Tholsel was a name traditionally used for a local municipal and administrative building used to collect tolls and taxes and to administer trade and other documents in Irish towns and cities. It was at one stage one of the most important secular buildings in Ireland's town and cities and the level of importance was reflected in the prominence and size of these buildings as well as the expensive materials and architectural techniques used. Some historic tholsels still exist, notably
The Tholsel, Kilkenny
The Tholsel (), also known as the Town Hall, is a municipal building in the High Street, Kilkenny, County Kilkenny, Ireland. It served as the meeting place by Kilkenny Borough Council until the council was abolished in 2014. The Municipal Distri ...
. Towards the end of the 18th century the term tholsel was typically swapped for Market House with many of the administrative functions of the original tholsel transferring to another dedicated local council or government building such as a court or sessions house.
Similar buildings called
tolseys or tolsey houses are found in some English towns and cities, including
Burford
Burford () is a town on the River Windrush, in the Cotswold hills, in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England. It is often referred to as the 'gateway' to the Cotswolds. Burford is located west of Oxford and southeast of Chelt ...
,
Gloucester
Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...
and
Wotton-under-Edge
Wotton-under-Edge is a market town and civil parish in the Stroud district of Gloucestershire, England. Near the southern fringe of the Cotswolds
The Cotswolds ( ) is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills ...
. In both cases the term is derived from the
Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...
''tolsell'', from ''tol'' ("
toll
Toll may refer to:
Transportation
* Toll (fee) a fee charged for the use of a road or waterway
** Toll road, a type of road which for which payment is required for passage
** Road pricing, the modern practice of charging for road use
** Road to ...
") + ''-sell'' (
Old English
Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
''
sele
Sele may refer to:
Places Africa
*Sele, Burkina Faso, a village in the Ouéleni Department of Burkina Fase.
* Sele, Ethiopia, a town in Agbe municipality
Asia
*Sele, Turkey, a Turkish village in Kailar in Ottoman times
*Şələ, Azerbaijan
*Seleu ...
'' "hall", "house"). However, buildings described as a Tholsel have been more broadly used as a town hall, a courthouse, a town gate, a prison, a market house, a council chamber, a customs house, a guildhall, and a place where tolls were collected. In Scotland the term
Tolbooth
A tolbooth or town house was the main municipal building of a Scotland, 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 th ...
was used.
The Tholsel building in
Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
was built in the late Middle Ages as a merchants' hall, at the corner of Nicholas Street and Christ Church place, next to the
Church of St. Nicholas Within.
In the late 15th century, it was the home of the first mechanical public clock in Ireland. In the late eighteenth century, the Dublin Tholsel was used as a courthouse, being notable as the location where many Irish people, convicted of crimes, were sentenced to be transported to exile in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
. It was demolished around the year 1820.
Notable tholsels in the Republic of Ireland
See also
*
List of market houses in the Republic of Ireland
Market houses (sometimes earlier called tholsels) are a notable feature of many Irish towns with varying styles of architecture, size and ornamentation. They are usually located at the centre of the town at which at one stage a market was held. O ...
*
Market houses in Northern Ireland
Market houses are a notable feature of several Northern Ireland towns. While these market houses vary in styles of architecture, size and ornamentation, many were designed with three, four or even five bays on the ground floor which were an open a ...
*
Tolbooth
A tolbooth or town house was the main municipal building of a Scotland, 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 th ...
for some of the equivalent buildings in
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
References
External links
Tolsey
{{coord missing, Ireland
Government buildings in the Republic of Ireland
Toll houses
Market houses
Guildhalls in Ireland