Tolbooth & Steeple erected in 1625-6
Tollbooth rebuilt in 1814 (Steeple saved by Town Council vote of 15 to 9)
Tolbooth demolished in 1921
Steeple refurbished in 1923-5

Glasgow Story

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Little information is available about the earliest of Glasgow's Tolbooths, which lay at the northwest corner of the modern High Street and Trongate. A 12th century burgh may well have been expected to have a centre of civil administration, but until 1454 there are no surviving records of its early medieval history. In 1578, the city’s treasury accounts, describes payment , 'gevin to the maister of work and debur sit be him upon the biggin of the foir work of the tolbuithe and settin up of the bell'. Other records in the same year mention 'gevin David Kay for the pryce of the knok', (clock), 'buithis' (shops) in the street and repairs to the Tolbooth’s great oak and iron door.

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With the decline of ecclesiastical privilege, power and patronage the city's secular institutions burgeoned at the lower end of the town, where the citizens lived in a huddle of long narrow closes built back from the street. At the crossing of the four main streets the town council in 1626 began to erect a new Tolbooth. Five storeys high, it was overtopped by the steeple (a solitary remnant today) containing the town clock and with the only crown steeple in the west of Scotland with arches upholding a miniature gallery and steeple. Given its scale, its heraldic insignia and little pediments over the windows it was no wonder that the Tolbooth was hailed as "the paragon of beauty in the west." And indeed not only in the west but across Scotland. The Glasgow Story

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John Boyd (fl. c.1625 - c.43) Operating as a mason and builder, he was involved in the design and building of some of Glasgow’s most important 17th Century buildings. Between 11 February and 18 March 1626, he worked with Patrik Colquhoun in demolishing the old Tolbooth at Glasgow Cross, and was appointed as Master of Work on the construction of its replacement, of which only the 126ft steeple stands today

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Tolbooth Steeple, Glasgow Cross Glasgow Arms, Royal Monograms and Symbols (C.1625) Sculptor: unknown; Designed by: J Boyd Sculpture Database

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The steeple features some of the oldest sculpture in the city, including a small shield carved with an early version of the Glasgow coat of arms, and thistle motifs similar to the many others that were also on the building's demolished facade.

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THE town-house or tolbooth is a magnificent structure, being of length from east to west sixty six foot, and from the south to the north twenty four foot eight inches ; it hath a stately stair-case ascending to the justice-court- hall, within which is the entry of a large turnpike or staircase ascending to the town-council-hall, above which there was the dean of gild's old hall ; but now is turned into two prison houses for prisoners of note and distinction. The council house is adorn'd with the effigies of king James VI. king Charles the I. and II. king James VII. King William and queen Mary, queen Anne, king George the I. and II. all in full length, and a fine large oval taLle, where the magistrates and town-council and their clerk sits. The first story of this great building consists of six rooms, two whereof are for the magistrates use, one for the dean of gild's court, and another for the collector of the town's excise, these appartments are all vaulted from the one end to the other, and there is a new addition built, appointed for a quorum of the council to sit, in order to determine and dispatch nil such affairs as may be expede without the consent of the whole ; but above all, the king's hall is the finest, the length whereof is forty three foot eleven inches from east to west, and from south to north twenty four foot, and the turnpike upon the east end. In this great building are five large rooms appointed for common prisoners ; the steeple on the east- end thereof being one hundred and thirteen foot high, adorn'd with a curious clock all of brass, with four dial plates ; it has a large bell for the use of the clock, and a curious sett of chymes and tuneable bells, which plays every two hours, and has four large touretts on the corners thereof, with thanes finely gilded, and the whole roof is cover'd with lead, upon the frontispiece of this building is his majesty's arms finely cut out, with a fine dial, and below the same is this Latin inscription. Hs'c domus odit, amat, punit, conservat, honorat, Nequitium, pacem, crimina, jura, probos. In English thus, This house doth hate all wickedness, Loves peace but faults corrects, Observes all laws of righteousness, And good men it erects.*

