Clicking the image below will bring up a plan showing the approximate positions of the memorials in the burial ground. As with the Howff, the layout for the plots followed a grid pattern. Plot number one being in the south west corner. The rows have been recreated using the information as recorded by Sidney Cramer in around 1950.
The areas within the burial ground have been titled as they were by Mr Cramer, as well as by section letters, as recorded in the Dundee City Archive material.
Clicking on the numbers in the image will open the relevant plot page.
The above image is from Dundee - Sheet LIV.5.24. Surveyed: 1871, Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland and under Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) licence.
Reproduced using information from "Register of gravestone inscriptions in Constitution Road, compiled ca 1960." with kind permission of Dundee City Archives. Also from a transcribed copy of Sidney Cramer's notebook, Old Bell Street, Dundee [TD73/8/1] with kind permission of the Scottish Genealogy Society, Edinburgh.
The Howff, having undergone its remodelling in 1834 was still being heavily used, the town required an extension to the burial ground. A site further up Constitution Brae Road was chosen. Originally the site of allotments, the land around two acres in size was purchased, by December 1835 tenders were being sent out to have the area enclosed.
The initial opening of the ground was in April 1836, however the enclosing walls were still being erected so a portion of the ground 80 yards square was fenced off to surround the first interments.
The west wall was built to around 10 feet in height and still survives today. This wall was purposely erected to this height to allow the erection of vaults and tablets. The south, east and north walls were erected with a parapet wall and railings. The east gate was to be the main entrance.
The ground was laid out in the style of a Victorian garden, with curving footpaths, planting of ornamental shrubs, trees and landscaping. A mortuary was built at the south side of the ground.
General burials ceased at the beginning of June 1864, however rights for burial were still retained for owners of lairs with the last burial being as late as 1938.
By the start of the 1960s plans were being put into place to clear the land to make way for a carpark, this being completed by 1963. This carpark was eventually cleared and the bodies were exhumed in the early 1970s. The remains were re-interred within the common ground in the Eastern Cemetery. A multi-storey carpark and the inner ring road were constructed on the majority of the site. The excess soil was removed and disposed of at the then Riverside Drive Reclaimation site, after being sifted through by students to remove any remains.
Thankfully before the site was cleared some 270 memorials were transcribed around 1960, these have been added to their relevant plots in the database and are reproduced here with very kind permission of Dundee City Archive.
Also added to their relevant plots are inscriptions from a transcribed copy of Sidney Cramer's notebook, Old Bell Street, Dundee [TD73/8/1]. Sidney recorded around 300 memorials in the 1950s. They are reproduced here with kind permission of the Scottish Genealogy Society, Edinburgh.
The image below shows how the New Howff cemetery appeared while in use, from around 1890.
Image is reproduced with permission of Dundee City Archives.
Image showing how the area looks today. Taken 2002.
Copyright 2001-2022 Darren Eyers FSA Scot, no part of this site may be reproduced without permission from the author or respective copyright holders. Material relating to the Lamb Collection is ©Libraries, Leisure and Culture Dundee, Local History Centre and is reproduced with kind permission. Material resourced from Dundee City Archives is ©Dundee City Archives and is reproduced with kind permission.
This section of the site is a database for the New Howff burial registers. The registers were previously transcribed into a card index and digitised, which was a huge undertaking and a fantastic achievement by all involved. Unfortunately the plot numbers were not transcribed with the entries. The consequence of this is other family members who may have been interred in the same plot can be difficult to track down.
Each plot in the burial ground was split into three lairs or graves labelled A, B and C respectively. A very limited amount of plots also include a lair D. The original plan was to list the lairs onto separate pages, however it became apparent that some family members were interred in different lairs within the same plot, so the decision was made to keep all entries for a plot together.
The size of three lairs in the cemetery was 7 feet broad by 8 feet long.
There are 31,528 burials transcribed here over 1528 plots, these have been obtained from the original registers. This covers from the opening of the ground in April 1836 until the final burial in 1938.
The entries have been sorted via the plot number rather than by date meaning that they run out of sequence.
Register 4 06/04/1836 - 25/05/1843 5206 entries.
Register 5 26/05/1843 - 20/07/1853 11799 entries.
Register 6 20/07/1853 - 02/01/1855 1853 entries.
Register 7 02/01/1855 - 24/08/1860 6281 entries.
Register 8 25/08/1860 - 26/05/1864 5457 entries.
Register 8 07/06/1864 - 29/03/1938 932 entries.
(Also includes additional information from the Constitution Road, New Howff, Old Mains, Roodyards Register 1848 - 1938).
Register of Lairs in New Howff, Constitution Road Burial Ground 1848 - 1902 - 723 entries.
To access the database, please use the search function above. Dates use the format DD/MM/YYYY.
As time progresses this section will be expanded upon, with information from the main site being migrated over to here.
I would like to thank Iain Flett, former Dundee City Archivist for his encouragement in pushing this project into being.
A very special thanks goes to Simon Goulding and the Dundee Howff Conservation Group for allowing me access to some of their transcribing work of the registers, which meant a huge boost to the project as they supplied just over 9,000 entries from registers 4 and 5.
Darren Eyers FSA Scot.
The burial registers are © Dundee City Archives and the entries are reproduced here with very kind permission.
Surnames from remaining memorials.
BROWN, LOW, NEISH, SMALL, WALKER, WATSON.
Sacred
to the memory of
WILLIAM BROWN Esq
flaxspinner
Dundee
who died
on 13th November 1864
aged 73
In memory
of
JAMES WATSON M.D.
Their beloved son
who died
Edinburgh
on 23rd January 1865
of fever
caught while in the
discharge of his
professional duties
Erected by
PATRICK and MARGARET WATSON
Dundee
PATRICK WATSON
After a long useful and honourable life
during which he faithfully
served his congregation
and by his life and conversation
adorned the doctrine of God his saviour
died at Bristol 6th June 1886 aged 76 years
and was interred here
here also rest the mortal remains of
MARGARET LOW
his wife and true helpmeet
who died at Bristol 3rd Dec 1887 aged 78 years
Loving and beloved
??
In loving remembrance
of their younger children
CHRISTINA WATSON
aged 1 month
ANDREW LOW WATSON
aged 3 years and a half
JESSIE WATSON aged nine months
EUPHEMIA WATSON
aged 8 years and a half
In memory of
DAVID
infant son of
DAVID SMALL
Solicitor Dundee
who died June 1847
and was interred here
In memory of
MARGARET, JANE and HARRIET
Three beloved children of
HARRY WALKER and ABIGAIL NEISH
who were interred here
ABIGAIL NEISH
died 4th December 1876
and was interred
in the Western cemetery
In memory of CAROLINE WALKER
Elder daughter of
JAMES NEISH
of Laws and Ormachie
and JANET WALKER
who died 1858 aged 16
MARGARET NEISH
Sister of JAMES NEISH
was interred here.
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