Dundee

Monday, 11 October 2010

Click on the tabs to the left to see some photographs of the City of Discovery.

First a little history..

Dundee is Scotland's fourth largest city with a population of around 150,000 (300,000 live within an hour's drive of Dundee city centre). It is situated on the North bank of the Firth of Tay. The city is built on the basalt plug of an extinct volcano (174 m (571 feet) which is now called Dundee Law.

The three industries on which the city's heritage was founded: are Jute, Jam and Journalism.

The association with jute is all around, the mighty "stacks" tower over you serving as a reminder of those who sweated to keep them stoked. The city's textile heritage provides the inspiration for one of its principal tourist attractions

The association with jam started when a Dundee grocer named Keiller bought a cargo of oranges from a ship seeking a port in a storm. They were made into marmalade by his wife and a sweet-tasting success story followed.

The city is home to a great tradition of journalism and two of its most famous "residents" - Desperate Dan and Denis the Menace - were created for Dundee-based DC Thomson's comics and papers.

Dundee's Victorian boom not only created a rich industrial heritage but left the city's public art collections and museums generously endowed with gifts from wealthy citizens.

However, that was then. Dundee’s renaissance today as a global player in the new industrial fields of medical science, bio and computer technology

Traditionally, Dundee lay within the county of Angus (historically named Forfarshire) but since the abolition of two-tier local government in Scotland in 1996, the City of Dundee (incorporating the suburb of Broughty Ferry) has been a self-contained Unitary Authority. This makes it Scotland's smallest local government subdivision.

The city, which celebrated its 800th anniversary in 1991, is known as the 'City of Discovery'.

This site was last updated 12/21/08