Mars training-ship lies anchored in the Tay, about a mile to the W of Newport; is used for the board, maintenance, education, and training of boys in the duties of a seafaring life; was originally a two-decked 80-gun line-of-battle ship, subsequently converted into a screw of 400 horsepower, and subsequently adapted, at a cost of over £4000, into a training-ship; in 1881 had 380 boys on board, while the receipts for the year amounted to £6979 and the expenditure to £6961; and in June 1881 received a new tender, named the Francis Mollison, to replace the Lightning, which had become unseaworthy. The Institution for the Blind originated in 1865, by the purchase of Danfield House by Mr and Mrs Francis Mollison; since then the premises have been from time to time enlarged, and accommodation is now provided for both males and females, where the blind can carry on their work in comfort, and earn their own living. The Deaf and Dumb Institution stands in Lochee Road, on a commanding and salubrious site; was opened on 5 Sept. 1870, and superseded a much smaller building in the Bucklemaker Wynd; and provides an excellent training for the unfortunate class for whom it was designed. The Old Infirmary stood in King Street, on an elevated site sloping to the S, well detached from other buildings; was erected in 1798; was subsequently used as a female lodging-house; and latterly was converted into a Board school. The New Infirmary occupies a commanding site on the rising-ground immediately above the Barracks, with a clear exposure to the S; was erected in 1852-54, after designs by Messrs Coe & Godwin, of London, at a cost of about £15, 000; is a magnificent edifice in the Tudor style; has a S frontage 350 feet in length, with two wings running back each 160 feet, and a projection backward from the middle; exhibits, in the centre of its frontage, a projecting portion loftier than the rest, flanked with four-story battlemented turrets, and surmounted by a pyramidal crown with lantern finial; is arranged internally on the corridor system, in a manner very airy and eminently convenient; was originally constructed to accommodate 220 patients under ordinary circumstances, but has had additions since made so as to accommodate about 400 persons. The following table shows the number of patients, together with the amount of the ordinary income and expenditure, for a series of years:—

Year. No. of
Patients.
Income. Expenditure.
1855-56 903 £1708 £2050
1860-61 1477 2210 2744
1863-64 2019 3005 2922
1866-67 2505 4648 5849
1873-74 1830 5387 5810
1874-75 1694 5908 5620
1875-76 1356 6391 6430
1878-79 1723 6225 6440
1879-80 1720 6110 6443
1880-81 1672 6257 5809

A Convalescent House, for the reception of females recovering from illness or accidents, was opened in Nov. 1860 in a house in Union Place, being that which was at one time tenanted by the late Rev. R. M. M `Cheyne; but was removed in June 1870 to larger premises in William Street, Forebank. A second institution of this nature, for both male and female patients, was erected in 1877 in the vicinity of Broughty Ferry; stands next the cemetery, on the E, in a park of some 6 or 7 acres; was designed by Mr James M`Laren, and has an imposing appearance, its central tower rising as a landmark for miles round; had its funds supplied by the late Sir David Baxter and his friends, and included, besides the sum of £10, 000 set apart for the building and furniture, other £20, 000 as an endowment for its maintenance; and accommodates 25 ale and 25 female boarders. The Royal Lunatic Asylum stands in the north-eastern extremity of the town, upon an inclined plane considerably higher than the level of the old streets, and commanding a fine view of the waters and shores of the Tay; was erected in 1820; and is a large and well-arranged edifice, encircled with gardens and airing grounds to the extent of more than 12 acres; but latterly had become utterly inadequate to the proper accommodation of the increasing number of inmates, who on Jan. 9, 1882, were 318 - 126 ales and 192 females. A new asylum was therefore erected in 1879-82 at West Green, about 5 miles from Dundee, providing accommodation for 300 patients, the plans providing also for the erection of a private asylum for 70 patients, a chapel, superintendent's house, farm buildings, and lodges; each patient having for the single rooms, 1040 cubic feet space, and for the dormitories, 780 cubic feet. The front of the Asylum is to the S, and commands a splendid- prospect of the Tay and the bordering counties, as well as the German Ocean. It has turreted corners, and over the roof in the centre is a fleche of timber. The buildings altogether cost about £60, 000, and were occupied in the summer of 1882. The Sailors' Home, in Dock Street, formally opened on Dec. 16, 1881, by the Earl of Dalhousie, was the result of a movement originated about two years previously; is in the Elizabethan style, 5 stories in height, with frontages to Dock Street and Candle Lane, the elevation to Dock Street being tastefully ornamented, and presenting a very handsome appearance; provides accommodation for 80 seamen, besides a house for the superintendent; has also a chapel, seated for 240 persons, where divine service is conducted every Sunday; and cost altogether £12, 000, the whole of which was locally subscribed. The Curr Night Refuge stands in West Bell Street, opposite the burying-ground; was erected, with the sum of £6000 set aside by the trustees of the late Mrs Curr of Roseville, for the purpose; is in the Elizabethan style, after designs by Mr David Maclaren, not too elaborated with decorations, but possessing a tasteful and pleasing appearance; and was opened in the summer of 1882. Other charitable institutions in the town are the Indigent Sick Society, instituted in 1797 for affording aid to the indigent and sick; the Eye Institution, founded in 1836 for the benefit of those suffering from diseases of the eye; the Home for Fallen Women, founded in 1848 by Sir John and Lady Jane Ogilvy, for the reclamation of females who have strayed from the paths of virtue; Baldovan Asylum for Imbecile Children, also established by Sir John and Lady Ogilvy in 1855, and providing accommodation for about 50 inmates; the Prisoners' Aid Society, established in 1872 for the correction and reformation of ticket-of-leave persons and prisoners discharged from gaol; the Cabmen's Shelter, in South Lindsay Street, immediately adjoining the Old Steeple, erected in 1875 by public subscription for the benefit of cabmen; the Homœopathic Dispensary, in South Tay Street, opened in 1876; Harris's Charity, originated in 1874 in a gift of £10, 000 from Mr Wm. Harris, the interest of which is applied for the relief of those who have seen better days; the Sunday morning free breakfasts to the poor, originated in 1875; the Dundee Humane Society, for the purpose of rewarding those who distinguish themselves by their courageous and humane exertions in saving life, established in 1865; the Dundee Swimming Club and Humane Society, formed in 1874, to encourage swimming in all its branches, and to reward those persons who may be the means of saving life; the Clothing Society, conducted by ladies, embraces all denominations, and is perfectly unsectarian in its character. There is a local treasurer for the Indigent Gentlewoman's Fund, for the relief of ladies who, having been brought up genteelly, have fallen into poverty through no fault of their own. There are also local agencies for a number of metropolitan and national charitable institutions.

