The Howff

The land of the burial ground was part of the Franciscan (Greyfriars) Monastery until the Scottish Reformation. In 1564 Mary, Queen of Scots granted the land to the burgh of Dundee, for use as a burial ground. It was used for meetings by the Dundee Incorporated Trades, and subsequently became known as The Howff, from the Scots word howff 'an enclosed open space, yard, area (as a timber yard)', likely related to German or Dutch hof 'enclosed space, courtyard'. Old parish records for burials within The Howff begin in the late 18th century. Prior to this records of mortcloth hire, a cloth rented out by the Guildry and Trades to cover bodies or coffins before burial, provide evidence of burials…

In 1834 a new cemetery, which was known as the New Howff, was opened on what was then the northern edge of the town on the lower slopes of Dundee Law. This cemetery, which was influenced by Glasgow Necropolis, was more or less destroyed by later building works. Firstly the construction of Dundee's inner ring road in the 1960s cut through the site, and this was followed by the erection of a multi-storey car park over the New Hoff's southern end. Some grave stones were saved and positioned against its western wall which had originally been the boundary between the cemetery and the Dundee and Newtyle Railway.