Visit Dundee Places

Welcome to Visit Dundee Places
The Walkfo guide to things to do & explore in Dundee

  

Dundee Places Overview: History, Culture & Facts about Dundee

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Dundee history

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The name “Dundee” is made up of two parts: the common Celtic place-name element dun, meaning fort; and a second part that may derive from a Celtic element, cognate with the Gaelic dè, meaning ‘fire’. While earlier evidence for human occupation is abundant, Dundee’s success and growth as a seaport town arguably came as a result of William the Lion’s charter, granting Dundee to his younger brother, David (later Earl of Huntingdon) in the late 12th century. The situation of the town and its promotion by Earl David as a trading centre led to a period of prosperity and growth. The earldom was passed down to David’s descendants, amongst whom was John Balliol. The town became a Royal Burgh on John’s coronation as king in 1292. The town and its castle were occupied by English forces for several years during the First War of Independence and recaptured by Robert the Bruce in early 1312. The original Burghal charters were lost during the occupation and subsequently renewed by Bruce in 1327. The burgh suffered considerably during the conflict known as the Rough Wooing of 1543 to 1550, and was occupied by the English forces of Andrew Dudley from 1547. In 1548, unable to defend the town against an advancing Scottish force, Dudley ordered that the town be burnt to the ground. In 1645, during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, Dundee was again besieged, this time by the Royalist Marquess of Montrose. The town was finally destroyed by Parliamentarian forces led by George Monck in 1651. The town played a pivotal role in the establishment of the Jacobite cause when John Graham of Claverhouse, 1st Viscount Dundee raised the Stuart standard on the Dundee Law in 1689. The town was held by the Jacobites in the 1715–16 rising, and on 6 January 1716 the Jacobite claimant to the throne, James VIII and III (the Old Pretender), made a public entry into the town. Many in Scotland, including many in Dundee, regarded him as the rightful king. A notable resident of Dundee was Adam Duncan, 1st Viscount Duncan of Camperdown, Baron of Lundie (1 July 1731 to 4 August 1804). He was born in Dundee on 1 July 1731, the son of Alexander Duncan of Lundie, Provost of Dundee. Adam was educated in Dundee and later joined the Royal Navy on board the sloop Trial. He rose to be admiral and in October 1797 defeated the Dutch fleet off Camperdown (north of Haarlem). This was seen as one of the most significant actions in naval history. The economy of mediaeval Dundee centred on the export of raw wool, with the production of finished textiles being a reaction to recession in the 15th century. Two government Acts in the mid 18th century had a profound effect on Dundee’s industrial success: the textile industry was revolutionised by the introduction of large four-storey mills, stimulated in part by the 1742 Bounty Act which provided a government-funded subsidy on Osnaburg linen produced for export. Expansion of the whaling industry was triggered by the second Bounty Act, introduced in 1750 to increase Britain’s maritime and naval skill base. Dundee, and Scotland more generally, saw rapid population increase at end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century, with the city’s population increasing from 12,400 in 1751 to 30,500 in 1821. The phasing out of the linen export bounty between 1825 and 1832 stimulated demand for cheaper textiles, particularly for cheaper, tough fabrics. The discovery that the dry fibres of jute could be lubricated with whale oil (of which Dundee had a surfeit, following the opening of its gasworks) to allow it to be processed in mechanised mills resulted in the Dundee mills rapidly converting from linen to jute, which sold at a quarter of the price of flax. Interruption of Prussian flax imports during the Crimean War and of cotton during the American Civil War resulted in a period of inflated prosperity for Dundee and the jute industry dominated Dundee throughout the latter half of the 19th century. Unprecedented immigration, notably of Irish workers, led to accelerated urban expansion, and at the height of the industry’s success, Dundee supported 62 jute mills, employing some 50,000 workers. Cox Brothers, who owned the massive Camperdown Works in Lochee, were one of the largest jute manufacturers in Europe and employed more than 5,000 workers. The rise of the textile industries brought with it an expansion of supporting industries, notably of the whaling, maritime and shipbuilding industries, and extensive development of the waterfront area started in 1815 to cope with increased demand for port capacity. At its height, 200 ships per year were built there, including Robert Falcon Scott’s Antarctic research vessel, the RRS Discovery. This ship is now on display at Discovery Point in the city. A significant whaling industry was also based in Dundee, largely existing to supply the jute mills with whale oil. Whaling ceased in 1912 and shipbuilding ceased in 1981. While the city’s economy was dominated by the jute industry, it also became known for smaller industries. Most notable among these were James Keiller’s and Sons, established in 1795, which pioneered commercial marmalade production, and the publishing firm DC Thomson, which was founded in the city in 1905. Dundee was said to be built on the ‘three Js’: Jute, Jam and Journalism. The town was also the location of one of the worst rail disasters in British history, the Tay Bridge disaster. The first Tay Rail Bridge was opened in 1878. It collapsed some 18 months later during a storm, as a passenger train passed over it, resulting in the loss of 75 lives. The most destructive fire in the city’s history came in 1906, reportedly sending “rivers of burning whisky” through the street. The jute industry fell into decline in the early 20th century, partly due to reduced demand for jute products and partly due to an inability to compete with the emerging industry in Calcutta. This gave rise to unemployment levels far in excess of the national average, peaking in the inter-war period, but major recovery was seen in the post-war period, thanks to the arrival first of American light engineering companies like Timex and NCR, and subsequent expansion into microelectronics. A£1 billion master plan to regenerate Dundee Waterfront is expected to last for a 30-year period between 2001 and 2031. The aims of the project are to reconnect the city centre to the waterfront; to improve facilities for walking, cyclists and buses; to replace the existing inner ring road with a pair of east/west tree-lined boulevards; and to provide a new civic square and a regenerated railway station and arrival space at the western edge. A new Victoria and Albert Museum opened on 15 September 2018.