Previous to the passing of the Reform Bill of 1832 Dundee united with the burghs of Perth, Cupar-Fife, St Andrews, and Forfar in sending one representative to parliament; but when that measure became law it elected a member of its own, and since 1868 it has had two parliamentary representatives. A sheriff-substitute for Dundee was first appointed in 1832, and since 1865 it has been the seat of a circuit court of justiciary. For some years the police force was regulated by a statute passed in 1837, which vested the management jointly in the magistrates, and in a specially-elected body of general commissioners. Subsequently, however, by the adoption of the General Police Act of 1850, the whole parliamentary area, including the populous district of Lochee, and also the harbour of Dundee, were embraced in the police boundaries. In Oct. 1881, in consequence of a disagreement respecting the sum to be paid by the harbour trustees to the police commissioners for watching, cleansing, and lighting the harbour, the trustees from that date undertook the duty themselves. The Central Police Office is in West Bell Street; and there are district stations in Princes Street, Scouringburn, Maxwelltown, and South Road, Lochee. The force consists of 1 superintendent, 2 lieutenants, 4 inspectors, 1 sanitary inspector (who is also inspector of lodging-houses) and 7 assistants, 1 detective inspector and 6 detective officers, 1 inspector of markets and 1 assistant, 8 sergeants, and about 140 constables. The prison, in West Bell Street, was erected in 1837 at a cost of £26,000; had considerable additions made to it in 1844, in 1857, and again in 1872; but notwithstanding those extensions, the building has been officially condemned as too small for the increasing criminal population of the town. For making provision for the poor, Dundee and its suburbs used to be divided into two districts - namely, the parish of Dundee proper and the united parish of Liff and Benvie - each of which had its own house for the reception of paupers, and its own funds, assessment, and board of management; but in 1879 the two districts were united under one management, the two workhouses being retained for the eastern and western districts respectively. What used to be the Dundee Poorhouse is situated at Maryfield, to the W of the Forfar Loan; was erected in 1856 at a cost of £10, 000, with accommodation for 300 inmates; but was subsequently enlarged so as to receive 700 persons. What was the Liff and Benvie Poorhouse is in the Blackness Road, was erected in 1864, and is capable of accommodating upwards of 200 inmates. In 1869 the waterworks of the Dundee Water Company were transferred, by purchase, at an expense of fully £5000, to the Corporation, by whom, as the Dundee Water Commission, the water supply is now con trolled. The water supply formerly came from Monikie, but in 1875 an additional source of supply from the Loch of Lintrathen was made available, from which about 4, 000,000 gallons are daily brought into the town's reservoirs. A gas company was first formed in Dundee in 1825, a second in 1846; and in 1868 the works and plant of both companies were acquired by a mixed body, of whom the Corporation formed the majority, and who now, as the Dundee Gas Commission, supply the community with gas. The works are in East Dock Street, and have been from time to time extended to meet the increasing requirements of the town. In Sept. 1881 a gasholder, the second largest in Scotland, was brought into use, having cost upwards of £15, 000. In the parliamentary session of 1882 the Gas Commission applied to parliament for a bill authorising them to manufacture and supply the electric light. A commodious and convenient cattle market, with slaughterhouses and other adjuncts, was provided in 1876 by the police commissioners at Carolina Port, adjoining the East Dock Street railway station, at a cost of about £35, 000. The extent of ground is about 6 ¾ acres, and the frontage to the Ferry Road on the N, and Dock Street on the S, is between 500 and 600 feet. The Greenmarket - the open street between the foot of Crichton Street and Dock Street - is where a large portion of the marketing of the working classes is conducted. The Fish Market is held in an enclosure to the E of the Greenmarket. The Arcade occupies a large plot of ground lying between King Street and Victoria Road, having a frontage to King Street on the S, Victoria Road on the N, King's Road on the E, and Idvies and Charles Streets on the W; and was opened on Dec. 10, 1881. The Post Office, situated at the top of Reform Street, contains all the departments of a head office, with telegraph office attached, but is scarcely on a scale or in a style commensurate with the town's importance. Postal receiving-houses, with money order and savings' bank departments, are in King Street, Hilltown, Perth Road, Scouringburn, Princes Street, and Blackscroft. Telephonic communication is provided by two separate companies.

