St.Giles Church, Old Tolbooth and the Lawnmarket

Category

Library Item

Item no

622

Title

St.Giles Church, Old Tolbooth and the Lawnmarket

Description

A busy street scene in the High Street, Edinburgh.To the left is the entrance to St. Giles Kirk which features large arched windows. The tall building in the centre is the Old Tolbooth. The road leads off into the Lawnmarket and the fortifications of Edinburgh Castle can be seen in the background. In the foreground a man stands beside a horse and a two wheeled cart. Horses pull a canon along the road whilst a soldier sits on horseback. Smoke rises from chimneys on some of the buildings.

Artist / maker

Skene, James

Date

1817

Size

19 x 24 cm

Type

Watercolour

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

The High Kirk of St Giles, sometimes known as St Giles Cathedral, stands towards the western end of the High Street. According to one version, St Giles was a 7th century Greek born contemplative, who founded a monastery in the Languedoc. The hind which now forms part of Edinburgh's coat of arms is associated with his story. A church has stood on the present site since the reign of David 1, but little remains of the original structure. Grant (1) writes of a beautiful Norman archway which was "wantonly" destroyed towards the end of the 18th century. The church was badly damaged during the Scottish wars of independence. In 1385, it was reputedly destroyed by an English army which had occupied the city for four and a half days. In 1466, St Giles became a collegiate church. Additional buildings connected with the church community - anticipating the celebrated Luckenbooths- were built to the north of St Giles. John Knox, the notable protestant reformer was minister from 1560 until his death in 1572. In the 17th century, St Giles was at the centre of religious controversy as Charles 1 attempted to impose a new prayer book - and episcopalianism - on Scotland. Famously, Jenny Geddes, an Edinburgh fish wife was so outraged by the new prayer book that she hurled her wooden stool at the preacher. When the kirk was restored in 1829, James Skene was concerned that repair work would lead to ancient graves being relocated. Ever the antiquarian, he "took the precaution to design that all that was remarkable, having been submitted to be locked in the church for the space of the day for that purpose"(2) .

The Tolbooth or town prison, know familiarly as "Old Grippy" or the "Heart of Midlothian", amongst other names, was located to the west of St Giles. It had formerly been the house of the priest in charge of the collegiate church of St Giles and was rebuilt in 1501. It had various uses - including court house and Parliament House - before, in 1640, becoming solely prison house. Skene writes (3) of a built up doorway above street level on the northern side of the Tolbooth (visible in the drawing) which was linked by means of a connecting bridge to a doorway at the same level on the opposite of the street. Before it was demolished in September 1817, a fascinated James Skene paid a visit to the Tolbooth: "The so called condemned cell made one shudder to look upon, with a long and thick iron bar riveted to the floor, to which the prisoner, being attached by a ring, was enabled to move from one end of the bar to the other. But the most remarkable of the very scanty furniture of these apartments was the prison of the prison, a great cage of massive oak where the unruly were immersed, or those who had committed trespasses within the prison, in which there was but scanty head room and still more scanty light"(4) .
(1) Grant, James, Old and New Edinburgh, 1880, Edinburgh, Vol. 1, 39
(2) Skene, James, Reekiana, 1836, Edinburgh Central Library Archive,84
(3) Skene, Reekiana, 79
(4) Skene, 80

Exhibitions with this item

Other views of this item

Related images

Related subjects

Government > Local > Tolbooths

Homes > Residential buildings > Castles and palaces

People > Military activities > Soldiers

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

Religion > Religious facilities > Cathedrals

Religion > Religious facilities > Protestant churches

Transport > Land > Horse and carts

Option	Price
Digital FileElectronic file 72 dpi JPEG	£7.32(inc. VAT 20%)
Digital FileElectronic File 300 dpi TIFF	£37.20(inc. VAT 20%)
You can view and use digital images for personal and educational use. For more information, read our policy on image use. If you wish to use our images for commercial use, please contact us.