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Dundee, Crichton Street, Old Custom House

Custom House (16th Century), Town House (16th Century), Coin Hoard (17th Century)

Site Name Dundee, Crichton Street, Old Custom House

Classification Custom House (16th Century), Town House (16th Century), Coin Hoard (17th Century)

Alternative Name(s) Greenmarket; Pierson Mansion; Drummond Castle; Dundee Harbour; Port Of Dundee

Canmore ID 33511

Site Number NO43SW 51

NGR NO 4033 3014

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/33511

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
Canmore Disclaimer. © Copyright and database right 2024.

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Administrative Areas

  • Council Dundee, City Of
  • Parish Dundee (Dundee, City Of)
  • Former Region Tayside
  • Former District City Of Dundee
  • Former County Angus

Archaeology Notes

NO43SW 51 4033 3014

(NO 4033 3014) Old Custom House (NR) (Remains of)

OS 25" map, (1959).

Not to be confused with successor and present Custom House (in Dock Street, at NO 40680 30319), for which see NO43SW 481.

For general summary of Dundee Harbour and the Port of Dundee, see NO43SW 109.

NMRS REFERENCE:

Dundee, Greenmarket, Old Custom House.

Now demolished.

(Undated) information in NMRS.

An ornate building, probably dating from 1591, and known as 'Drummond Castle' or the 'Old Custom House'.

It is a 52' square building with round towers at three of the corners. During chimney pot repairs in 1808, nearly 200 silver coins of James VI and Charles I were found embedded in the mortar.

The builder would appear to have been John Pierson, the name "Drummond Castle" apparently originating in an 1850 novel in which it appears as a castle of the Drummonds. No trace of that name appears in title deeds. From the mid-18th century until 1803 it was used as a Custom House.

D MacGibbon and T Ross 1887-92; A C Lamb 1895.

Site occupied by modern office building.

Visited by OS (J L D), 17 April 1958.

Activities

Reference (2005)

However, in 1883, when the Old Custom House or Provost Pierson's lodging… built about 1600.. Was demolished, running through the centre of the foundation of its south-west stair tower was a clay bonded wall; a similar wall … was found … in 1890-1… Both walls were considered to have been part of the 16th-century 'narrow harbour'.

A similar wall 'protected with clay on the south side, with the north face built with square dressed stone' was found about 30 ft (9.14m) south-west of the west gable of the Old Custom House during drain laying in east Whitehall Crescent in 1890-1… Both walls were considered to have been part of the 16th-century 'narrow harbour'

Perry, D. 2005. Dundee Rediscovered: The Archaeology of Dundee Reconsidered.

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