Landmarks

Baxter Pavilion is situated in the midst of the 38 acres of mature parkland of Baxter Park. Baxter Park was laid out in 1863, a gift to the people of Dundee from linen manufacturer Sir David Baxter and his sisters Eleanor and Mary Ann. The park was designed by Victorian landscape architect Sir Joseph Paxton, one time gardener to the Dukes of Devonshire and designer of London’s Crystal Palace (1851).

It is recognised as the best preserved example of his work in Scotland. The Italianate Baxter Park Pavilion at the centre of the park was designed by Paxton’s son-in-law, George Stokes. The opening of this “people’s park” in 1863, in the presence of the then Prime Minister, Earl Russell and other notable people, was marked by a public holiday, when some 70,000 townspeople turned out to cheer a two-mile long procession which wound it’s way to the park beneath a series of triumphal arches.

Dundee City Council has recently restored the historic Baxter Pavilion to its former glory and this building provides unrivalled and unique accommodation and surroundings for your ceremony.

The restoration of this magnificent building includes a large ceremony suite with a separate ante room. The approach to the Pavilion is through the tree lined drive of Baxter Park and the glazed frontage of the Pavilion leads to a large terrace that looks southwards over the park, towards the river Tay. Due to it's location, Baxter Park Pavilion also affords a unique opportunity for photographs before and after the ceremony.

Ceremonies may also be conducted within the surrounding grounds of Baxter Park.

HMS Unicorn, A frigate of 46 guns, was built for the Royal Navy in Chatham dockyard, and she was launched in 1824.

The classic sailing frigate was a fast and powerful warship, and was one of the most successful and charismatic ship designs of the age.

Unicorn's construction, however, is far from conventional. She is a unique survivor from the brief transitional period between the traditional wooden sailing ship and the revolutionary iron steamship.

Mains Castle, in Caird Park, Dundee, was built on land which at one time belonged to the Stewarts, then passed to the Douglas Earls of Angus in the 14th century.

Later, in the 16th century, it became the property of the Grahams and a castle was built by a David Graham – there is a date of 1562 over a doorway. At one time the castle was known as Mains of Fintry after the Grahams castle of that name in Stirlingshire. It originally had a courtyard, surrounded by buildings but most of these have been demolished. The unusually high stair turret is a 17th century addition – and may have been built to give views over hills to the south.

The estate was sold to David Erskine and renamed Linlathen as the “of Fintry” was a Graham title. In 1913, the estate and the castle (by now ruined) was bought by Sir James Caird (1837–1916). This wealthy Dundee jute manufacturer helped fund Shackleton’s famous 1914–16 “Endurance” expedition. He was a philanthropist who donated a great deal of wealth, land and buildings to the city of Dundee including the Caird Hall. He handed over the estate to Dundee Corporation and it became Caird Park, open to the public for recreation (including a golf course). The castle was restored in the 1980s and is a fine looking example of a Scottish residential castle.

In 2007, Mains Castle was leased from Dundee City Council and the new owners (a Dundonian and his Siberian-born wife) now provide a venue in which couples can start their new life together by getting married in this romantic and historical building.

Royal Research Ship Discovery was one of the last wooden three-masted ships built in Britain and the first to be constructed specifically for scientific research.

Her launch in 1901 was the beginning of an adventure that would forever secure her a place in the heroic age of polar exploration.

Spectacular exhibits and special effects vividly recreate the voyages of the Royal Research Ship Discovery, built in Dundee to take Captain Scott to Antarctica.