Dundee culture & places

Dundee made a bid to be named the 2017 UK City of Culture. The Scottish city was short-listed alongside Hull, Leicester and Swansea Bay. Ultimately, Dundee’s bid was unsuccessful, with Hull winning the contest. Dundee also bid to become European Capital of Culture in 2023.

Museums and galleries

The city’s main museum and art gallery, McManus Galleries, is in Albert Square. The V&A Dundee Museum of Design opened in September 2018 and is built south of Craig Harbour onto the River Tay in a building designed by Kengo Kuma. Dundee City Archives holds official records of the city and former Tayside Regional Council.

Literature

Dundee has a strong literary heritage, with several authors having been born, lived or studied in the city. The Dundee International Book Prize is a biennial competition open to new authors, offering a prize of £10,000 and publication by Polygon Books. William McGonagall, regularly cited as the “world’s worst poet”, often gave performances of his work in pubs and bars.

Cinema

The Dundee Mountain Film Festival (DMFF) presents the best presenters and films of the year in mountaineering, mountain culture and adventure sport. DMFF is one of the members of the International Alliance for Mountain Film (IAMF) among other important international mountain film festivals. Dundee Contemporary Arts hosts an annual horror film festival called Dundead, which started in 2011.

Music

Dundee is home to a full-time repertory ensemble, which originated in 1939. The Dundee Repertory Theatre, built in 1982, is also the base for the Scottish Dance Theatre company. At the end of June, Dundee hosts an annual blues festival known as the Dundee Blues Bonanza. The Northern Irish indie rock band Snow Patrol was formed by students at the University of Dundee.

Media

DC Thomson & Son Ltd produces over 200 million magazines, newspapers and comics every year; these include The Beano, The Dandy and The Press and Journal. Dundee is home to one of eleven BBC Scotland broadcasting centres, located within the Nethergate Centre.

Dundee economy & business

Modern day

As of 2015, there were 395 employers who employed 250 or more staff in Dundee. The largest employers in the city are NHS Tayside, Dundee City Council, University of Dundee, Tesco, D. C. Thomson & Co and BT. Hardest-hit sectors were Information and Communication, Construction and Manufacturing which each lost around 500 full-time jobs.

