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Publication Account

Date 1951

Event ID 1097867

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1097867

80. The Tolbooth of Edinburgh, High Street.

Mention has been made (p. xl) of the charter by which a site was provided, in 1386, for a new "Bell-House," successor to the praetorium of 1369. Nothing is on record about this building until 1403, when we hear of a praetorium in which were accommodated the Town Council, the Justice Ayres, the Law Courts and Parliament. According to Mr. P. Millar, from whose account (1) most of the present details have been taken, this tolbooth stood on the S. side of the High Street a little to the W. of the nave-gable of St. Giles' Church, with its S. wall in alinement with the N. wall of the Church. The site is outlined in the street with markers of brass. If the building occupied the whole of the site specified in 1386, its overall dimensions must have been 60 ft. in length by 30 ft. in breadth, and a roadway about 30 ft. wide would have been left clear between it and the houses that faced it on the N. side of the street. Although from 1480-1 onwards the Tolbooth included a prison, it appears to have remained without material alteration until 1561, when the magistrates, finding themselves inconveniently crowded, decided to extend their premises by taking in part of St. Giles' Church. Queen Mary's intervention then led to the construction of a new building for the use of the Lords of Session and of the Town Council on a site at the S.W. corner of St. Giles' Church, now occupied by part of the Signet Library. It was linked up with the part of the Church that had previously been marked out for secular use. Contrary, however, to the Queen's order, the old Tolbooth was not demolished, but was eventually reconstructed and extended; It survived as the common prison until 1817.

Some idea of the appearance of the building as it stood immediately before its demolition may be gained from the drawings of two artists of the period (2). Both agree as to the principal details of the Tolbooth. As they saw it, it consisted of two adjoining blocks. The W. one, of four storeys and an attic, served by a central turnpike projecting from the S. side, had rubble walls relieved by four string-courses and represented a substantial reconstruction made in 1610-11. The E. block, known to the very last as the Bell-House, was altogether finer. It was of polished ashlar and had been restored at least half a century before its neighbour. It had four storeys and an attic, served by a turnpike stair projecting from the S.E. corner. On both the exposed sides the windows had horizontal hood-moulds, and those facing N. on the first and second floors were flanked by Gothic niches.

When the Tolbooth was finally demolished, Sir Walter Scott secured the following fragments, which are still at Abbotsford [NT53SW 41]:- (1) A nail-studded door of oak, fitted on the outside with an iron bar and lock, complete with keys. (2) An ogival 16th-century door-pediment containing a shield surmounted by a crown, charged with the Royal Arms and supported by two unicorns, evidently removed from over the entrance to the E. turnpike. (3) Several stones wrought to a circle, moulded jamb-stones and a door-head, probably from the same staircase.(4) Two of the late 15th-century Gothic niches removed from the N. side of the E. block.

The following relics are preserved in the National Museum of Antiquities :- (1) A padlock with staple, formerly attached to the "Cage." (2) The "gaud”, or iron bar with chain and fetters for ankles, by which criminals condemned to death were formerly secured. (3) An iron girdle with manacles at each side. (4) A set of fetterlocks. Cf. also O.E.C., iv, pp. 75 ff.

RCAHMS 1951

(1) P.S.A.S., xx (1885-6), pp. 360 ff. (2) D. Somerville, published in O.E.C., iv, pp. 74, 77; the Rev. J. Syme, preserved in the Library of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.

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