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The Tolbooth Steeple played an important part in the jurisprudence of the period. Its High Street face was cheerfully garnished with spikes for the heads of traitors and other first-class misdemeanants. Commoner criminals were hung against its Trongate face. A scaffold was raised for them to the height of the first floor, facing appropriately down the Gallowgate, and the prisoner was brought out from the Tolbooth by a little window door, which, in these good old times, was as constantly open as the Temple of Janus. Below this, on the level of the street, a low half door (6) led direct to the prison, by a turnpike stair in the steeple. Old Country Houses

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These branks and the stocks are examples of implements of corporal punishment used in early modern Glasgow. Branks (top) were first mentioned in the city's records in 1574. They were sometimes known as "scolding bridles" or "gossip's bridles" and were used to punish scolding, nagging or gossiping women. The device consisted of an iron frame which fitted on the head, with a triangular metal gag which was inserted over the tongue to "silence" the offender for the duration of her sentence. The one seen here is fairly tame compared to others that have been preserved, featuring a sharp iron mouthpiece that could pierce the unfortunate woman's tongue. The stocks were used to secure the legs or arms of prisoners convicted of any of a variety of crimes. A convicted man or woman was locked into the stocks at the Tolbooth Steeple, where members of the public were free to deliver verbal or physical abuse to the hapless and helpless offender. The Glasgow Story

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The seven-storey Tolbooth Steeple is the Cross's most important feature and it is topped by a clock and a stone crown. This was once part of a much larger building, the Tolbooth, which provided accommodation for the Town Clerk's office, the council hall and the city prison. The debtors' prison had a steady stream of inmates who elected their own provost and generally ran the place like an exclusive club. They produced their own regulations, including one from 1789 which stated: It is firmly and irrevocably agreed upon that the members of these rooms shall not permit the jailor or turnkeys to force any person or persons into their apartments, who are thought unworthy of being admitted. There was even a rule about celebrating freedom: Every member, when liberated, shall treat his fellow-prisoners with one shilling's worth of what liquor they think proper. The Tolbooth provided the backdrop to many of the city's dramas and it was here that witches, thieves and murderers were summarily dealt with, by hanging if necessary. It also had a special platform from which proclamations were read, important in the days before general literacy. The paved area in front of the Tolbooth was the in place to be seen and here the rich paraded in their finery, particularly the Tobacco Lords, attired in red cloaks and sporting gold-topped canes. The cross developed as a communications hub, with stagecoaches from Edinburgh and London bringing visitors and news, and a reading room in the Tolbooth providing newspapers. However, as the city expanded and moved westwards, the Tolbooth was abandoned and eventually demolished, leaving the steeple as an isolated reminder of bygone days. This tragic loss of an important building was the result of the work of the City Improvement Trust which had the unenviable task of ridding the city of its slums.

Fire in 1677

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On 3rd November, 1677, another great fire occurred in Glasgow. The Tolbooth was full of Covenanters at the time, and the people burst the doors open and allowed the prisoners to escape. The heat spoiled the clock in the Cross Steeple. Glasgow Fire Service

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In 1677, another great conflagration took place in Glasgow, when 130 houses were burned. It originated at the head of the Saltmarket, near the cross; and was kindled by a smith's apprentice, who had been beaten by his master, and who set fire to his smithy during the night in revenge. Law, in his ` Memorials,' says: " 'The heat was so great that it fyred the horoledge of the tolbooth, there being some prisoners in it at the tyme, amongst whom was the laird of Caraldone. The people brake open the tolbooth doors' and set them free." Though this fire was painfully disastrous in its effects, yet the inhabitants were now in a position much better fitted to stand the infliction, and accordingly there was not experienced the tithe of the suffering which marked the former conflagration.

