A self-guided walk
Burns in Dundee
Seven stops in the city centre, from the steeple Burns saw in 1787 to the statue Dundee raised to him and the club that has kept his memory since 1860. About 2 km, or an hour at a gentle pace.
The route
Seven stops
Map: OpenStreetMap contributors. Tap a number for the stop. The line shows the order, not the exact streets.
St Mary’s Tower
Nethergate
The Old Steeple. When Burns passed through in September 1787, his journal called Dundee a “low-lying, but pleasant town with an Old Steeple”. This is it. The 15th-century tower is the oldest building in the city still standing.
36 Nethergate
Our rooms from 1893
The club moved here from Ward Road in 1893 and stayed for around thirty years, holding its suppers and Wednesday meetings above the street.
37 Union Street
The club today
Our home since around 1925, on the second floor of a tenement built around 1846. We are one of the very few Burns clubs in the world to own our own rooms. Look for us on Doors Open Day, or come to one of our events.
Ward Road
Our rooms in the 1880s
In the 1880s the club met at 7 Ward Road. These were the years after the statue went up, when poets and radicals like David Taylor and James Young Geddes were in the chair.
The Burns statue
Albert Square
Sir John Steell’s statue, unveiled on 16 October 1880 in front of up to 40,000 people after a campaign led by the club. The pedestal carries the opening line of To Mary in Heaven.
The McManus
Albert Square
Dundee’s museum and art gallery looks after our silk banner, made for the statue’s unveiling in 1880 and carried in the procession.
Wighton Heritage Centre
Central Library, Wellgate
Home to the Wighton Collection of early Scottish music, full of the tunes Burns knew and wrote words for. Sheena Wellington sang Burns here with our members in June 2026.
Broughty Castle
Further afield, Broughty Ferry
A short bus ride east. Burns noted it in his journal too, as a ruin jutting into the Tay. It has since been restored and is now a museum.
Finish at the club
Time your walk for one of our Sunday music sessions or talks, and end it with a drink at 37 Union Street. Visitors are always welcome at our events.