IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
King Street, DUNDEE, DD1 2JY

Former church. Named in memory of Protestant Martyr George Wishart. The church premises were situated on the upper floors. The ground floor at one time was a public house owned by the church. A plaque in the wall above the entrance indicates a founding date of 1841.

After the interruption of Marketgait, the ring road, King Street continues to climb towards some mill buildings.

A now redundant mill has an interesting architecture.

Built in the 1830s by the Baxter family, the Lower Dens Mill originally produced linen from imported Baltic flax. When the Crimean War interrupted supplies of flax, the Lower Dens Mill, along with many other linen factories in Dundee, converted to jute manufacture.

Church named in honour of the Protestant martyr George Wishart who was accused of heresy and burned at the stake in St. Andrews in 1546. The reason for its location is revealed by a plaque on the East Port which stands close by. Image

The mill, which is easily identified by its distinctive cast-iron bellcote, was built in the 1850s, by which time the working of jute had become Dundee's main industry, supplanting earlier linen production. However, the Dens mill continued as a flax mill for its whole existence. Baxter Brothers & Co. built their first mill on the Dens Burn in 1822. Subsequent enlargement made it the largest factory in the city and the first to introduce power-looms in 1836. "In 1846 the firm had in operation in Lower Dens Mills one engine of ninety horse power, driving 3028 spindles; and in the Upper Dens Mills two engines, equal together to 105 horse power, and driving 8,000 spindles. In the power-loom department they had two engines of thirty horse power each, and 256 looms, with accommodation for nearly double that number. They had also a calendering shop with a ten horse power engine." -- David Bremner, The Industries Of Scotland, 1869

The view from the town side. The official listed buildings record contains the following note: "The only remainder of Dundee's town walls and one of only 2 burgh gateways in Scotland. Dundee did not have a continuous walled rampart, but relied for a boundary on back dykes of houses. The Cowgait Port was more a customs post for the collection of revenue than a serious piece of fortification. After the last siege of a town in Britain and Dundee's brutal sacking in 1651, General Monck ordered the slighting and demolition of the towns defensive works. The Cowgait Port was spared, presumably because of its association with the protestant reformer and martyr George Wishart. According to Knox he preached to plague victims in 1544 from "the East Port", which could refer to the larger port on the Seagate or the lesser one in the Cowgate. The latter, adjacent to the old St Roques Chapel, burying ground for plague victims and site for the Old Wishart Church, seems more likely. It has been argued that Dundee's fortifications were extended in 1650 in anticipation of attack by Cromwell and that the Cowgate Port was then moved to its present position. But a stone gateway would have been no use in an artillery siege, so in all probability this is the site from which Wishart preached."

This is the view from without the old burgh port. The plaque above the central arch reads: "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 at Booths "He sent his word and healed them" Psalm cvii Restored 1877"

Last remaining old city gate in Dundee. It is from here that Wishart preached to those outside the city walls during the plague.

This was once the east gate of Dundee.