Dundee was the second town in Scotland to open a Free Public Library, which it decided to do at a public meeting held on Sept. 6, 1866, but the library itself was not opened until July 1, 1869, and the reference department three months afterwards. The success of the Free Library was so great that ultimately arrangements were made by which the Albert Institute directors conveyed to the town the ground necessary for the erection of additional buildings to be occupied as a picture gallery and museum, and also, as has already been stated, vested the whole of the Albert Institute in the Town Council, as trustees for carrying out the purposes for which the institute was founded. In 1873 a branch of the Lending Library was opened in Lochee; but it was taken advantage of to so small an extent, that it was discontinued after a few months' trial. The museum occupies the extreme E end of the Albert Institute buildings; was formally opened to the public on May 9, 1874; contains a large number of geological, botanical, and natural history specimens, besides a splendid collection of articles from the Arctic regions. The Picture Gallery is enriched with some choice works of art, although the collection is not nearly so large as it ought to be. An annual Fine Art Exhibition is now held in the Albert Institute buildings. Dundee was first provided with public baths by a joint-stock company in 1848; but in 1871 they were acquired by the Corporation, and have since been greatly extended and improved. The baths are situated on the West Protection Wall, closely adjoining the river, so that an abundant water supply can at all times be had. They include a handsome Turkish bath, splendid swimming ponds, and excellent plunge baths. Dundee furnishes two contingents to the Forfarshire Rifle Volunteer Corps - the 1st Forfarshire, consisting of 8 companies, with about 800 men of all ranks; and the 2d Forfarshire (Dundee Highland), of 6 companies, with about 600 en of all ranks. It also furnishes a corps (the 4th) to the Forfarshire Artillery Brigade. In the end of 1881 an attempt was made to raise a brigade of Naval Artillery Volunteers; but in Jan. 1882, the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty declined to sanction the undertaking, as a sufficient number of volunteers had not come forward. Dundee, however, furnishes a larger contingent towards the Royal Naval Reserve than any port in Scotland, and more than any port in the kingdom in proportion to its seafaring population. For their training the Unicorn, formerly a double-decked frigate, has been specially fitted up, and now lies moored in Earl Grey's Dock. The Savings' Bank is situated in Euclid Street, nearly opposite Ward Chapel; was originally established in 1815, but removed to its present handsome quarters in 1867. The progress of the bank is shown by the following statement of the sum due to depositors during a series of years, ending at Nov. 20 in each year: - 1860, £108, 779; 1865, £150, 897; 1870, £256, 400; 1875, £409, 558; 1876, £441,080; 1877, £471, 660; 1878, £485, 865; 1879, £519, 617; 1880, £566, 608; 1881, £600, 244. A working men's club, with suitable premises in South Tay Street, was established in 1873 by the munificence of Mr George Armitstead, one of the parliamentary representatives of the burgh, but after maintaining a languishing existence was closed in Dec. 1881. The theatre stands in Castle Street, was once elegant, but became dingy and desolate, and although improved from time to time, and excellently managed, is structurally inadequate to the requirements of modern times. The Dundee Music Hall, formerly the Exchange Room, stands at the foot of Castle Street, the entertainment offered being of the usual music hall description. A circus, erected by the Brothers Cooke behind the Queen's Hotel, Nethergate, was opened in Feb. 1878, and is visited at occasional intervals by these well-known equestrians. A circus was erected in East Dock Street by Mr James Newsome in 1875, but was given up in 1881. Dundee possesses a number of yachting and rowing clubs; has a fine skating pond at Stobsmuir; an open-air bathing pond at Buckingham Point, and an open-air bathing association; a chess club, founded in 1826; and several angling clubs, besides numerous cricket and bowling clubs, and a snuff and twopenny whist club. Amongst its miscellaneous institutions are a time gun, in the grounds attached to the barracks, connected by an electric wire with the Observatory at Greenwich, and fired daily at one o'clock; and two Russian guns, captured from the Russians during the Russian war, and placed in front of the Volunteer Drill Hall.

