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A walk · Dundee

Dundee – A Walled Graveyard Where the Trades Once Met

The Howff

Behind a high wall in the middle of Dundee's shops is a graveyard that has been there since 1564.

The Howff was given to the town by Mary Queen of Scots, and the city's trades went on to hold their meetings among its stones. This short loop reaches it from City Square by way of the McManus, the city's museum and gallery. It's about a mile, on level streets.

Time
About 20 minutes on foot: about a mile. Allow an hour with the stones.
The path
Level pavements, with uneven cobbles and gravel inside the Howff.
Where to start
Start in City Square, in the city centre. The public car parks at Bell Street, the Overgate and the Wellgate are each a few minutes away on foot.
When to go
All year. From November the light goes by late afternoon, and the stones are best read with the sun on them.
Children
A short, level walk with carved skulls and trade emblems to find on the stones.
Toilets
In the McManus when it is open.
Before you set out
The McManus: every day 10am to 5pm, Sunday 12.30pm to 4.30pm, with last entry 15 minutes before closing.

The walk

Start in City Square and head up the pedestrian street to the McManus. Dundee's museum and gallery is a Gothic hall of golden sandstone with a spire and a pair of curving stairs, and it's free to go into. From there the walk makes a loop by Bell Street and Abertay University, then comes down to the gate of the Howff. The Howff is the surprise: a walled graveyard in the middle of the city, given to the town by Mary Queen of Scots in 1564.

Cobbled paths run between table tombs and leaning headstones under old trees, with tall sandstone buildings looking in over the wall. The name means a meeting place, and the Nine Trades of Dundee used it as one. Look for their emblems cut into the stones, and for the skulls and bones carved beside them. You leave by the north gate and come back past the Forum Centre to the High Street, beside City Square.

It's about a mile in all, and level. The cobbles in the Howff are uneven.

If it rains

It's all on pavement, so a shower only shortens the time among the stones. The McManus is dry and on the way.

Before you go

  1. Book accommodation nearby

    If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.

    Airdit6 miles awayAirditSleeps 2Guardswell FarmInchtureGuardswell FarmSleeps 10Fairygreen Cottage12 miles awayFairygreen CottageSleeps 4The Cabin at Fairygreen15 miles awayThe Cabin at FairygreenSleeps 2
Find out more

For further reading, before you go.