Crail Tolbooth and Town Hall

Crail Tolbooth and Town Hall is a municipal structure in Crail, Fife, Scotland. The building, which stands in Marketgate, at its junction with Tolbooth Wynd, is Category A listed.[1]

Crail Tolbooth and Town Hall
The building in 2013
LocationMarketgate, Crail, Fife
Coordinates56.2609°N 2.6261°W / 56.2609; -2.6261
Built16th century (tolbooth tower)
1776 (upper stages, bell tower)
1814 (town hall building)
Architectural style(s)Scottish medieval style
Listed Building – Category A
Official nameThe Tolbooth and Town Hall, Marketgate
Designated9 May 1972
Reference no.LB23287
Crail Tolbooth and Town Hall is located in Fife
Crail Tolbooth and Town Hall
Shown in Fife
Crail Tolbooth and Town Hall is located in Scotland
Crail Tolbooth and Town Hall
Crail Tolbooth and Town Hall (Scotland)

History

The structure was developed in two discrete sections, the tolbooth and the town hall. The earlier section, the tolbooth, was designed in the Scottish medieval style, built in rubble masonry and was completed in the 16th century.[2][3][4] The design involved a main frontage of a single bay facing Marketgate; there was a doorway with a hood mould on the ground floor; the oculus above the doorway, the upper stages of the structure and the slated pagoda-style bell tower all followed in 1776.[1] A bell, cast in Rotterdam in the 16th century, was installed in the bell tower.[5] A weather vane was installed at the top of the bell tower: it took the form of a haddock (known locally as a Crail Capon) rather than the traditional cockerel form.[6][7]

An earlier iteration of the town hall section was erected in 1602 and replaced, to a design by John Corstorphine (1759–1826), in 1814.[1] The design involved a main frontage of four bays facing Marketgate; the building was fenestrated with four standard sash windows on the ground floor and two tall sash windows in the first and third bays from the left on the first floor. The principal room was the council chamber of the Royal Borough of Crail on the first floor.[8] Internal modifications to the structure, including work to the main doorway, were undertaken by John Currie (1839–1922) of Elie in 1886.[9]

The building continued to serve as the headquarters of the burgh council for much of the 20th century,[10] but ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlarged North East Fife District Council was formed in 1975.[11] However, the town hall, instead, became the meeting place of the Royal Burgh of Crail and District Community Council.[12] The public library, which had been based in the town hall, closed as part of a broader programme of library closures, in 2016.[13][14][15] The Lord Lyon King of Arms, Joseph Morrow, passed the front of the town hall on his way to Crail Market Cross, just to the north of the building, where he proclaimed the granting of a coat of arms to the community council in May 2019.[16]

See also

References
  1. Historic Environment Scotland. "The Tolbooth and Town Hall, Marketgate (LB23287)". Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  2. Historic Environment Scotland. "Crail, Marketgate, Tolbooth And Town Hall (70942)". Canmore. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  3. Glendinning, Miles (2019). The History of Scottish Architecture. Edinburgh University Press. p. 65. ISBN 978-1474468503.
  4. "Crail Tolbooth". Gazetteer of Scotland. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  5. Gillon, Jack (2015). East Neuk of Fife Through Time. Amberley Publishing. ISBN 978-1445653501.
  6. Edwards, Brian (1986). Scottish Seaside Towns. BBC Books. p. 61. ISBN 978-0563204527.
  7. Crofton, Ian (2012). A Dictionary of Scottish Phrase and Fable. Birlinn. ISBN 978-0857906373.
  8. MacGibbon, David; Ross, Thomas (1887). The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland from the Twelfth to the Eighteenth Century. Vol. 5. Edinburgh: David Douglas.
  9. "Crail Town Hall". Dictionary of Scottish Architects. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  10. "No. 19155". The Edinburgh Gazette. 21 November 1972. p. 1048.
  11. "Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973". Legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  12. "Town Council Meeting". The Royal Burgh of Crail and District Community Council. 31 January 2022. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  13. "Villagers urged to come together to save library". Fife Today. 25 June 2016. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  14. "Councillors agree to close 16 Fife libraries". BBC. 8 December 2015. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  15. "Royal Burgh of Crail and District Community Council Notes" (PDF). Crail Matters. 1 May 2017. p. 8. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  16. "Crail presented with 'very important' coat of arms". The Courier. 21 May 2019. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
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