Dundee Law is a hill in the centre of

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, and is the highest point in the city. The Law is what remains of a volcanic sill, which is the result of volcanic activity around 400 million years ago. With a large

war memorial A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war. Symbolism Historical usage It has ...

at its summit, it is the most prominent feature on the local skyline.

Geology

Dundee Law, which takes its name from a Scots word for a prominent hill, is an example of a volcanic sill. A volcanic area miles to the west forced lava through fissures in

Old Red Sandstone Old Red Sandstone, abbreviated ORS, is an assemblage of rocks in the North Atlantic region largely of Devonian age. It extends in the east across Great Britain, Ireland and Norway, and in the west along the eastern seaboard of North America. It ...

. The subsequent action of rain, wind and ice eroded the sandstone, revealing the volcanic rock. Glaciers during the

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...

s deposited more debris around the base, creating a

crag and tail A crag (sometimes spelled cragg, or in Scotland craig) is a rocky hill or mountain, generally isolated from other high ground. Origin Crags are formed when a glacier or ice sheet passes over an area that contains a particularly resistant r ...

. The shallow gradient of the northern and eastern slopes of the law suggest a north-easterly movement of ice flows. The summit of the hill is over above sea level. Despite the derivation of "law" making it tautological to do so, the Law is commonly referred to as the "Law Hill".

History

Archaeological evidence of burials suggest that the Law may have been used by human settlers 3500 years ago. During the

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

it was the site of a

Pictish Pictish is an extinct Brittonic Celtic language spoken by the Picts, the people of eastern and northern Scotland from late antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Virtually no direct attestations of Pictish remain, short of a limited number of geog ...

settlement.

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

pottery has been found on the law, suggesting that the Romans may have used it as a lookout post in the first century. The Law played host to an important event on 13 April 1689: Viscount Dundee raised the Stuart Royal Standard on the Law, which marked the beginning of the

first Jacobite rising The Glorious Revolution, also known as the Revolution of 1688, was the deposition of James II and VII in November 1688. He was replaced by his daughter Mary II and her Dutch husband, William III of Orange (William III and II), a ...

. The Law has a railway tunnel running through it, formerly used by the line to

Newtyle Newtyle is a village in the west of Angus, Scotland. It lies north of Dundee in the southwest of Strathmore, between Hatton Hill and Newtyle ( Heather Hill) in the Sidlaws. The village sits on gently sloping ground with a northwest aspect. Th ...

which closed in the 1960s. In 2014, a campaign was started to reopen it as a tourist attraction. A

memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects such as home ...

to the fallen of both world wars, first unveiled on 16 May 1925, stands atop the summit of the Law. Mills Observatory was proposed to be built on the Law but plans were scrapped in favour of the war memorial. Plans for the observatory moved to Balgay Hill and it eventually opened in 1935 after a series of delays. Between 1992 and 1994, the facilities on the summit were upgraded by Dundee District Council and Scottish Enterprise Tayside, with additional funding from the regional development fund of the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

. The memorial is lit with a large flame at its top on a number of significant days, viz: 25 September (in memory of the

Battle of Loos The Battle of Loos took place from 1915 in France on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front, during the First World War. It was the biggest British attack of 1915, the first time that the British used Chemical weapons in World War I, ...

, in which many members of the local

Black Watch The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS) is an infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. The regiment was created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881, when the 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment ...

regiment died), 24 October (

United Nations Day United Nations Day is an annual commemorative day, reflecting the official creation of the United Nations on 24 October 1945. In 1947, the United Nations General Assembly declared 24 October, the anniversary of the Charter of the United Nations, ...

), 11 November (

Armistice Day Armistice Day, later known as Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth and Veterans Day in the United States, is commemorated every year on 11 November to mark Armistice of 11 November 1918, the armistice signed between th ...

), and

Remembrance Sunday Remembrance Sunday is held in the United Kingdom as a day to commemorate the contribution of British and Commonwealth military and civilian servicemen and women in the two World Wars and later conflicts. It is held on the second Sunday in Nov ...

. In recent times Dundee Law featured prominently in the television drama '' Traces''. In 2022, as part of the Dundee Summer Streets Festival, a sign inspired by the Hollywood Hills sign was erected onto the Dundee Law which spelt out "Beanotown", a reference to the fictional location featured in

The Beano ''The Beano'' (formerly ''The Beano Comic'') is a British anthology comic magazine created by Scottish publishing company DC Thomson. Its first issue was published on 30 July 1938, and it published its 4000th issue in August 2019. Popular and ...

that is published in

and was the theme of the festival. Since 2022, the Dundee Law has been a stop on the Discover Dundee tour bus. In 2024, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' featured the Dundee Law in a list of the best views in Scotland, ranking it fifth.

Gallery

File:Dundee Law war memorial - geograph.org.uk - 1938570.jpg, Dundee Law War Memorial File:Iron Archway, Dundee Law (geograph 3670869).jpg, Iron Archway on the summit of the Dundee Law File:South Dundee from the Law late 1998.jpg, Dundee from the Dundee Law in late 1998

References

{{Areas of Dundee

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

Volcanic plugs of Scotland Mountains and hills of Angus, Scotland

Tourist attractions in Dundee