Canongate Tolbooth is a historic landmark of the

Old Town In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins after thorough renovations. There are ma ...

area of

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, built in 1591 as a

tolbooth A tolbooth or town house was the main municipal building of a Scottish burgh, from medieval times until the 19th century. The tolbooth usually provided a council meeting chamber, a court house and a jail. The tolbooth was one of three essent ...

, that is, the centre of administration and justice of the then separate burgh of the Canongate which was outside the Edinburgh town walls. It ceased to be a municipal building in 1856 and it is now occupied by The People's Story Museum and is protected as a

category A listed building Category, plural categories, may refer to: Philosophy and general uses *Categorization, categories in cognitive science, information science and generally *Category of being * ''Categories'' (Aristotle) *Category (Kant) *Categories (Peirce) *C ...

History

The tower of the tolbooth was built in 1591, and the block to the east of it at that time or slightly after, by Sir

Lewis Bellenden Sir Lewis Bellenden of Auchnole and Broughton (c. 1552 – 27 August 1591, in Edinburgh), was the eldest son of Sir John Bellenden of Auchnole & Broughton, whom he succeeded as Lord Justice Clerk on 15 March 1577. Career He was knighted about 1577 ...

, baron of Broughton and feudal superior of the burgh of Canongate and

Lord Justice Clerk The Lord Justice Clerk is the second most senior judge in Scotland, after the Lord President of the Court of Session. Originally ''clericus justiciarie'' or Clerk to the Court of Justiciary, the counterpart in the criminal courts of the L ...

of Scotland. It served as the courthouse, burgh jail and meeting place of the town council. Many

Covenanters Covenanters ( gd, Cùmhnantaich) were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. The name is derived from '' Covenan ...

were held in the tolbooth in poor conditions in the 17th century and a riot took place in the building in May 1692. It ceased to be the meeting place of the burgh council when Canongate was annexed by Edinburgh in 1856. In 1875 the City Architect, Robert Morham, extensively restored and remodelled the exterior. Internally the first and attic floors were combined to make a single floor, now The People's Story Museum.

Design

The tolbooth was designed in the Scottish medieval style: it comprises a bell tower with a lower block to the east that contained the council chamber and courtroom. The tower has two

bartizan A bartizan (an alteration of ''bratticing''), also called a guerite, ''garita'', or ''échauguette'', or spelled bartisan, is an overhanging, wall-mounted turret projecting from the walls of late medieval and early-modern fortifications from th ...

s with ornamental gunloops on either side of a clock, dated 1884 and manufactured by James Ritchie & Son, which is suspended over the

Royal Mile The Royal Mile () is a succession of streets forming the main thoroughfare of the Old Town of the city of Edinburgh in Scotland. The term was first used descriptively in W. M. Gilbert's ''Edinburgh in the Nineteenth Century'' (1901), des ...

wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a wood-like "grain" ...

brackets. Above the bartizans is a conical spire while at street level there is a round-arched pend that leads into Tolbooth Wynd. Architectural features of the east block include a stone forestair which leads to a door next to the tower, an

oriel window An oriel window is a form of bay window which protrudes from the main wall of a building but does not reach to the ground. Supported by corbels, brackets, or similar cantilevers, an oriel window is most commonly found projecting from an upper ...

, and four pedimented dormers by Morham, based on Gordon of Rothiemay's map of 1647, that replaced three piended ones. To the east of the tolbooth, down the Royal Mile, is the Kirk of the Canongate and the

Canongate Kirkyard The Canongate Kirkyard ( en, Churchyard) stands around Canongate Kirk on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, Scotland. The churchyard was used for burials from the late 1680s until the mid-20th century. The most celebrated burials at the kirkyard ar ...

References

{{Government buildings in Edinburgh Buildings and structures in Edinburgh Tourist attractions in Edinburgh Defunct prisons in Edinburgh Listed prison buildings in Scotland Category A listed buildings in Edinburgh Royal Mile 1591 establishments in Scotland