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Marshall, John Shotts. Covenanter. Prisoner in Glasgow Tolbooth. Banished to the Plantations, at Glasgow June 1684. Transported from the Clyde to America on the Pelican by Walter Gibson, merchant in Glasgow, June 1684 Marshall, Thomas Shotts. Covenanter. Prisoner in Glasgow Tolbooth. Banished to the Plantations, at Glasgow June 1684. Transported from the Clyde to America on the Pelican, by Walter Gibson, merchant in Glasgow, June 1684

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John Richmond died at Glasgow Cross at 2.00 pm on 19th March, 1684. He was arrested in November 1683, accused of having been present at the Battle of Bothwell. At his trial, dubious evidence as to his involvement on the side of the Covenanters was produced. Such was the fever in those killing times that he and four others were sentenced to die within two days. John Richmond made his speech on the scaffold, then had his head cut off, and it was placed on a spike on the Glasgow tollbooth.

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The invasion of Scotland, conducted by the earl of Argyle, was of short duration. On 2nd May the earl sailed from Amsterdam, and by the middle of June his army was dispersed. Having been taken prisoner near Paisley, he, along with others similarly implicated, seems to have been temporarily placed in Glasgow tolbooth. He was executed at Edinburgh on 30th June, 1685

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Humble people could only afford a passage to Virginia by becoming indentured, and even Scots did not really want to go, but being already in custody and sentenced radically simplified your options. In 1700, for example, the Lord Justice Clek, a senior criminal judge, gave a boy of about fifteen, James Hall, who was under sentence of death in Glasgow tolbooth for "thieving and pickery," the alternative of transportation to Virginia. Hall accepted.

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Kennedy Murray was born around 1771 in Dundonald, Ayr, Scotland. In September, 1786, Murray was convicted in Glasgow of stealing goods from Malcolm Ward, a travelling salesman. The stolen goods included a wooden box, a pair of knittings with buckles and six knives. Murray's trial took place in the Tolbooth of Glasgow on 24 September 1786. As Murray had been committed on at least one previous offence, he was considered by the Magistrate as a thief by habit and repute and was sentenced to 14 years. As the Scottish jails were full, the authorities were forced to take part in the transportation program. Murray earned the dubious honour of being one of the first 20 convicts from Scotland to be transported to New South Wales.

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An oil painting of the Trongate c 1770-1790 by an unknown artist. The painter chose to depict a view of Glasgow popular with artists of this period, looking west from Glasgow Cross. Several 18th century city landmarks are shown, including the statue of King William III on a plinth outside the town hall to the right, and the Tron Church tower and steeple in the distance to the left. There are many soldiers on view, both in kilts and in red coats, and there is a soldier on guard in the sentry-box near the door of the Tolbooth, at the end of the paved area in front of the town hall known as the "plainstanes".

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A FITTING addition to this volume has been found in the sketch of the Trongate and the Cross taken in 1774 by James Brown, merchant in Glasgow.

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A physician in extensive practice at the head of Stockwell Street, in 1787, and was the grandfather of Charles Wilsone Browne, the husband of the widow Swinfen. On the 10th January 1787, Dr. Wilsone was knocked down in Argyle Street at night, and robbed by two men named Veitch and M'Aulay, who were tried and sentenced to death for the crime. At two o'clock on the 30th of May, they were taken out of the Tolbooth at the Cross, and up the High Street to the place of execution in the Castle Yard; but so great was the crush of people on the street, that a halt was made, and refreshments served out to the prisoners at the "Bell of the Brae," and a whole hour was spent in reaching the Castle Yard. Both prisoners were duly executed, along with a man named Gentles, who suffered death for robbing a bleachfield. Jones Directory

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The reader may be a little surprised to hear that the Tolbooth was also a public-house in the good old times, and that the jailer was in the daily habit of leaning over his half-door, on the outlook for drouthy customers! Jones Directory

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The Tolbooth was rebuilt in 1814 by David Hamilton. The steeple was very near disappearing too. Its destruction was formally considered by the Town Council, and it was only by 15 to 9 that they did finally, on 4th May, 1814, "resolve that the old steeple at the Cross be preserved, supported, and repaired." This was after the Tolbooth itself had been taken down. It had been sold in 1812 to James Cleland, LL.D., for £8,000. The town's sale of the Tolbooth to Dr. Cleland reserved the right of an entry through his new tenement to the Town Hall, which had been reserved in the town's sale of the Piazza building to the Tontine Society.

