The tolbooth developed into a central building providing for all these functions.RCAHMS, pp.4–5 Most tolbooths had a bell, often mounted on a steeple, and later clocks were added. As well as housing accused criminals awaiting trial, and debtors, tolbooths were also places of public punishment, equipped with a whipping post, stocks or jougs.
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Due to enlargement of the city Edinburgh now encompasses other tolbooths or tolbooth sites. Still in existence are Canongate Tolbooth on the lower section of the Royal Mile, South Queensferry Tolbooth and the tolbooth in Dean Village. Leith, the port for Edinburgh had its own tolbooth, located on what is still called Tolbooth Wynd. The baronies of Broughton and Restalrig also had tolbooths.
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The tolbooth was occasionally a place of execution, and where victim's heads were displayed. The tolbooth may also have served as the guardhouse of the town guard. Other functions provided in various tolbooths included schoolrooms, weighhouses, storage of equipment and records, and entertainments.RCAHMS, p.
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The name 'Lawthorn' is suggestive of a secondary use as court hill or justice hill, which is the strong local oral tradition.Canmore - Lawthorn Mount The many 'Law Hills' in Scotland are considered to be ancient seats of justice where feudal justice was dispensed, investitures confirmed and other courts held before tolbooths were built.Mackenzie, W.C. (1931). Scottish Pace-Names.
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5Mair, p.46 The first record of a tolbooth is at Berwick upon Tweed in the later 13th century, and the earliest known grant of land for construction of a tolbooth is at Dundee in 1325, with many more grants recorded through the 14th century.RCAHMS, p.2 The oldest tolbooths which survive intact are those of Musselburgh (1590) and Canongate (1591).
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Burghs were created in Scotland from the 12th century. They had the right to hold markets and levy customs and tolls, and tolbooths were originally established for collection of these.Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), p.1 Royal burghs were governed by an elected council, led by a provost and baillies, who also acted as magistrates with jurisdiction over local crime.
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The tolbooth of Glasgow (1626) has been described as Scotland's "most remarkable civic building of the 17th century". Other Renaissance-style tolbooths were erected at Linlithgow (1668) and Kirkcaldy (1678). By the 18th century, the term "tolbooth" had become closely associated with prison, and the term "town house" became more common to denote the municipal buildings. Classical architectural styles were introduced, as at Dundee (1731) and Sanquhar (1739).
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The gates of the town, the tolbooths of Edinburgh and the Canongate, and other buildings were painted white with limewash, called "calk".Documents relative to the reception at Edinburgh of the Kings and Queens of Scotland: 1561–1650 (Edinburgh, 1822), pp. 16, 21. Householders along the route were asked to hang the external stairs with tapestry and "Arras works".Documents relative to the reception at Edinburgh of the Kings and Queens of Scotland: 1561–1650 (Edinburgh, 1822), pp. 22–23.
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On 17 July 1703 Gordon received a regular commission as captain of the Royal Mary a vessel of the Royal Scots Navy. Royal Mary was being rigged out at Leith in order to protect the east coast of Scotland against privateers or warships of the enemy. In May the following year, the Royal Mary captured a French privateer, the "Fox" of Dunkirk, and took her to Leith where her crew were incarcerated in the tolbooths of Leith and the Canongate. The prisoners were given an allowance for their sustenance.
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32 Royal Terrace, Edinburgh Thomas was the third son of Thomas Brown an architect/builder in Uphall, just south of Edinburgh and Janet Neil. Thomas trained first under Thomas Brown and then under William Burn in Edinburgh, and his early work show much stylistic influence from Burn. In 1837 he received a very prestigious appointment as architect to the Prison Board of Scotland, a newly formed board tasked with replacing many ancient and ruinous tolbooths and prisons with new and generally larger facilities, partly inspired by the hugely successful prison for Napoleonic prisoners of war at Perth, which was quickly converted to standard prison use after that war, and was held as an exemplar. He had a prestigious office at 3 North Charlotte Street, just off Charlotte Square.
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