Dundee has three railway stations - one at the E end of Dock Street, another at the W end, and a third the Tay Bridge station - immediately adjoining the Esplanade. Attempts have frequently been made to secure a commodious central station, but have always failed, and the lamentable accident to the Tay Bridge seems to have rendered the accomplishment of this object more remote than ever. This bridge was one of the longest in the world, its length, including the extension on the northern shore, being 10, 612 feet. This great length was taken in 85 spans of varying width, the widest, of which there were 11, being 245 feet. The level at the shores was between 70 and 80 feet above the sea; in the middle it was 130 feet above high water, giving a clear water-way of 88 feet at high-water mark. The platform on the top of the bridge, which carried the single line of rails, was only 15 feet wide, and, as seen from the heights above Newport, was so narrow as to appear a mere cable swung from shore to shore; and seeing a train puffing along for the first time is said to have excited the same kind of nervousness felt by those who watched Blondin crossing the Niagara. The bridge, which was designed by Thomas Bouch (afterwards knighted), cost £350, 000, and was opened for traffic on May 31, 1878. On the evening of Sunday, Dee. 28, 1879, during a severe storm, the whole of the high central girders of the bridge were blown down while a passenger train was crossing from the S to the N, and every individual in the ill-fated train perished. It is believed that nearly 90 persons thus lost their lives, the bodies of only 46 of whom were afterwards recovered. A sum of £6527 was raised by public subscription for the relief of the sufferers, of which not quite £2000 was expended in interim relief; and as the North British British Railway Company settled all the claims of the sufferers, the balance was returned to the subscribers. A protracted inquiry was made into the disaster, which showed that the bridge was badly designed, badly constructed, and badly maintained. After much delay, plans for a new bridge, a little to the W of the former structure, at a lower elevation and for a double line of rails, were sanctioned by the Board of Trade, and the work was begun in the spring of 1882, Mr W. H. Barlow, C. E., being the engineer. In 1873, powers were acquired by a private company for the construction of street tramways, but the work was not then proceeded with, and it was not until four years afterwards that they were introduced by another company.

The Dundee Chamber of Commerce, formed in 1836, but only obtaining its charter of incorporation in 1864, is now a large and influential body, composed principally of gentlemen engaged in the staple manufactures of the town. A Horticultural Society has existed for any years, and holds an annual exhibition at which prizes are awarded for the best plants, cut flowers, fruit, and vegetables. A Dog, Cat, and Poultry Show existed for three years, its last annual exhibition being in Nov. 1880. A Naturalists' Society was formed in 1872, which has accommodation provided for it in one of the rooms of the Albert Institute. There are also numerous provident, building, and insurance societies, and a number of co-operative societies. The Dundee Temperance Society was established in Jan. 1830; the Independent Order of Good Templars was introduced in Sept. 1870; the Women's Temperance Prayer Union was formed in 1874; and the Blue Ribbon Army was introduced by Mr Francis Murphy, the apostle of temperance from America, in Dec. 1881. There are also various municipal and political, as well as social and convivial, organisations in the town. The newspapers are - the Dundee Advertiser, published daily, as well as a bi-weekly edition on Tuesdays and Fridays; the Dundee Courier and Argus, daily, also with bi-weekly issue on Tuesdays and Fridays, entitled the Northern Warder; the Evening Telegraph, daily; the People's Journal, every Saturday; and the Weekly News, every Saturday. The People's Friend, a Scottish literary miscellany, is published every Wednesday; and the Wizard of the North, a comic journal, monthly.

The manufactures of the town exhibit a remarkable history of failure, perseverance, and eventual success. Coarse woollens, under the name of plaiding, dyed in Holland, and exported throughout Europe; bonnets, so extensively manufactured as to employ a large proportion of the population; coloured sewing thread, made by 7 different companies, maintaining 66 twisting-mills, and employing 1340 spinners; the tanning of leather, in at least 9 tanyards, and to the annual value of £14,200; glass, in 2 factories, one for window glass, the other for bottle glass; the spinning of cotton, vigorously conducted, for a time, by 7 different companies; the refining of sugar, carried on in a large building in Seagate; these, and the making of buckles and other minor manufactures, all flourished for a season, and terminated in disaster and extinction, some of them leaving their names on their localities, others leaving vestiges of their factory walls as memorials of the instability of trade.

The staple trade for some time was in flax and linen; afterwards included hemp; and of late years, with rapid increase, has turned largely on jute. For many years, with the view of encouraging the linen trade, a bounty was paid by the Government on all linen exported; and in 1832 - the last year that this bounty was paid - the value of the linen sent out from Dundee amounted to £600, 000. The largest hemp and flax establishment in the town is that of the Messrs Baxter Brothers in Princes Street, which covers upwards of nine acres of ground. This firm employs upwards of 4000 workpeople, and consumes 7000 tons of flax alone per annum, besides a considerable quantity of hemp - a quantity exceeding what is worked up by any other firm in the world. It is here that the greater part of the ships' canvas for the British Royal Navy, and that of the United States of America, is manufactured. Jute, however, is now the staple trade of the town, its development since the civil war in America having been something marvellous, and almost fabulous fortunes having been made by some of the larger manufacturers engaged in it. Since 1874, however, the trade has been in an unusually depressed state, mainly in consequence of the number of jute factories that have been established in other parts of the country, on the Continent, and in Calcutta. The following is a return of the quantity of jute imported during the last few years: - 1868, 58, 474 tons; 1869, 82, 379; 1870, 81, 740; 1871, 102, 844; 1872, 127, 190; 1873, 143, 150; 1874, 117, 375; 1875, 112, 350; 1876, 118, 571; 1877, 107, 616; 1878, 126, 776; 1879, 151, 291; 1880, 138, 546. The jute used to be all obtained from India, but latterly a portion has come from Egypt; was originally got through London and Liverpool, but the greater part of it is now imported direct from Calcutta.

