City Churches, Dundee - Ref: WC1383
In this photograph Dundee's Old Steeple and City Churches can be seen. The churches were burned down in a terrible fire in 1841. This was not the first disaster to strike the buildings in their long and turbulent history. The first church on the site was also burned down by Edward Ist in 1303.
Fortunately the late 15th century Old Steeple, more correctly known as St Mary's Tower, survived the 1841 fire. It was refurbished in the 1870s by famous architect, Sir George Gilbert Scott and a more recent refurbishment was carried out in the late 1990s.
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.