Dundee City Churches

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The Dundee City Churches are a complex of three church buildings in the center of the Scottish city ​​of Dundee in the council area of the same name . Four building parts are listed separately in the Scottish monument lists in the highest monument category A. The entire complex is also protected as a category A monument ensemble.

history

Upon his return from the Third Crusade, William the Lion vowed to build a Church of Mary in Dundee. Around 1300 English troops under Edward I destroyed the church, which was then rebuilt. Again in 1385 it was burned down by Richard II's troops. As a result, the monks of Lindores Abbey began to rebuild the church. The work was slow, which is why the Burgh Dundee took over in 1442. As a bell tower, St Mary's Tower was completed in the late 15th century and fitted with a bell in 1495. In 1548 troops of the Duke of Somerset destroyed the building and the bell tower remained free-standing for around 230 years.

In 1558 the choir was rebuilt and used for church services. Unofficially, this structure is considered to be the first Reformed church building in Scotland. 30 years later a collegiate foundation was set up there. At the same time, the southern wing of the former transept was rebuilt and opened as the South Church . The South Church was destroyed in 1645 when the Marquess of Montrose took Dundees . Troops of General Monck , who fought alongside Oliver Cromwell in the English Civil War, used the ruins as stables in 1651. In 1759 the former north wing of the transept was rebuilt and used as a cross church.

The Steeple Church adjoining St Mary's Tower was completed in 1788. In 1834 it was renamed St Clement's Church . In 1841 a fire devastated all buildings with the exception of Steeple Church and St Mary's Tower. In the same year, based on a design by the Scottish architect William Burn , construction began on a church on the site of the former South Church and Cross Church. From this the St Paul's Church emerged. On the site of the former choir, today's Dundee Parish Church was built in 1844 based on a design by William Burns. In 1947 the congregations of St Paul's Church and St David's Church merged. This resulted in the Old St Paul's and St David's Church , located in the middle of the Dundee City Churches . In 1963 the congregation of St Clement's Church was united with that of St Enoch's Church and the former building was again called Steeple Church. After the merger of the congregations of Wishart Memorial Church and Old St Paul's and St David's Church in 1975, the congregation merged three years later with that of Steeple Church, making Old St Paul's and St David's Church obsolete.

St Mary's Tower

St Mary's Tower

The bell tower forms the western end of the complex. It was completed in the late 15th century, probably around 1495. Presumably around 1570, the St Mary's Tower was expanded and reworked by John Mylne in 1643 . After a restoration in 1872, the tower was again restored by the city of Dundee in the early 1960s, with details being lost. The 47.5 meter high tower, divided into five sections, has a late Gothic design. The arched twin portal is designed with trumea pillars and has parallels to the main portal of St Mary's Parish Church in Haddington . A sculpture of the Virgin Mary with child that was previously installed there is no longer preserved. Above that, there is a wide tracery below a rose window . The openings in the upper sections are designed as lancet windows . The tower is owned by the city and is no longer used by the church. It is considered to be the largest preserved medieval tower in Scotland.

Steeple Church

Steeple Church

The Steeple Church adjoins St Mary's Tower on the east side. The hall church is simply designed in a neo-Gothic style. Tracery are embedded along the four-axis south facade. Unusually, the Steeple Church is not built with buttresses . The north facade, five axes wide, is designed in the same way, but with a central pointed arch portal . A band of blind quadrupeds stretches beneath the slate-covered gable roof .

Old St Paul's and St David's Church

The Old St Paul's and St David's Church is the protruding "transept".

The neo-Gothic designed Old St Paul's and St David's Church occupies the middle piece between Steeple Church and Dundee City Church. Its south facade is designed with a wide, richly ornamented tracery with leaded glass windows. Flanking buttresses extend along the facade, ending in pointed pinnacles . The gable is made of crabs and closes with a cross. Smaller tracery are embedded in the side facades. The entrance portal closes with a basket arch . The north gable is largely designed in the same way as the south gable, but without buttresses.

Dundee Parish Church

Dundee Parish Church

The eastern end of the complex is the Dundee Parish Church. The main portal on the eastern side of the gable has a basket arch. A high tracery extends over it. The gable closes with an ornamented cross. The flanking buttresses with pinnacles are made analogous to the Old St Paul's and St David's Church. The south facade of the basilica is five axes wide. The side aisles are designed with tracery. The crowned windows in the upper storey pierce the eaves. The north facade is designed in the same way, but with a T-shaped extension from 1897. The final gable roof is covered with slate.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Listed Building - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
  2. ↑ a b c Listed Building - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
  3. ↑ a b c Listed Building - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
  4. ↑ a b c Listed Building - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
  5. ↑ a b c d Historical information
  6. ↑ Entry on St Mary's Tower  in Canmore, the database of Historic Environment Scotland (English)

Web links

Coordinates: 56 ° 27 '34.4 "  N , 2 ° 58' 20.6"  W.