The seal and whale fishing is also an important industry in Dundee, about a dozen screw-steamers being engaged in it, with varying success. Every ship has from 70 to 90 of a crew, who have to be provisioned for several months; and to this outlay has to be added the cost of repairing and refitting the vessels, which is sometimes a pretty heavy sum. When it is mentioned that the capital invested in the whaling fleet represents a total of about £200,000, some idea may be formed of its magnitude. The value of the fisheries varies in different seasons, but of late years it has been on the increase. The average price obtained for seal skins may be put at 4s. 6d. each, and every ton of oil is worth about £35; while, as regards the whale fishery, the price of the oil obtained may be given at £40 per ton, and of bone at £500 per ton, although it has been as high as £1000 per ton in some years. Some of the vessels engaged in the fishings belong to private individuals, and the others to three joint-stock companies. The following is a return of the fisheries for a series of years:—

Seal Fishing. Whale Fishing.
Year. Ships. Seals. Tons Oil. Ships. Tons Oil. Tons Bone.
1865 4 63,000 730 7 630 30
1866 7 58,000 690 11 340 18
1867 11 56,000 640 11 20
1868 12 16,670 190 13 970 50
1869 11 45,600 460 10 140 7
1870 9 90,450 870 6 760 40
1871 9 65,480 648 8 1156 61
1872 11 40,621 429 10 1010 54
1873 11 25,594 265 10 1352 69
1874 11 46,252 577 9 1290 66 ½
1875 12 49.295 450 12 752 40
1876 11 53,776 578 13 891 44
1877 14 80,130 1129 14 893 44 ½
1878 13 94.161 1115 13 112 6
1879 15 92,400 1160 13 725 35 ½
1880 13 65,000 981 12 1084 56
1881 15 210,000 2654 11 514 25

The shipping and shipbuilding of the port have increased very much of late years, and are now something considerable. The following table shows the number of vessels, with their aggregate tonnage, belonging to the port in a series of years: -

Year. Vessels. Tonnage. Year. Vessels. Tonnage
1792 116 8,550 1872 179 53,279
1813 153 14,905 1873 167 50,579
1822 171 17,370 1874 173 55,994
1831 259 30.654 1875 181 70,205
1841 389 54,292 1876 196 86,545
1851 362 60.698 1877 202 92.273
1868 195 50,074 1878 204 94,323
1869 168 52.392 1879 197 93,712
1870 189 55.599 1880 196 98,548
1871 191 54,863 1881 188 96,571

The following is a statement of the number of vessels that entered the harbour, and their aggregate tonnage, for several years: - 1878, 3676 vessels, 530, 467 tonnage; 1879, 2817, 503, 840; 1880, 3016, 531, 946; 1881, 2672, 555, 303. The following table shows the number of ships and amount of tonnage launched and on hand at the end of a series of years:—

Launched. On hand.
Year. Vessels. Tonnage. Vessels. Tonnage.
1871 11 9,400 11 13,572
1872 13 13,049 7 7,190
1873 10 9.293 8 9,167
1874 11 11,165 11 10,540
1875 23 14,998 19 14.695
1876 23 15.356 15 11.720
1877 18 12.135 7 7,580
1878 12 11.121 11 9.980
1879 14 12,384 12 11.423
1880 15 15.621 7 14.925
1881 11 18,945 16 21,758

The engineering and iron-founding trades of the town are also of considerable importance, the workers in iron forming by far the largest class of male operatives in Dundee. A considerable trade is also done in the manufacture of confectionery, marmalade, leather, boots and shoes, and tobacco, as well as in the brewing of beer and the grinding of flour.

Lochee forms a sort of outgrowth of Dundee, being separated from the general body of the town by a very circuitous and irregular road; and, although now forming part of the burgh, retains much of the village character, having interests and requirements of its own; has two places of worship in connection with the establishment - the old Chapel of Ease and St Luke's; a Free church, U.P. church, St Margaret's Episcopal Church, St Clement's Roman Catholic Chapel, St Mary's of the Immaculate Conception, and a Baptist chapel. Wellburn Asylum, conducted under Roman Catholic auspices, affords accommodation for 100 aged men, and a similar number of old women. The Camperdown Linen Works, of Messrs Cox Brothers, are the largest of the kind about Dundee, and give employment to a large proportion of the inhabitants of Dundee.

