| Canongate Tolbooth | |
|---|---|
 Canongate Tolbooth | |
| Location | Old Town, Edinburgh |
| Coordinates | 55°57′05″N3°10′48″W / 55.9515°N 3.1800°W /55.9515; -3.1800 |
| Built | 1591 |
| Architectural style | Scottish medieval style |
Listed Building – Category A | |
| Official name | 163 Canongate, Canongate Tolbooth |
| Designated | 14 December 1970 |
| Reference no. | LB27582 |
  Shown in Edinburgh | |
Canongate Tolbooth is a historic landmark of theOld Town area ofEdinburgh, built in 1591 as atolbooth, that is, the centre of administration and justice of the then separate burgh ofthe Canongate which was outside theEdinburgh town walls.[1] It ceased to be a municipal building in 1856 and it is now occupied byThe People's Story Museum and is protected as acategory A listed building.[2]
The tower of the tolbooth was built in 1591, and the block to the east of it at that time or slightly after, by SirLewis Bellenden, baron ofBroughton and feudal superior of the burgh of Canongate andLord Justice Clerk of Scotland.[2][3] It served as the courthouse, burgh jail and meeting place of the town council.[2]
ManyCovenanters were held in the tolbooth in poor conditions in the 17th century[4][5] and a riot took place in the building in May 1692.[6] It ceased to be the meeting place of the burgh council when Canongate was annexed by Edinburgh in 1856.[7]
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, nowThe People's Story Museum.[8][9]
The tolbooth was designed in theScottish medieval style: it comprises a bell tower with a lower block to the east that contained the council chamber and courtroom.[10] The tower has twobartizans with ornamental gunloops on either side of a clock, dated 1884 and manufactured byJames Ritchie & Son, which is suspended over theRoyal Mile bywrought iron brackets.[1][3][8] Above the bartizans is a conical spire[8] while at street level there is a round-archedpend that leads into Tolbooth Wynd.[11] Architectural features of the east block include a stone forestair which leads to a door next to the tower,[10] anoriel window,[3] and four pedimenteddormers by Morham, based on Gordon of Rothiemay's map of 1647, that replaced threepiended ones.[12]
To the east of the tolbooth, down the Royal Mile, is theKirk of the Canongate and theCanongate Kirkyard.[11]
Media related toCanongate Tolbooth at Wikimedia Commons