Dundee
Dundee is Scotland's fourth largest city after Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. (Next on the list is Paisley.)
Dundee has been promoted as the city of Discovery, after the ship Discovery.
The Discovery, took Scott and his party to Antarctica (the south Pole which has black and white penguins - the popular polar bears, snow white, are in the North Pole).
Modern discoveries (Scott - and our discovery of Dundee cake and the ship Discovery and the Design Museum) and ancient disasters (Scott and Shackleton and the Tay Bridge rail disaster.)
- 1 RRS Discovery, Riverside Drive DD1 4XA. Apr-Oct M-Sa 10:00-18:00, Su 11:00-18:00; Nov-Mar M-Sa 10:00-17:00, Su 11:00-17:00. Discovery, launched in 1901, is an Royal Research Ship (RRS) specifically built for Antarctic exploration. Built in Dundee, she's a wooden sailing vessel with only auxiliary steam power. Discovery was commanded by Robert Falcon Scott, and also aboard was Ernest Shackleton. They reached Antarctica in early 1902 (summer), intending to spend one winter, but the ship became icebound for the next two years. They were just about to abandon ship in Feb 1904 when the ice broke and they escaped homeward to public acclaim. Both men were to return: Shackleton in 1907-09 didn't quite reach the South Pole, but survived; Scott in 1910-12 did reach it, but behind Amundsen, and all his party perished on the trek back to the coast. The museum has an extensive display of the 1902-04 expedition, and then you go aboard the dry-docked ship, which had a later career as a polar merchant vessel. Adult £11.50, combi with Verdant Works £18.65.
- 2 Dundee V & A, 1 Riverside Esplanade DD1 4DE. Daily 10:00-17:00. The Dundee branch of London's Victoria and Albert museum, with a focus on design in Scotland. The building on the waterfront is a striking modern design with an interior of ship's planking, as if Discovery next door had arrived as an Ikea flat-pack. Free, charges for special exhibitions.
- 3 McManus Gallery & Museum, Albert Square, Meadowside DD1 1DA. M-Sa 10:00-17:00, Su 12:30-16:30. McManus is in three sections: museum tracing Dundee's story, natural history museum, and art gallery; plus exhibitions. The building, a Gothic construction by George Gilbert Scott, opened in 1867 as a memorial to Prince Albert. Free.
- 4 HMS Unicorn, South Victoria Dock Road DD1 3BP. Apr-Oct daily 10:00-17:00, Nov-Mar Tu-Su 10:00-16:00. A 46-gun frigate launched in 1824 at Chatham Docks in England, but immediately mothballed, so she was never fitted with masts, rigging or guns. Her hull was roofed over and her only sea voyage was in 1873 when she was towed north to Dundee to act as a training hulk. This means her original Georgian timbers are in unusually good condition. Her sister ship HMS Trincomalee also survives, and can be visited in Hartlepool. Adult £7.25, child £3.50.
- 5 Verdant Works, West Henderson’s Wynd DD1 5BT. Apr-Oct M-Sa 10:00-18:00, Su 11:00-18:00; Nov, Feb-Mar M-Sa 10:00-177:00, Su 11:00-17:00, Dec Jan W-Sa 10:00-17:00, Su 11:00-17:00. In the 19th century you just had to have jute. Curtains and carpets and blankets, hard-wearing clothing. Satchels and roof felt, ropes of all kinds, sails for ships, tents for soldiers. The raw material is a coarse flax that grows in Bengal: it was processed here because Dundee had fast ships to import it, whale oil to make it soft and workable, flax-weaving technology, and then again the fast ships to export finished goods globally. The city's mill owners grew very rich; the mill workers didn't, nor did the Bengalis. Verdant Works, built in 1833, was one of many jute factories here. Many of them still stand, converted into offices and apartments; Verdant was turned into a museum in 1996. Volunteers demonstrate the clanking machinery. Adult £11.50, combi with Discovery £18.65.
- 6 Dundee Science Centre, Greenmarket DD1 4QB, ☏ +44 1382 228800. Daily 10:00-17:00. Interactive science museum. Adult £8.60, child £6.50.
- 7 St Paul's Cathedral, High St DD1 1TD. Tu-F 10:00-16:00, Sa 11:00-15:00, Su 10:00-12:30, 19:30-21:00. Anglican cathedral in Decorated Gothic style by George Gilbert Scott, completed in 1855.
