City Churches, Dundee - Ref: WC1385
Dundee's Gothic style St Mary's Tower, popularly known by Dundonians as the Old Steeple, dates back to the 1480s. In its long often turbulent history, the Steeple has served as a belfry, a clock tower, a watch-tower, a prison and possibly, even a place where lepers were confined.
The Old Steeple survived the catastrophic fire of 1841 which destroyed the adjacent City Churches. In the 1870s, Sir George Gilbert Scott was commissioned to restore and conserve the Old Steeple. More recently, in the late 1990s, the steeple has again been refurbished and is now reopened to the public.
Alexander Wilson who took this photograph, was a supervisor in a Dundee jute mill for over 20 years. He bequeathed much of his collection and £50, to cover the costs involved, to the Free Library Committee of Dundee in 1923.