The name Dundee was anciently written Donde, Dondie, and Dondei; and is supposed by some to be a corruption of the Latin Dei Donum, signifying the `hill of God,' by others to be a variation of the Celtic Duntaw, signifying the 'hill of Tay.' The name Alec or Alectum, signifying `a handsome place,' is alleged to have been previously used, but seems to have been merely a poetical epithet applied to Hector Boece. The town is said, by some old historians, to have been a place of importance and strength at the time of the Roman invasion under Agricola; but it really does not appear fairly on record till the year 834, and not very authentically even then; and, like all the other ancient towns of Scotland, it suffered obscuration or obliteration of its early history from destruction of public documents by Edward I. of England. Elpin, King of the Scots, is said to have, in 834, made Dundee his headquarters in warfare against Brude, King of the Picts, to have led out from it an army of 20, 000 against him to Dundee Law, and to have there been discomfited, captured, and beheaded. Malcolm II., in 1010, concentrated his forces in Dundee, and led them thence to his victory over the Danish general at Barrie. Malcolm Ceannmor, about 1071, as we have already noticed, erected in Dundee a palace for his Queen Margaret; and King Edgar, in 1106, as also we previously stated, died in that palace. David, Prince of Scotland, Earl of Huntingdon, the hero of Sir Walter Scott's graphic story of The Talisman, landed at Dundee on his return from the crusades; was met here, soon after his arrival, by his brother William the Lyon; received from William a gift of the town, together with conferment on it of extended privileges; and, in fulfilment of some vows which he had made in the spirit of the period, erected in it, on the site of the present Town churches, a magnificent chapel. His eldest daughter, mother of the Princess Devorgilla, and grandmother of King John Baliol, was married at Dundee, in 1209, to Alan, Lord of Galloway and Constable of Scotland.

The town, at that time and onward to the Wars of the Succession, was the most important one in the kingdom, not even excepting Perth, Stirling, and Edinburgh, for at once wealth, population, and political consequence; it received confirmation of its immunities and privileges from Alexander III.; and it, therefore, was a prime mark for Edward I. of England's arrows in his usurpation of Scotland's rights. His forces came against it in 1291, took possession of its castle, burned or otherwise demolished its churches, sacked its private houses, destroyed or carried off its records, and inflicted ruthless barbarities on its inhabitants. Edward, himself, entered it in 1296, and again in 1303; and, in the latter year, subjected it once more to conflagration and disaster. Sir William Wallace had attended its grammar school when about 16 years of age; he began his public career by appearing in it amid the desolations done by Edward, and killing the son of the English governor who held its castle; he laid siege to it, with such forces as he could collect, in the summer of 1297; he temporarily relinquished the siege, in result of intelligence which drew him off to Stirling to achieve his great victory there; he returned to Dundee to resume the siege, immediately after his victory at Stirling; he promptly got possession of the town by unconditional surrender; and he received from the burgesses a handsome guerdon in money and arms. Its castle, soon after Wallace's departure, was seized and garrisoned by a partisan of Edward; was speedily besieged again by Wallace; first in person, next through his lieutenant, Alexander Scrymseour; was pressed by the latter with a force of 8000 men, and eventually reduced; and was ordered by Wallace to be demolished, that it might no more afford foothold to invading armies. Scrymseour, in reward of his bravery, was constituted by Wallace Constable of Dundee; and formed the source of a series of hereditary constables, one of whom became Viscount Dudhope. A great council, as we formerly noticed, was held within the Greyfriars' Monastery, in 1309, to recognise Robert Bruce as King of Scotland. The castle, in 1312, was rebuilt and garrisoned by the English; in the same year was captured by Prince Edward, brother of Robert Bruce; in the same year was recaptured by the English; and, in the early part of 1313, was captured again by Prince Edward. Robert Bruce resided in the town during part of 1314; and, while here, conferred upon it some new important gifts. Richard II. of England, in 1385, attacked the town and burned it. James V. and his Queen, in 1528, attended by a numerous train of prelates, nobles, and gentlemen, were magnificently entertained in the town for six days. Dundee was the first town in Scotland to receive, broadly and demonstratively, the doctrines of the Reformation; and it enjoyed, for a time, with impressiveness and in solemn circumstances, the ministry of the Reformer, Wishart. Wishart began his ministry here with public lectures on the Epistle to the Romans; had crowded and attentive audiences; was temporarily driven from the town at the instance of the Romish authorities; came back, four days afterwards, on learning that pestilential plague had struck it; preached to its terrified inhabitants, as we formerly noticed, from the battlements of Cowgate Port; and was instrumental of so great and permanent spiritual benefit to it, as to occasion it to be afterwards called the Second Geneva. An army of Henry VIII. of England, after the battle of Pinkie in 1547, advanced to Dundee; entered it without opposition, such forces as could be raised in it retiring at their approach; began to fortify it with defensive walls at its most accessible parts; held possession for only eight days, in consequence of the rumoured advance of French and other troops in the interest of the Queen Regent; and, on the eve of their departure, demolished the fortifications which they had begun to erect, rifled the town and set fire to its churches and to many of its houses. The Queen Regent's troops entered without resistance; united with the townspeople in quenching the conflagration which was going on; and reconstructed and extended the defensive fortifications. A body of the townsmen, to the number of nearly 1000, headed by their provost, Hallyburton, in 1559, hearing of the hostile intentions of the Queen Regent, marched into junction with the army of the Reformers, and contributed largely to their victory at Perth. Queen Mary, during her progress through Scotland, in 1565, spent two days in Dundee; and, despite the antagonism between her religious tenets and those of the townspeople, was treated with every mark of loyalty and affection. The town gave refuge, in 1584, both to the celebrated Professor Melville of St Andrews and the notable Earl of Gowrie, who figured in the raid of Ruthven. James VI. visited the town at periods between 1590 and 1594; revisited it, with pompous ceremonial, in 1617; and, on the latter occasion, was welcomed in a panegyrical speech and two Latin poems, delivered by the town-clerk.

