A textile heritage centre housed in an old jute mill in West Henderson's Wynd, Dundee. Erected in 1833 and now one of the best remaining examples of a Dundee jute works, it is the headquarters of the Dundee Heritage Trust which purchased the site in 1991. Verdant Works, built for the flax-spinner and merchant David Lindsay in 1833, was taken over by a canvas manufacturer John Ewan in the 1850s. By 1864 it had three engines driving 70 power looms and a workforce of 500. Operating until 1899, it was one of 61 spinning and power loom works in the City of Dundee. The works re-opened as a museum in 1996. It tells the story of jute, an industry that employed 50,000 people in the city at its peak. Visitors can experience the deafening sounds of the machines that turned raw fibre to woven cloth, learn about the mill-workers, their life in the city's tenements, their customs, health, education and the organising of trade unions as workers tried to regain rights from the all-powerful Jute Barons. Exhibits include the Works Office, a mechanics' workshop and a Boulton & Watt beam engine dating from 1801. The museum includes temporary exhibition galleries and a History Hub, which provides assistance with local and family history research. The Verdant Works was named European Industrial Museum of the Year in 1999.
Dundee Heritage Trust was formed in 1985 to preserve and interpret Dundee's industrial past. It also runs Discovery Point on the city's waterfront.