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Also surviving the 1814 rebuilding, and subsequently relocated, was the building's most important sculpture: the Royal Arms of King Charles I. These were carved on a panel above the main door and were rescued and placed on the back of a tenement at 7 High Street. The arms were rescued again in the early 1900s when the tenement was demolished, and are now on display in St Nicholas' Garden at Provand's Lordship, Castle Street. Sculpture database

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The ancient royal arms of Scotland, from carved stone that was built into the wall above the exterior staircase of the old Tolbooth on Trongate. The stone was removed when the building was demolished, and transferred to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. By the end of the 15th century, two unicorns had become established as the supporters of the Scottish Royal Arms. In 1603 the crown of England passed to James VI of Scotland, who became James I of England. He took as supporters of his Royal Arms a crowned lion of England and one of his Scottish unicorns.

A lithograph depicting the visit of Queen Victoria to Glasgow in 1849.

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Queen Victoria is shown in an open carriage passing the equestrian statue of King William III and the Tontine Hotel in the Trongate. In the background stands the Tolbooth, a Union Jack flying from its Steeple. This was the first visit to Glasgow by a reigning monarch since the 1600s, and an estimated 400,000 Glaswegians lined the streets to see the Queen pass by. Glasgow Story

William Simpson, 1871

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This view looks west at the city of Glasgow from the top of the Tolbooth Steeple. The Trongate is very busy with people and carriages. The large pot-shaped object is a steamboat boiler and is drawn by a number of horses.

Men consulting electoral rolls posted on the Tolbooth Steeple, 1904.


The Tolbooth was demolished in 1921




The Steeple was restored & refaced in 1923 -25 By the firm of Keppie & Henderson.

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Andrew Graham Henderson, Architect A 1923 1925 Restoration and part refacement following demolition of Tolbooth Building John Keppie, Architect A 1923 1925 Restoration and part refacement following demolition of Tolbooth Building

‘The Tollbooth, Glasgow’ by L.S. Lowry
Oil on Board, 1947


A workman removing the hands of the Tolbooth Steeple.1966

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James Ritchie & Son (Clockmakers) Ltd 56 Broughton Street Edinburgh EH1 3SA

The seventh floor of the steeple still houses a late 19th-century carillon for playing the sixteen bells hanging in the belfry.


This probably replaced an older carillon as the list of carillon players goes back to 1738.

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There are 16 small chimes and a large one in the Tolbooth chimes. They were cast in 1881 by Messrs. John C. Wilson and Co. Gorbals Foundry, Glasgow. Rootsweb

Restoration & Repair

Glasgows historic Tolbooth Steeple is to undergo repair work after cracks were discovered in the structure. The 126ft-high steeple - which in medieval times witnessed hangings of witches, thieves and murderers - stands in Glasgow Cross and was built in 1636. A recent survey showed cracked lintels on the building's south face, as well as the need for masonry, guttering and lead repairs.It is hoped the work - estimated to cost around £200,000 - will be completed by the end of the summer. The steeple is one of the oldest buildings in Glasgow and towered over the former Tolbooth which once served as a prison and town hall. Liz Davidson, of Merchant City Townscape Heritage Initiative, described it as "one of the most iconic buildings in the area". She said every building in the Merchant City was surveyed a few years ago. She added: "Through time and because of where it stands, it has suffered a bit of wear and tear.It was attached to another building, the Tontine, and there is a lot of traffic going past it on a daily basis." "We have a railway underground at the base of the steeple and heavy traffic thundering past every day. The survey revealed cracks at the steeple base which we would rather deal with now.The work is not urgent but the damage will only get worse." "We are putting together a programme for the repairs. It may be that, rather than having scaffolding, it can be done by someone abseiling down the side." She said the work was not complicated but was difficult because the steeple stands in the middle of a busy road. The work - which is expected to last between four to five weeks - will also have to be carried out by the end of the summer as the cracks will be filled in using a mixture which can not be exposed to frost. It is an A Listed Ancient Monument and part of the funding for the repair project will be provided by Glasgow City Council. Evening Times