Canongate Tolbooth

Canongate Tolbooth is a historic landmark of the Old Town area of Edinburgh, built in 1591 as a tolbooth, 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.

1. 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, baron of Broughton and feudal superior of the burgh of Canongate and Lord Justice Clerk of Scotland. It served as the courthouse, burgh jail and meeting place of the town council. Many Covenanters 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.

1. 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 bartizans with ornamental gunloops on either side of a clock, dated 1884 and manufactured by James Ritchie & Son, which is suspended over the Royal Mile by wrought iron 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, 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.

1. References


1. External links

Media related to Canongate Tolbooth at Wikimedia Commons

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The People's Story Museum

The People's Story Museum is located in the historic Canongate Tolbooth, and features collections that narrate the story of the working-class people of Edinburgh from the late 18th century to the present day. The museum achieves this through the use of oral history, reminiscence, and written sources.

Musée

The Canongate

The Canongate is a street and associated district in central Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland. The street forms the main eastern length of the Royal Mile while the district is the main eastern section of Edinburgh's Old Town. David I of Scotland, by the Great Charter of Holyrood Abbey c. 1143, authorised the Abbey to found a burgh separate from Edinburgh between the Abbey and the city. The burgh of Canongate which developed was controlled by the Abbey until the Scottish Reformation, when it came under secular control. In 1636 the adjacent city of Edinburgh bought the feudal superiority of the Canongate but it remained a semi-autonomous burgh under its own administration of bailies chosen by Edinburgh magistrates, until its formal incorporation into the city in 1856. The burgh gained its name from the route that the canons of Holyrood Abbey took to Edinburgh—the canons' way or the canons' gait, from the Scots word gait meaning "way". In more modern times, the eastern end is sometimes referred to as part of the Holyrood area of the city. The burgh of Canongate had a sometimes turbulent relationship with its neighbour, Edinburgh. The main reason for this was the continual battle over their exact boundaries up until their unification in 1856, an event which proved unpopular with the former's townsfolk. The Canongate contains several historic buildings including Queensberry House, now incorporated in the Scottish Parliament Building complex, Huntly House (now the Museum of Edinburgh), the Canongate Tolbooth (now housing the People's Story Museum) and the Canongate Kirk, opened in 1691 replacing Holyrood Abbey as the parish church of the Canongate. The church is still used for Sunday services as well as weekday concerts.

Église Site historique

Museum of Edinburgh

The Museum of Edinburgh, formerly known as Huntly House Museum, located at 142-146 Canongate, is a museum in Edinburgh, Scotland, housing a collection relating to the town's origins, history and legends. Exhibits are described as a maze of history with more rooms than one can imagine. From decade to decade down the timeline, rooms include an original copy of the National Covenant signed at Greyfriars Kirk in 1638 and a reconstruction of Field Marshal Earl Haig's headquarters on the Western Front during the Great War, the latter exhibiting items bequeathed to the Museum. Situated in the late 16th-century Huntly House on the Canongate, the museum is maintained by the City of Edinburgh Council. The museum sits three stories tall with a unique yellow exterior. The museum is within the heart of Edinburgh for all locals and tourist to find. In 1570, the Museum of Edinburgh was constructed for notable members of Clan Gordon who resided in Huntly Castle. The Earl who resided here was known as George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly. His residency is controversial, being considered erroneous by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Subsequently, the Incorporation of Hammermen, a group of metalsmiths, purchased Huntly House in 1647 as their new headquarters and had the building expanded by architect Robert Mylne during their ownership. In 1924, when the building was under threat of destruction, the city purchased it and it became the Museum of Edinburgh. Present day, the locals still refer to it as Huntly House. The museum was featured in Season 3 of the show Outlander. The Museum houses spectacular collections of decorative art which reveal a history of Scottish craftsmanship, from cut and engraved glass and intricately made silver from Edinburgh and Canongate, costume, longcase clocks, along with Scottish pottery and Scottish porcelain dating from the 1760s. The Museum of Edinburgh's collections total around 220,000 items related to Edinburgh across all of its venues, and has four collections recognized by the Scottish government for National Significance. The building encapsulates the story of the city from beginning to present day. James Craig's original plans for the "New Town" reside within its walls to give every detail.

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Canongate Kirk

The Kirk of the Canongate, or Canongate Kirk, serves the Parish of Canongate in Edinburgh's Old Town, in Scotland. It is a congregation of the Church of Scotland. The parish includes the Palace of Holyroodhouse and the Scottish Parliament. It is also the parish church of Edinburgh Castle, even though the castle is detached from the rest of the parish. The wedding of Zara Phillips, the Queen's granddaughter, and former England rugby captain Mike Tindall took place at the church on 30 July 2011. The late Queen Elizabeth II used to attend services in the church on some of her frequent visits to Edinburgh.

Église Site remarquable