Archaeology Notes

Event ID 729733

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/729733

NX97NE 14 97240 76148.

(NX 9723 7611) Midsteeple (NR)

OS 25" map (1975)

The Midsteeple, Dumfries town-house, is oblong on plan and three storeys in height; its square steeple is at the NE end. Modern shops abut its N end. The townhouse measures some 33 1/2 ft by 19 ft within walls 2 1/2 ft in thickness; and the steeple about 17 ft square over walls averaging 4 1/2 ft in thickness. The whole of the ground and first floors of the townhouse, originally containing the weigh-house, town-guard house, and town hall, are now converted into showrooms, while the second floor is used as a workshop. The date '1707' is incised over the entrance, at the S end.

RCAHMS 1920, visited 1912

This building is an early 18th century structure with no outstanding architectural features.

Visited by OS (EGC) 8 December 1960

A stylish three-storey town house built by Tobias Bachop of Alloa 1705-7. The NE built tower is topped by a prominent fleche and the opposite end-wall has carved panels and an external forestair with an attractive wrought-iron balustrade. The predecessor of this building was demolished in or after 1719 but at the end of the 18th century a prison, possibly the tolbooth annexe of 1579-83 still stood 'nearly adjoining' the town house.

G Stell 1982; W McDowell 1867; W R McDiarmid 1886; D MacGibbon and T Ross 1892; R Edgar 1915; NMRS plans DFD/61/1-2.

NX 9724 7614 A laser scan survey of the 18th-century Midsteeple in Dumfries was carried out in October/November. Scanning was carried out at an effective resolution of less than 10mm, allowing the production of a three-dimensional model and a series of stone-by-stone elevation drawings. (See Fig. 15 overleaf.)

Archive to be deposited with the NMRS.

Sponsor: Dumfries and Galloway Council.

Graeme Cavers, 2006.