#tolbooth clock

Canongate Tolbooth.

The Canongate Tolbooth is a highly distinctive building, and its clock if often photographed by passing tourists. As well as being an interesting and important building, the Tolbooth is a reminder that at one time the Canongate was separate from the Royal Burgh of Edinburgh.

The Tolbooth was built in 1591 and would have formed the local hub for the Canongate burgh, along with the nearby Mercat Cross where merchants met and conducted their business. The Tolbooth would have had many functions, serving as courthouse, burgh jail and meeting place of the town council. The building was constructed for Sir Lewis Bellenden, the justice-clerk for the burgh, and his initials can still be seen over the archway to Tolbooth Wynd.

As the Canongate’s main public building it was designed to look impressive and express the burgh’s pride in its long history. The tower over Tolbooth Wynd has small turrets added, known as ‘bartizans’, as well as gun loops to give a sense of ancient battlements. Next to it is the courthouse block, with a staircase, or ‘forestairs’, leading up to its main entrance on the first floor. Look out for the plaque celebrating King James VI as well, complete with latin inscription and a large thistle.

The ground floor was used as a prison, mainly for those unable to pay fines or for minor misdemeanours, but on occasion it was used to hold people on behalf of the government. Certainly during the 17th century many captured Covenanters were held in the Canongate Tolbooth, accused of treason.

However there were several escapes, leading to the jailer James Park and his assistant being sent to prison themselves in 1681. This did not stop the breakouts though, and in 1684 around ten prisoners escaped by breaking into the lofts of the house next door. The following year five more prisoners escaped, and the new jailer Walter Young was brought before the Privy Council and sentenced to a spell in prison himself. By the 18th century the Tolbooth’s jail seems to have been mainly used for debtors, and it was said that: “…the better sort are commonly taken to this prison, which is well aired, has some decent rooms, and is kept tolerably clean.”

As the city grew in the 19th century so the importance of the Canongate as a separate burgh declined, and the Tolbooth became less and less important, and in 1856 the burgh was finally incorporated into the city of Edinburgh. In 1875 the city architect Robert Morham started renovations of the Tolbooth, attempting to bring it back to its original appearance, while adding touches of his own. The most obvious change came in 1884 when the clock was added, sticking out into the street on brackets and enhancing the building’s characteristic silhouette.

Good Morning from Scotland. 

Dawn breaking on The Canongate, Royal Mile, Edinburgh.

Falkirk Town Steeple

The skyline of Falkirk  is dominated by the elegantly-proportioned Town Steeple. Designed by David Hamilton, it was built by a local, Henry Taylor, in 1813-14, at a cost of £1,460, using sandstone from Brightons quarry (east of the town). The classical composition in ashlar and stucco rises through four stages to 46m. 

The detail is described as “restrained and well executed”, increasing in complexity with each stage – channelled ashlar at the first stage, inset Greek Doric angle columns, arched openings with pediment and balustraded aprons at the second, splayed angles at the third (clock) stage – and above, the octagonal Ionic belfry and spire, topped by a golden cockerel weathervane, which was shining brightly in the afternoon sunshine as I took these pios.

The ground floor was designed for commercial use, I’ve seen old photos of it as a butcher on the wall of my local, The Tolbooth Tavern.  When I first moved to Falkirk it was the towns Box Office, used by Falkirk Community Trust for people to book and pick up tickets for events at venues such as the Town Halls in Falkirk, Bo'ness and Grangemouth, the Hippodrome in Bo'ness and The Park Gallery, sadly when the Kelpies visitor centre was opened they moved it all down there, a decision that was a bit puzzling to me as it took people away from the High Street at a time when they were needed more than ever.