The Marquis of Montrose, in 1645, with a force of only about 750 men, stormed the town, plundered its churches and principal houses, and set parts of it on fire; but was suddenly chased from it by an army of 3800 under Generals Baillie and Harry. Charles II., in 1651, immediately before his march into Worcester, spent some weeks in Dundee; got sumptuous entertainment from the magistrates; and was provided by the inhabitants with a stately pavilion, six pieces of artillery, and some troops of horse. General Monk, in the same year, besieged the town; encountered a stubborn, prolonged, and sanguinary resistance beneath its walls; broke eventually into it with terrible impetuosity; slaughtered all its garrison and more than 1200 of its inhabitants, and subjected it to such a pillage that each soldier in his army received nearly £60 sterling. Graham of Claverhouse, in 1689, two years after he had been created Viscount Dundee, and about six weeks before he fell on the battlefield of Killiecrankie, approached the town with intention of inflicting on it signal vengeance; but was met, and mainly repelled, by a prompt armed embodiment of the burgesses; yet succeeded in setting fire to the entire suburb of Hilltown. Graham of Duntroon, in Sept. 1715, proclaimed in Dundee the Pretender as King of the British dominions; and the Pretender himself, in the following January, made a public entrance into the town and spent a night, as we formerly mentioned, in the town mansion of Stewart of Grandtully. A force of Prince Charles Edward, consisting of about 600 men under the command of Sir James Kinloch, held possession of the town from 7 Sept. 1745 till 14 Jan. 1746. Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort, in Sept- 1844, on their way to Blair Castle, landed at Dundee; and the Prince and Princess of Wales, in Sept. 1864, embarked at it for Denmark. The Queen, the Prince and Princess of Wales, Prince Leopold, General Grant, ex-President of the United States, and other eminent personages also visited it after the first Tay Bridge was opened.

Many natives of Dundee and its vicinity, and many other persons who have resided in it, are on the roll of fame. Some of the chief are Sir William Wallace, who attended its grammar school, and possibly was a native; Sir Nicol Campbell of Lochow, the ancestor of the Dukes of Argyll; John Blair, who celebrated the enterprises of Sir William Wallace in a Latin poem, now lost; Alexander Scrymseour, already mentioned as the first of the hereditary constables of Dundee; Hector Boece, the old Scottish historian; Robert Pittiloch or Patullo, who commanded the Scottish guard in the service of France, and acquired distinguished military honours, under Charles VII.; James Hallyburton, provost of the town for more than thirty years, and a strenuous defender of the principles of the Reformation; James Wedderburn and his brother, vicar of Dundee, who considerably aided the overthrow of Popery by their satires on its clergy; Dr Kinloch, physician to James VI.; the elder Marr, the friend and fellow-labourer of Napier of Merchiston, the inventor of logarithms; James Gleg, who left a professor's chair in St Andrews to become rector of Dundee grammar school; Sir George Mackenzie, Lord-Advocate of Scotland, author of the Institutes of the Scots Law, and founder of the Advocates' Library in Edinburgh; John Marr, the constructor, in the 17th century, of a remarkably accurate chart of the Firth of Tay and North Sea; George Yeaman, the representative of the town in the last Scottish parliament, and one of the ablest and most patriotic legislators of his country; Robert Fergusson, the talented but unfortunate Scottish poet, who early came to a disastrous end in Edinburgh; Robert Stewart, an eminently literary man, and a distinguished surgeon; Sir James Ivory, the celebrated mathematician; James Weir, also a profound mathematician; Admiral Viscount Duncan, the hero of Camperdown, and of many other naval battles; Dr Robert Small, the author of an Explanation of the Astronomieal Theories of Kepler; the Rev. John Glass, founder of the religious body called Glassites; the Rev. John Willison, author of the Afflicted Man's Companion; the Rev. Dr Russell, author of a number of religious works, and a powerful preacher; the Rev. R. M. M'Cheyne, author of a Mission to the Jews, and a most effective preacher; Thomas Hood, the humourist; William Thom and Robert Nicoll, the well-known poets; William Gardiner, author of the Flora of Forfarshire, and other botanical works; J. B. Lindsay, a distinguished mathematician, electrician, and linguist; Alexander Wedderburn, first Earl of Rosslyn; and Charles Middleton, first Lord Barham; Sir David Baxter, an eminent manufacturer, and a distinguished local benefactor; the Rev. George Gilfillan, a popular lecturer, author, and divine.