- 8 St Andrew's Cathedral, 150 Nethergate DD1 4EA. M-F 08:30-17:30, Sa 10:00-12:00, Su 10:30-12:30, 17:30-19:30. RC cathedral with a Victorian Gothic facade opened in 1836.
- Tay Bridges: There are three... well, two-and-a-scrap really:
- 9 Tay Road Bridge. Opened in 1966, this carries the A92. It's a mile and a half long, and climbs 100 ft from Dundee to Newport-on-Tay in Fife. No tolls, and there's a footpath and cycleway from which you can admire the scenery. It may be closed in high winds, check current road conditions online.
- 10 Tay Rail Bridge. Opened in 1887, this carries the railway across to Wormit in Fife. It's almost 3 miles long; refurbishment in 2003 included scraping 1000 metric tonnes of bird droppings from the structure.
- Tay Rail Bridge. And then there's the infamous first Tay Rail Bridge, remnants of which can be seen next to the current rail bridge. It opened in 1878 but collapsed in high winds on 28 Dec 1879, taking a train with it, and all 75 aboard were killed.
- 9 Tay Road Bridge. Opened in 1966, this carries the A92. It's a mile and a half long, and climbs 100 ft from Dundee to Newport-on-Tay in Fife. No tolls, and there's a footpath and cycleway from which you can admire the scenery. It may be closed in high winds, check current road conditions online.
- 11 The Howff, Meadowside DD1 1LN. 24 hrs. An ancient cemetery in the heart of Dundee, it was part of Greyfriars Monastery until Mary Queen of Scots gave it to the city in 1564. The well-preserved gravestones are mostly 19th-century, including that of James Chalmers (d 1853), inventor of the adhesive postage stamp. The last burial here in 1878 was of George Duncan, businessman and MP. Today the Howff is a secluded, peaceful place.
- 12 University of Dundee Botanic Garden, Riverside Drive, DD2 1QH (2 miles west of centre, take bus along Perth Rd). Daily Nov-Feb 10:00-15:30, Mar-June & Sept Oct 10:00-16:30, July Aug M-F 10:00-20:30, Sa Su 10:00-16:00. 9-hectare garden with tropical glasshouses. Adults £3.90.
- 13 Mills Observatory, Glamis Road, Balgay Park DD2 2UB (2 miles west of centre). Nov-Mar M-F 16:00-22:00, Sa Su 12:30-16:00. A public astronomical observatory open in winter. In summer it's only occasionally open daytime, as the nights are too short for looking through telescopes. Free.
- 14 Camperdown Wildlife Park, Camperdown Country Park, Coupar Angus Road DD2 4TF (NW edge of town off A923). Daily Mar-Sep 10:00-16:30, Oct-Feb 10:00-15:30. Menagerie with birds and (mostly small) beasts. Adult £6, child £5.
- 15 Dundee Museum of Transport, Unit 10 Market Mews, Market Street, DD1 3LA, ☏ +44 1382 455196. Mar-Oct W-M 10:30-15:30; Nov-Feb W Sa Su 10:30-15:30 but not W in Jan. Small but interesting collection of mainly Scottish marques. Adult £5, child £2.50.
- 16 Broughty Ferry is the small town 4 miles east of Dundee which was the historic crossing point over the Tay. It has a small castle built in 1496 now housing a local history museum (Tu-Sa 10:00-16:00, Su 12:30-16:00, admission free).
Where next? Across the Tay to St Andrews, famous for the university where Prince William met Kate, and for golf. I stayed at the big hotel on the golf course. As Ben Jonson famously said, 'worth seeing but not worth going to see'.
Useful Websites
About the Dundee V and A or design museum.
vam.ac.uk/dundee
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-54816794
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%26A_Dundee
Population
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_towns_and_cities_in_Scotland_by_population
Tay Bridge Disaster
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tay_Bridge_disaster
The Tay Bridge Disaster Poem - add 'the' before the word 'Tay'
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tay_Bridge_Disaster
About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel researcher/writer and photographer, author and speaker.
You can contact Angela through Facebook, LinkedIn, and Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters on Facebook or Toastmasters Interntional.com find a club . Angela is a member of four Toastmasters Clubs and BHA IPP, Immediate Past President, and VP PR (Vice President Public Relations) for 20202-2021
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