City Churches, Dundee - Ref: WC1372
This Alexander Wilson photograph shows the City Churches in Dundee, looking south west from Church Wynd, or from what is now the Overgate Shopping Centre. The small building to the right hand side of the church (to the north) is no longer extant.
By the time the picture was taken, there were three churches: the Steeple Church (with St Mary's Tower, or The Old Steeple) attached, the South Church and the East Church.
The Steeple was home to the city gaol for a long time. It was also the place of refuge for Dundee's Governor Lumsden, when General Monk invaded. He ultimately resorted to smoking the fugitives out, Lumsden's head ending up on a spike outside.
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.