The parish of Dundee contains also parts of Lochee and Broughty Ferry, and comprises a main body and a detached district. The main body lies along the Firth of Tay; contains the greater part of the town of Dundee; and is bounded N by Liff, Mains, and Murroes, E by Monifieth, and W by Liff and Benvie. It has an elongated form, stretching from E to W, broadest at the E end, narrowest at the middle; and it measures 6 ¼ miles diagonally from NE to SW, 5 ¾ miles in direct length from E to W, and 2 ¼ miles in extreme breadth from N to S. The detached district commences about ½ mile N of the broadest part of the main body; is bounded on the W by Tealing, on all other sides by Murroes; and has nearly the outline of a square 1 ½ mile wide. The entire area is 4582 acres, of which 150 ¼ are detached, 173 foreshore, and 38 water. The surface of the main body rises gently from the shore; swells somewhat suddenly into braes in the northern outskirts of the town; ascends boldly thence to the green round summit of Dundee Law, at an elevation of 571 feet above sea-level; forms, to the W of the Law, the lesser, yet considerable and finely-wooded height of Balgay Hill; and all, as seen from the Fife side of the Tay, presents a beautiful appearance. The view from most parts of it is charming, and that from the top of Dundee Law is at once extensive, panoramic, and splendidly picturesque. E and S, as far as the eye can reach, the mouth of the Tay, the bay and towers of St Andrews, the German Ocean, and the greater part of Fife, are seen spread out as in a map. Turning to the opposite point of the compass, the dark ridges of the Sidlaw Hills, with a broad valley intervening, and the ore distant peaks of the Grampians, meet the eye. The Tay, opposite the town, is rather less than 2 miles broad; and it contracts further down to a width of barely 1 mile. Dighty and Fithie Waters traverse the north-eastern part of the main body, and make a confluence at the boundary with Monifieth. The rocks are chiefly porphyry, sandstone, amygdaloid, and trap, and they lie geognostically subjacent to the Carboniferous strata. Paving-stone and slate are raised in small quantity; and excellent sandstone abounds in the detached district, and is extensively quarried. The soil, in the E, is partly alluvial, partly argillaceous, and generally good; in the W, is thin and dry; in the N W and behind Dundee Law, is poor, upon a tilly bottom. Mansions, separately noticed, are Craigie, Claypots, and Duntrune. Dundee is the seat of a presbytery in the synod of Angus and Mearns. It ranked till 1834 as one parish, but was served by two ministers from the Reformation till 1609; it acquired a third minister in 1609, a fourth and a fifth in 1789; and it now is divided into the quoad eivilia parishes of Dundee proper, St Mary, St Clement, and St Paul, with large parts of St David and St John, and contains whole or part of the quoad sacra parishes of St Mark, St Andrew, St Enoch, Chapelshade, Wallacetown, Rosebank, and Logie, and the chapelries of St Matthew and Clepington.—Ord. Sur., shs. 48, 49, 1868-65.

The presbytery of Dundee co prises the old parishes of Dundee, Abernyte, Auchterhouse, Inchture, Kinnaird, Liff and Benvie, Longforgan, Lundie and Fowlis, Mains and Strathmartine, Monifieth, Monikie, Murroes, and Tealing; the quoad sacra parishes of Broughty Ferry, Broughty Ferry-St Stephen, Dundee-St Mark, Dundee-St Andrew, Dundee-St Enoch, Chapelshade, Wallacetown, Rosebank, Logie, Lochee, and Lochee-St Luke; and the chapelries of Dundee-St Matthew and Clepington. Pop. (1871) 139, 485, (1881) 163, 732, of whom 19, 809 were communicants of the Church of Scotland in 1878. The Free Church also has a presbytery of Dundee, with 18 churches in Dundee, 3 in Broughty Ferry, 2 in Monifieth, and 7 in respectively Abernyte, Liff, Lochee, Longforgan, Mains, Monikie, and Tealing, which 30 churches had 11,075 communicants in 1881. The U.P. Synod also has a presbytery of Dundee, with 10 churches in Dundee, 2 in Kirriemuir, 2 in Broughty Ferry, and 6 in respectively Lochee, Alyth, Blairgowrie, Ferry-Port-on-Craig, Newbigging, and Newport, which 20 churches had 7140 members in 1880.

See Chs. Mackie's Historical Description of the Town of Dundee (1836); C. C. Maxwell's Historical and Descriptive Guide to Dundee (1858); James Thomson's History of Dundee (1847); A. J. Warden's Linen Trade Ancient and Modern (1864); Warden's Burgh Laws (1872); W. Norrie's Dundee Celebrities of the Nineteenth Century (1873); W. Norrie's Handbook to Dundee Past and Present (1 876); Beatts's Municipal History of Dundee (1873); J. Maclaren's History of Dundee (1874); W. Hay's Charters, Writs, and Public Documents of the Royal Burgh of Dundee (1880); and Beatts's Reminiscences of an Old Dundonian (1882).

An accompanying 19th C. Ordnance Survey map is available, or use the map tab to the right of this page.

Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer

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