In the early years of the eighteenth century the linen thread of Dundee was famous as the cotton thread of the present time. For a long period the firm of James Weemys & Co. had a thread factory on the east side of Castle Hill, using the burn at Burnhead (now Commercial Street) as their motive power.
One of the principal partners was William Morison, who amassed a considerable fortune through this industry, and purchased in 1737 the estate of Naughton in Fife. He was the son of a Bailie, and was himself Dean of Guild and Treasurer of Dundee. The estate still belongs to his descendant. The thread-making trade expired about 1790, having been transferred to Johnstone, near Paisley, where it flourishes. The only record of the Morisons, who were long civic dignitaries in Dundee, is the name Morison’s Court in the Wellgait.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925