From Rotten Row

City’s road names have intriguing connections

FROM streets named after Beano characters, to one with a connection to William Wallace and another named after a type of fish, the city has its quirky thoroughfares.

The intriguing history behind some of Dundee’s most memorable street names has been documented by historians across t he city, including Dundee Civic Trust and Leisure and Culture Dundee.

Here, the Tele takes a look at the back story of some of the names which stand out most.

The basic street pattern from medieval times in the centre of the city remains the same. The town plan was described by the Rev Robert Edward in 1678 as: “Divided into four principal streets, representing a human body, stretched on its back with its arms towards the west and its legs towards the east.”

Seagate was the first area of settlement in Dundee, dating to around the 11th Century, and is one of the city’s oldest surviving streets. It was the market centre until the town gradually developed westwards.

The old shore of the Tay once ran parallel alongside the east end of the Seagate.

However, the name Seagate was a curious choice, given the street led to and from the River Tay – not the sea.

The Murraygate, which runs parallel to the Seagate, is another of the city’s oldest streets. The name is thought to be derived from ‘Moray Gait’ after Randolph, Earl of Moray, a companion-at-arms of William