North Berwick, 1 - 3 High Street, Town House

There is some debate as to when the town house of North Berwick was constructed, with some local writers maintaining that it was built after the Somerset invasion of 1550 (Phillimore, 1918, 10) and others saying until the seventeenth century (Richardson, 1907, 9). An outside stair leads up to the Council Room and beneath are two shops, the westmost of which was the prison (Richardson, 1907, 9). In 1724, there is record of its being enlarged at its east end and being provided with a bell and belfry (Phillimore, 1918, 24).

Information from ‘Historic North Berwick: The Archaeological Implications of Development’ (1981).

This two-storeyed building of 1723-4 stands at the SW angle of Quality Street and High Street, abutted by an adjoining property to the W. It is rectangular on plan, measuring 14m from E-W by 8.1 m, and the upper floor is reached by a forestair against the S wall. It is constructed of roughly coursed rubble covered with harling, and the original roof slates were replaced in 1825 by pantiles. The principal (N) elevation, to High Street, has two ground-floor doorways which give access to shops, and symmetrically-disposed windows. These appear to have been enlarged, except for the central one at first-floor level. Set on the roof-ridge there is a diminutive timber-bui lt clock-tower, whose apron and ogival roof are slated.

The present divisions of the ground storey date from about 1985. In 1770 the W part of this storey formed a single prison-room, 5.5m by 3.4m, lit by a slit in the N wall, but it was subsequently divided into two cells. The corresponding area of the first floor was occupied by the debtors' room, and the E part by the council-chamber. This preserves a plaster cornice of guilloche pattern, but the interior of the upper storey was renovated in 1970-1 and the original gable fireplaces in both rooms have been removed. A clock by an English maker, Roger Parkinson, was installed in 1735, and was replaced in 1809-10 at the expense of Sir Hew Dalryrnple-Hamilton, but the present clock is modern. The clock-tower houses a bell 0.54m in both diameter and height, and inscribed: EX DONO DOMINI JACOBI DALRYMPLE DE HAILLS EQUITI BARONETTI R M FECIT EDR 1724 ('By the gift of Sir lames Dalrymple of Hailes, knight baronet. R(obert) M(axwell) made,Edinburgh 1724'). Despite this ' gift', the burgh paid £196 Scots' for the toun's bell' in 1726. North Berwick TowlI-house (No.67) view from NE (847620).

HISTORY

A tolbooth situated at the E end of the High Street, and probably on the present site, was in existence in North Berwick by the middle of the 16th century. In 1723 a contract for erecting a new tolbooth was entered into with local tradesmen, and the provision of the bell in 1724 suggests that the building was substantially complete. The forestair was rebuilt in 1751, probably using material from the mercat cross. 'Storm windows' (dormers) were removed in 1778, and the weather-cock on the clock-tower was repaired in 1782. The council-room was made available in the 1770s for performances by 'strolling companys of show and playactors', and was subsequently used as a reading-room, while the former debtors' room was also used in the 19th century as a library.

The roof-structure and clock-tower were reconstructed by T E Inglis in 1967. In the early 20th century a single-bay outshot was added to the W wall of the forestair.

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