20/11/2023
A somewhat common practice of late is for people to leave coins on the Convener Stone in the Dundee Howff, this is in a belief that it is the resting place for Grissel Jaffrey or they associate this piece of masonry with her. However the stone is so named as it is reputed to have been a central part of meetings held by the Nine Trades within the Howff. Howff being an old scottish word for a meeting place. It is said that whilst the various trade guilds carried out their meetings the Convener would sit on the stone acting as a go between. This practice carried on until 1776, when the Nine Trades moved to a purpose built building which stood next to the former Clydesdale bank in the city centre. The problem now, is that due to coins being placed on the stone they have now fallen into a crack, due to this the coins have now formed a wedge. The freeze/ thaw cycle has now caused the stone to fracture almost to the base, so a seemingly innocent practice is destroying an artifact very central to the history of Dundee, the images are from 2015 and 2023 which highlight the change which has occurred in such a short time.