Dundee landmarks

The city and its landscape are dominated by The Law and the Firth of Tay. The Law, a large hill to the north of the City Centre was the site of an Iron Age Hill Fort, upon which the Law War Memorial, designed by Thomas Braddock, was erected in 1921 to commemorate the fallen of World War I. The waterfront, much altered by reclamation in the 19th century, retains several of the docks that once were the hub of the jute and whaling industries, including the Camperdown and Victoria Docks. The Victoria Dock is the home of the frigate HMS Unicorn and the North Carr Lightship, while Captain Scott’s RRS Discovery occupies Craig Pier, from where the ferries to Fife once sailed. The oldest building in the city is St Mary’s Tower, which dates from the late 15th century. This forms part of the City Churches, which consist of St Clement’s Church, dating to 1787–8 and built by Samuel Bell, Old St Paul’s and St David’s Church, built in 1841–42 by William Burn, and St Mary’s Church, rebuilt in 1843–44, also by Burn, following a fire. Other significant churches in the city include the Gothic Revival Episcopal Cathedral of St Paul’s, built by Sir George Gilbert Scott in 1853 on the former site of Dundee Castle in the High Street, and the Catholic St. Andrew’s Cathedral, built in 1835 by George Mathewson in Nethergate. As a result of the destruction suffered during the Rough Wooing, little of the mediaeval city (aside from St Mary’s Tower) remains and the earliest surviving domestic structures date from the Early Modern Era. A notable example is the Wishart Arch (or East Port) in Cowgate. It is the last surviving portion of the city walls. Dating from prior to 1548, it owes its continued existence to its association with the Protestant martyr George Wishart, who is said to have preached to plague victims from the East Port in 1544. Another is the building complex on the High Street known as Gardyne’s Land, parts of which date from around 1560. The Howff burial ground in the northern part of the City Centre also dates from this time; it was given to the city by Mary Queen of Scots in 1564, having previously served as the grounds of a Franciscan abbey. Several castles can be found in Dundee, mostly from the Early Modern Era. The earliest parts of Mains Castle in Caird Park were built by David Graham in 1562 on the site of a hunting lodge of 1460. Dudhope Castle, originally the seat of the Scrymgeour family, dates to the late 16th century and was built on the site of a keep of 1460. Claypotts Castle, a striking Z plan castle in West Ferry, was built by John Strachan and dates from 1569 to 1588. In 1495 Broughty Castle was built and remained in use as a major defensive structure until 1932, playing a role in the Anglo-Scottish Wars and the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. The castle stands on a shallow tip projecting into the Firth, alongside two beaches, one of sand, the other of pebbles. The ruins of Powrie Castle, north of Fintry, date from the 16th-century castle north. North of the City Churches, at the end of Reform Street, lies the High School of Dundee, built in 1829–34 by George Angus in a Greek Revival style. Another school building of note is Morgan Academy on Forfar Road, built in 1863, designed by John Dick Peddie in a Dutch Gothic style. Dundee’s industrial history as a centre for textile production is apparent throughout the city. Numerous former jute mills remain standing and while some lay derelict, many have been converted for other uses. Of particular note are the Tay Works, built by the Gilroy Brothers c.1850–1865, Camperdown Works in Lochee, which built and owned by Cox Brothers, one of Europe’s largest jute manufacturing companies, and begun in 1849, and Upper Dens Mill and Lower Dens Works, built by the Baxter Brothers in the mid-19th century. A more recent landmark is the 140-foot (43 m) Tower Building of the University of Dundee built between 1959 and 1961. At the time of its construction only the Old Steeple was taller in the city. The Tower was built to replace the original college buildings which stood on the site. The building houses the university’s main administration and includes galleries and the university’s Archive, Records Management and Museum Services. Many 1960s landmark multi-storey housing buildings were demolished in the late 2000s. The former Tayside House block, nicknamed ‘Faulty Towers’ by many local people, was demolished in 2013 as part of the waterfront redevelopment program. According to the architectural historian Charles McKean and his co-authors of Lost Dundee, the best views in the city were from Tayside House, because these were the only views from which the building itself could not be seen.

Dundee geography / climate

Dundee sits on the north bank of the Firth of Tay on the eastern, North Sea Coast of Scotland. The city lies 36.1 miles (58 km) NNE of Edinburgh and 360.6 miles (580 km) of London. The built-up area occupies a roughly rectangular shape 8.3 miles (13 km) long by 2.5 miles (4 km) wide, aligned in an east to west direction. The town is bisected by a line of hills stretching from Balgay Hill (elevation of 143 m) to Gallow Hill (83 m)

Geology

The city lies within the Sidlaw-Ochil anticline, and the predominant bedrock type is Old Red Sandstone of the Arbuthnott-Garvock group. Differential weathering of a series of igneous intrusions has yielded a number of prominent hills.

Urban environment

Very little of pre-Reformation Dundee remains, the destruction suffered in the War of the Rough Wooing being almost total. The area occupied by the medieval burgh of Dundee extends between East Port and West Port, which formerly held the gates to the walled city. The shoreline has been altered considerably since the early 19th century through development of the harbour area and land reclamation.

Climate

The climate, like the rest of lowland Scotland, is Oceanic (Köppen-Geiger classification Cfb) A record high of 29.3 °C (84.7 °F) was recorded in July 2013. The nearest official Met Office weather station is Mylnefield, Invergowrie which is about 4 miles (6.4 km) west of the city.

You can visit Dundee places with Walkfo Dundee to hear history at Dundee’s places whilst walking around using the free digital tour app. Walkfo Dundee has 95 places to visit in our interactive Dundee map, with amazing history, culture & travel facts you can explore the same way you would at a museum or art gallery with information audio headset. With Walkfo, you can travel by foot, bike or bus throughout Dundee, being in the moment, without digital distraction or limits to a specific walking route. Our historic audio walks, National Trust interactive audio experiences, digital tour guides for English Heritage locations are available at Dundee places, with a AI tour guide to help you get the best from a visit to Dundee & the surrounding areas.

“Curated content for millions of locations across the UK, with 95 audio facts unique to Dundee places in an interactive Dundee map you can explore.”

Walkfo: Visit Dundee Places Map
95 tourist, history, culture & geography spots

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Dundee historic spots	Dundee tourist destinations	Dundee plaques	Dundee geographic features
Walkfo Dundee tourism map key: places to see & visit like National Trust sites, Blue Plaques, English Heritage locations & top tourist destinations in Dundee

  

Best Dundee places to visit

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Dundee has places to explore by foot, bike or bus. Below are a selection of the varied Dundee’s destinations you can visit with additional content available at the Walkfo Dundee’s information audio spots:

Fintry, Dundee Fintry is located in the north of Dundee with Mill o’ Mains to the west and Whitfield to the east. On three of the four sides, and (formerly) half of the north side (see section on Cheviot Crescent and Grampian Gardens) borders are defined by three to four storey high tenement blocks.

Visit Dundee plaques