Administration

The two symbols of the administration of any town were its mercat cross and its tolbooth. The mercat cross, the symbol of a town’s right to hold markets, seems to have lost its symbolic importance during the eighteenth century. Between about 1750 and the 1790s many crosses were removed because they were obstructing traffic. Some were demolished completely, others relocated, often on smaller bases, in a less obtrusive position. What we see today, however, is usually a late nineteenth or early twentieth century restoration, often on yet another site.

Photograph of mercat cross at Preston, E Lothian.

The mercat cross at Preston, East Lothian.
© SCRAN/Edinburgh College of Art


Early tolbooths were usually towers, housing in the basement or ground floor a cell for criminals, and above that a weigh house, a meeting room for town council and burgh court, and sometimes above that a drier and warmer cell for debtors. At the very top hung the town's bell. Many towns by the early to mid eighteenth century had added an adjacent building, usually with a large first floor room for the use of council and court, and sometimes for public entertainments.

Thumbnail photograph of model of Dundee town house.
Thumbnail of painting of Annan town house.
Thumbnail photograph of Inveraray town house.
Thumbnail photograph of Montrose town house.
Dundee, new town house, 1732-34.
© SCRAN/National Museums of Scotland
Annan, new town house, 1740 (steeple 1795).
© SCRAN/Dumfries & Galloway Council
Inveraray, new town house, 1754-57.
© SCRAN/RCAHMS
Montrose, new town house, 1762-64 (top storey added 1819).
© SCRAN/RCAHMS
Thumbnail photograph of Stranraer town house.
Thumbnail photograph of Peterhead town house.
Thumbnail photograph of Old Aberdeen town house.
Thumbnail photograph of Kelso town house.
Stranraer, new town house, 1776-77.
© SCRAN/RCAHMS
Peterhead, new town house, 1788.
© SCRAN/RCAHMS
Old Aberdeen, new town house, 1788-89.
© SCRAN/Nick Haynes
Kelso, new town house, 1816.
© SCRAN/RCAHMS


Almost every town in Scotland rebuilt its tolbooth sometime between 1700 and 1825. Some produced a completely new building, as in the case of Dundee, who commissioned the fashionable architect William Adam to design it. Others attached new town houses to the existing tolbooth tower. Some, such as Tain, chose to replace the old tower with a newer one, which provided a visual focus, as well as housing the town’s bell, and often a clock. Other towns built smart, elegant new town houses with no tower or spire.

Photograph of gallon measure from Dunbar.

 Photograph of set of weights from Dunbar.
Gallon measure made for the town of Dunbar in 1826.
© SCRAN/National Museums of Scotland
Set of weights made in London for the town of Dunbar in 1826, from 56 lbs down to 2 lb.
© SCRAN/National Museums of Scotland


Burghs were governed by town councils, usually self-perpetuating oligarchies, consisting mainly of members of the merchant guild (‘guildbrethren'). A minority of councillors represented the incorporated trades. In smaller towns, admission to these groups could be fairly flexible, and each burgh had a slightly different ‘sett’ or constitution. The council collected the towns’ rents, dispersed its income, and generally kept the town running. One role was providing standard weights and measures against which goods at markets could be checked.

Photograph of Irvine town drum.

Watercolour of an early Glasgow policeman.
Eighteenth century town drum from Irvine.
© SCRAN/North Ayrshire County Museums
Early nineteenth century watercolour of a member of the Glasgow Police Force, founded in 1800.
© SCRAN/Glasgow University Library


Most councils were reactive rather than proactive, and much eighteenth century development was carried out by individual entrepreneurs, whether acting in a private capacity or using their position on the council to achieve their ends. Day to day control was in the hands of the town officers. These were salaried posts, often given to former soldiers, or guildbrethren who had fallen on hard times, and might include specialists such as gaoler, bell-ringer, drummer or piper (fife, not bagpipes). The drummer led formal processions, and made official announcements through the town ‘by tuck of drum’, stopping at fixed points such as the cross and the church door to read out a proclamation or advertisement.

Town officers wore simple uniforms, and could serve as a sort of police force. There were also constables, with a range of duties, at first appointed for specific occasions, but gradually being employed on a more formal and permanent basis. It was the rapid development of towns, and the problems engendered by social dislocation and overcrowding, which led to the creation of our modern police force. After Glasgow, police forces were set up in Edinburgh in 1805, Perth in 1811, and Dundee in 1824.

Engraving of Calton Gaol, Edinburgh.

Engraving of Calton Gaol, Edinburgh, built in 1815-17 to replace the prison in the old tolbooth. It had 54 cells.
© SCRAN/Edinburgh City Libraries


Gradually dedicated prisons were beginning to be built, often part of the new town house, but increasingly on separate, out-of-town sites. These not only provided more cells than the old tolbooths, but more humane conditions. Also established in a few large towns were 'Bridewells’, prison-workhouses to accommodate and provide employment for the fit but vagrant poor. Edinburgh's Bridewell was established in 1797, and it was followed by Glasgow in 1798, Aberdeen in 1809 and Paisley in 1821. Some smaller towns wanted to establish Bridewells, or to buy places in existing ones, but were unable to raise the necessary money.

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