The Canongate Tolbooth

Category

Library Item

Item no

18677

Title

The Canongate Tolbooth

Description

The Canongate Tolbooth has a tower with a turret and a clock. People walk along the street, a horse drawn carriage makes its way along the road.

Artist / maker

Shepherd, Thomas Hosmer

Date

1829

Size

9.8 x 6.8 cm

Type

Engraving

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

This image comes from 'Modern Athens', a book of engravings based on drawings by Thomas Shepherd published in 1829. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries Edinburgh was growing rapidly. The popular neoclassical architectural style of the time was inspired by the ancient Greeks and Romans, and Edinburgh was nicknamed 'Athens of the North'. Shepherd's engravings celebrate the beauty of Edinburgh and show many notable buildings and streets both within the city, and further afield.

The Canongate Tolbooth, built in 1591, is the oldest remaining building in the Canongate. It was the administrative centre and prison for the old burgh of Canongate, originally separate from Edinburgh. It is now home to the People's Story Museum.

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Related subjects

Architecture > Architectural features > Clocks and clock towers

Architecture > Architectural features > Doors and doorways

Architecture > Architectural features > Turrets

Architecture > Architectural features > Windows

Business > Service industry > Shops

Government > Local > Tolbooths

People > Adults > Men

People > Adults > Women

Places > Edinburgh areas > Canongate

Places > Edinburgh areas > Old Town

Places > Edinburgh Landmarks > Canongate Tolbooth

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

Transport > Land > Horse and carriages

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