The Howff Cemetery sits in the City Centre in a square surrounded by four streets. Two of the streets' buildings back onto the cemetery whilst the other two provide a view into the cemetery. The Howff is no Pere Lachaise. It is tiny in comparison and it cannot boast the likes of Jim Morrison or Edith Piaf amongst its residents. However the Howff holds its own as the only remaining inner city cemetery left in Dundee and is locally immortalised in history as the place where the 7 incorporated trades held their meetings in the middle ages.
These have long ceased. The 18th and 19th century gravestones stand in varying degrees of opulence and disrepair. Earlier gravestones have long since shed their identities. They stand in solitude alongside the delightful trees, bushes and flowers that are tended by our local parks department.
The Howff represents an oasis in the heart of the City. Sitting on one of the benches I am able to forget that I am in Dundee. You do not feel that you are in the City Centre. On a sunny day I could be anywhere - Edinburgh, York, Bath, Paris. It is the calm beauty that permeates and takes one away into another world.
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