Dundee, Magdalen Green, St Mary Magdalene's Chapel

NO32NE 3 3901 2944

(NO 3873 2942) Supposed Site of St Mary Magdalene's Convent or Chapel (NR)

OS 1/500 map (1858)

Mr C Roger (librarian) recalls c.1827, the foundations of a building, believed to be the Chapel, being removed at this spot. He doubts the veracity of the statement that sculptured stones were found. The authorities pointed out the alleged site (J Thomson, historian; W Reid, writer).

Name Book 1857.

A house of Magdalene nuns of which little is known, is supposed to have stood on the north side of a field known as Magdalene Yard or Green on the banks of the Tay at the west end of Dundee. It is supposed that the nunnery stood at the foot of what is now Step Row, as fragments of several statues were found there about the beginning of the century (19th).

A J Warden 1881

Magdalene Green was no doubt, in early times, a possession of a religious house, which however could not have been, as is usually surmised, a Convent of Magdalen Nuns as there appears to be no record of a Magdalen Convent having existed in Scotland. The probability is that the Green belonged to a Chapel dedicated to St Mary Magdalene, which stood upon the high ground near to the end of Step Row where, early in the century, some sculptured stones were found.

A Maxwell 1884

No such order of nuns is noted as having existed in Scotland.

D E Easson 1957.

Magdalen Green is low-lying, reclaimed ground, and therefore the OS site is highly improbable. The alleged site at the foot of Step Row - possibly NO 3901 2944 - is just possible, as it occupies higher ground.

Visited by OS (JLD), 17 April 1958.