Tombs of the Dundee Howff
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Interesting Antiquarian Discovery In Dundee

The Dundee Advertiser 10th October 1892

On 21st September we recorded the discovery of two sculptured stones in Dundee- one of them having been found near the North West corner of the Howff while the trench was being dug for the electric light connections, and the other discovered in a building in Couttie's Wynd. Yesterday morning another stone similar in appearance to these was found in Barrack street, at the North East corner of Messrs Don, Buist & Co.'s premises, while the workmen were proceeding with the electric lighting. Like the others, this has been the springing-stone at the pier between two gothic arches. The mouldings are as sharp as though fresh from the chisel. Below the entablature a well carved figure of a winged cherub is still in good state of preservation. As the back of the stone has been dressed and finished it is probable that this stone shows the full thickness of the wall-about 18 inches. It is not likely, therefore, that these three stones formed part of any very large structure. The style of the carving belongs to the close of the fifteenth century,-certainly not earlier. Taking into account the fact that two of these stones have been found in the immediate vicinity of the Howff, it is not unreasonable to suppose that they may have formed parts of the mausoleum of the Earls of Crawford, which stood in the garden of the Franciscan Monastery, granted to the town as a burying place by Queen Mary. The exact date of the erection of this mausoleum is not recorded, but there is documentary evidence that Earl John, who was slain at Flodden, and his uncle and successor, Earl Alexander, who died in 1517, were both interred within its walls. The latter was Provost of Dundee in 1513. The fragments that have been discovered do not afford sufficient evidence to determine definitely to what building they belonged.

 

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