Publication Account

Date 1980

Event ID 1018436

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1018436

By a charter of 22nd October 1386, King Robert II granted to the burgesses and community of Irvine, land measuring forty feet (12m) in length and thirty feet (9m) in breadth in the market place 'on which they may build a decent and fair house, in which they may hold their public and private Councils' (Dobie, 1890, 16). Rent for the tolbooth was to be one penny of silver to be paid annually. In 1745 the tolbooth was repaired at a cost of £450 (McJannet, 1938, 119). The tolbooth, which stood as an island in the main street was taken down in 1860 since it obstructed traffic and the site now lies buried under tarmac on the roadway. Another townhouse was built along the line of the street close to the site of the former.

Information from ‘Historic Irvine: The Archaeological Implications of Development’ (1980).