Wishart Arch


(Cowgate, East Port)

Wishart Arch, Dundee
©2022 Gazetteer for Scotland

Wishart Arch, Dundee

The Wishart Arch is the name given in more recent times to a remnant of the 16th C. city walls of Dundee around a gateway, the East Port or Cowgate. The arch is still situated in a street known as the Cowgate, although this section is isolated from its continuation in the western by the A991 inner ring road. Most likely built when Dundee was fortified around 1590, its survival is due to its probably-mythical connection with the Protestant reformer George Wishart (1513-46), whose is said to have preached from the structure in 1544.

The commemorative plaque states:

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 hand and healed them" Psalm CVII
Restored 1877

Dundee Town Council was ordered to dismantle the city walls after the Battle of Culloden (1746), but the Cowgate Port survived.


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