Todburn Lane, which runs east to west from William Street to Dens Brae, parallel with King’s Street, is a narrow avenue, only important because its name preserves that of Tod’s Burn.
In early times this was the rivulet that carried the waters of the Dens Burn down the course of the present Victoria Road, until it joined with the Scouring Burn at the corner of Commercial Street and Albert Square, the conjoined burns thus making their way to the River Tay. When Baxter’s Mills were first begun, water was the motive power, of which the Dens Burn was the source but the introduction of steam rendered this primitive method obsolete.
These three Burns are now conveyed to the river in culverts, and are only known from references in old documents, or by the survival of puzzling names of streets.
Source: ‘Glimpses of Old and New Dundee’ – A.H. Millar, January 1925