Publication Account

Date 1997

Event ID 1019118

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1019118

This six-storeyed, red rubble tower with slate roof, clock and weather vane was built by public subscription in 1762. Its heavily barred windows attest to its former use as the town prison. According to local tradition, the tenants of the house immediately to the north, which was partially used as a school, were responsible for feeding the prisoners. Food was passed through the ground floor window of the Steeple, which is, to this day, still accessed from the garden of this neighbouring house. The Steeple was built on the site or the former High Court of justiciary, the remains of which may lie buried beneath the present floor levels of the building.

Information from ‘Historic Coupar Angus: The Archaeological Implications of Development’ (1997).