Publication Account

Date 1996

Event ID 1017941

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1017941

The town-house or 'Midsteeple ', which was built in 1705-8, lie occupies a prominent island site in the High Street, to the SW of Queensberry Square. Its S end-wall, which has a straight forestair to the first-floor main entrance, overlooks the former market-area. The N wall is abutted by two-storeyed properties which in the 19th century replaced a lower block of shops supporting on its flat roof the 16th-century mercat cross. The three-storeyed main block is rectangular on plan, measuring 11.8m from N to S by 7.5m, and a square steeple, 28m in height, extends the E front a further 4.2m to the N. The masonry is of red sandstone ashlar which was originally obtained from the town's quarry at Castledykes, but was extensively refaced in 1909. The roof is hipped and slated, and the spire is lead-covered.

The forestair of the S front, which incorporates a small ground-floor shop, has an elaborate wrought-iron balustrade or 'ravel' made by Patrick Sibbald, an Edinburgh smith, in 1709. It comprises a series of panels, divided by thistle-shaped balusters and each containing two scrolled and floriated tendrils which have been much restored. The first-floor doorway, which has Ionic pilasters and a segmental pediment, bears the date 1707 on its lintel, but in its present form it dates from 1909. An earlier doorcase with thin pilasters and a plain entablature appears in a drawing of 1828, shortly before the construction of the Doric portico that is a familiar feature of early views of the building. The fenestration of the Sand side walls is regular, with the windows of the upper storeys having projecting aprons and those at first-floor level also having moulded and lugged surrounds with cornices. The ground storey, and the stepped quoins of the main block and steeple, are of channelled ashlar, and the upper storeys and parapet, as well as the stages of the steeple, are defined by moulded string-courses. Both the main block and the steeple have stone parapets containing square openings which enclose pierced roundels set within crosses, and the wall-head parapet is continued as a decorative frieze round the steeple. The next three stages of the steeple contain respectively a round-headed window to the E, a series of oculi, and circular clock-faces within square moulded frames. The parapet encloses a square timber belfry with an ogee-capped lead-covered spire whose angles were originally crocketed.

The building has undergone several changes of use (infra), and for many years after 1866 it was occupied by shops and warehouses. The interior now contains one large room at each level, divided by modern partitions and preserving no early features. The ground storey of the steeple is entered by a doorway in the E wall, and the upper storeys by a forestair against the W wall which leads to a newel-stair in the SW angle. Direct access to the steeple from the main block was created in 1909 by inserted doorways at first- and second-floor levels.

Set at the centre of the S front, at first-and second-floor levels, there are two carved panels. The upper one contains a full armorial achievement bearing the royal arms of Scotland, with unicorn supporters. The lower panel shows the winged figure of St Michael, patron of the burgh, wearing a mitre-like head-dress and long robe and standing on a dragon, into whose mouth he thrusts the point of a crozier. These carvings are probably of mid 17th-century date, and two others built into the W wall in 1909 came from the nearby old prison of about 1579 (infra). One bears the initials H Rand R MK, with a pair of shackles and a bow and arrow and the word BAILLIES, for Herbert Raining and Robert MacKinnell who held that office in the 1570s. The other shows a shield bearing a chevron between three fleurs-de-lys, with the town 's motto A LORJ BURNE. Also built into the S front there are the metal 'bed of a yard-measure, probably of about 1830, and a cast-iron distance-plate of 1827.

The three bells in the belfry, of eight, five and three hundred weights, were cast by George Barclay of Edinburgh in 1708. The larger ones were recast in 1903 and 1901, but the original small bell, whose 'small and short' tone was the subject of initial complaints, survives in good condition. It measures 0.62m in diameter and is inscribed: FOR THE TOWN OF DRUMFRlES 300 LIB WT ED(JNBU)R(GH) 1708. When the bells were set up, there was insufficient room for the two smaller ones to be rung together, and the timberwork of the belfry was altered. A projection in its N wall still accommodates the wheel of one of the bells. The original clock of 1708, which had four dials, was made by John Bancroft of Stockport, and some fragments of the mechanism remain in Dumfries Museum.

HISTORY

The 'Old Tolbooth', situated on the E side of the High Street close to the site of the Midsteeple, was probably built in the last quarter of the 15th century. At the time of its rebuilding about 1719 it contained vaulted cellars in the basement, shops on the ground floor and a council-chamber and 'open prison' on the upper floors. In 1578-9 the Privy Council ordered the town to build 'ane sufficient prisoun-hous of three hous hicht' adjoining the tolbooth to the N. This 'pledge house', which was vaulted at two levels and incorporated the carved stones described above, remained in use until a new jail was built in 1807.

In 1697 the burgh was granted a share of Scottish customs and foreign excise duties, and after pressure from the community over the council's conduct of the affair a sum of 20,000 merks (£1,111 sterling) was secured. In 1703 a joint committee of the council and community was appointed to apply this sum in building the midsteeple, and its minute-book preserves a uniquely detailed account of the execution of a major civic building-project.

After an unsuccesful attempt to secure the services of 'Mr James Smith, James Smith his nevoy or any other Architect' in Edinburgh, a Liverpool 'masterbuilder' named John Moffat was employed 'to draw a scheme and modall of the designed fabrick'. Moffat produced his plans in April 1704, after viewing the steeple of Glasgow College as a possible model, but declined to undertake the contract. An offer from Bailie Kennan to erect the building on a reduced scale was refused, and in February 1705 a contract was made with Tobias Bachup of Alloa 'to construct the samen conform to the scheme drawn and the alterations of the dimensions which the committee had made'. In May 1705 it was agreed to lengthen the council house from 9.75m to llm and to adjust the windows, and the foundation-stone was laid at the present site, which had finally been chosen in preference to that of the old tolbooth. It is probable that the building as executed owes its main elements to Moffat's 'scheme', but that the details were amended by Bachup. The latter in 1708 claimed expenses given to the deacon of the wrights 'for going to see other steeples that he might know how to make the spire of the Steeple', which closely resembles those of Glasgow College and Stirling townhouse.

Since 1703 the committee had been acquiring building materials, and contracts were negotiated for the re-opening of the town's quarry and for the supply of lime from Annandale. Efforts to secure a ship for bringing timber from the Baltic failed, and suitable material was finally located at Garlieswood near the River Cree. These materials were made available to Bachup, who agreed to furnish the remainder as part of his contract price of 19,000 merks. Thereafter the minute-book records the payment of regular instalments until the completion of the contract in 1708, and the subsequent negotiations for the bells, clock and iron 'ravel'.

In 1703 the town council had agreed that 'the town is not at present provided with sufficient prisons ... as also that there is not ane steeple in the whole town, nor a suitable councilhouse and clerk's chamber for keeping the charter-chest and records of the burgh, nor a magazine house nor room for the safe-keeping ofthe town's arms and ammunition'. However, most of these functions were retained in the old prison and in the adjacent building which replaced the old tolbooth in 1725. The first floor of the Midsteeple was used as a courtroom and town hall rather than its intended function of a council-house until 1830, when the new portico was added to mark its additional dignity. In the 18th century the ground storey contained a weigh-house and guard-house, and there was also prison-accommodation which may have been in the steeple. Later the ground storey was given over to shops and a lock-up, probably in the base of the steeple, and the second floor became the police superintendent's residence. After 1866, when a new town hall was built, the whole building was used for shops and warehouses, and it remained in commercial use even after the extensive renovation 1909, which was superintended by the local architect James Barbour. In the early 1970s the interior was adapted for local authority use.

Information from ‘Tolbooths and Town-Houses: Civic Architecture in Scotland to 1833’ (1996).