Dundee in the Nation c. 1686–1746

Reconsidering the Scottish Town

“…9 Nonetheless, the financial difficulties of the burgh council did not necessarily reflect the prosperity of the burgh as a whole, for there is much contemporary evidence that even when a burgh council was near bankrupt, wealthy merchants were building lavishly. For example, the Convention agreed to a national collection after Dundee's maritime quarter was scoured out by a storm in 1658: but the collection was so inadequate that the burgh was still paying off the debt of reconstructing its harbour thirty years later.…”