Showing posts with label Tolbooth Wynd. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tolbooth Wynd. Show all posts

Tuesday, 28 March 2023

Skulferatu #93 - Tolbooth Wynd, Leith, Edinburgh


You may not guess it from walking down this street, what with the Brutalist flats of Linksview House dominating it, but Tolbooth Wynd is one of the oldest streets in Leith and was once described as being one of the most picturesque in the area.  In the early thirteenth century the first houses built in Leith were built upon the land that now stands between Tolbooth Wynd and The Shore.

 

A photo of a view down a cobbled street - Tolbooth Wynd.  There are three black bollards in the foreground and on the left hand side stands a large and ugly grey concrete block of flats - this is Linksview House.  buildingPhotograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
View of Tolbooth Wynd by Linksview House

 

A photo showing Linksview House, a large concrete block of flats in the Brutalist style.  The building is a grey that melds into the grey skies above.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Linksview House on Tolbooth Wynd

 

A photo showing a junction of roads with one road heading off straight ahead - Tolbooth Wynd.  On the road is a cyclist and on the left there are some old stone buildings with a cage on the ground floor.  On the right are some red brick low level flats and behind them is the grey concrete structure of Linksview House.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
View from The Shore looking towards Tolbooth Wynd

 

A view up Tolbooth Wynd showing old stone tenement type buildings on the left with a row of trees behind them.  On the right is a block of low level red brick flats and behind them is the grey concrete structure of Linksview House.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
View of Tolbooth Wynd from The Shore

 

A view down the cobbled street of Tolbooth Wynd with the red brick flats on the right and some old style buildings in the background.  On the left is a low level stone wall and a row of trees.   Numerous cars are parked on the street.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
View down Tolbooth Wynd towards The Shore

 

Tolbooth Wynd takes its name from the fact that about half way down the street there used to stand the Old Tolbooth, a building that served as a meeting chamber, courthouse, a jail and occasionally, accommodation for soldiers stationed at Leith.  The Tolbooth was built in 1565 and was in use for nearly two hundred and fifty years, before falling into disrepair.  It was then proposed that it should be demolished and a new court house and prison built in its place. There was a campaign, led by Walter Scott, to preserve the façade of the building, but this was ‘cavalierly dismissed’ by the Lord Provost and the building was demolished in 1825.  The new building only functioned as a courthouse for a few years before being converted into shops and offices.

 

A drawing of the Old Tolbooth building that once stood on Tolbooth Wynd.  It looks a bit like a castle with battlements at the top.  The windows of the building appear to have stone of metal grills.  There is a stairway leading up to the main entrance.  On the right hand side is a smaller building with signage stating that it is a candle shop.
The Old Tolbooth - from ‘Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time’

 

The Tolbooth housed many prisoners in its time, though not that many of note, as most of the more infamous criminals ended up in the Tolbooth at Edinburgh.  Probably the most distinguished prisoner who had the misfortune to reside there was William Maitland of Lethington.  He was the Secretary of State to Mary Queen of Scots and was imprisoned in the Leith Tolbooth in 1573 by the Regent Morton.  Fearing he would face the humiliation and cruelty of a public execution, he took a dose of poison and died in his cell.  It was said that his corpse was left lying in his cell for so long that it was partially eaten by the numerous rats that infested the building.  So, you can probably imagine that it was not the healthiest place to serve out any time as a prisoner.  On a lighter note, another of those imprisoned within the Tolbooth was a rather hapless thief.  In 1763 a sailor arrived in Leith on a ship from London and went for a few ales in one of the local taverns.  While there he boasted to his new found companions that he had made some money while away and had a chest on board the ship with over £200 in it.  This boast was overheard by a local ne'er-do-well who saw a way of making some quick money.  He disguised himself as a porter and went to the ship where he told the crew that he had been sent by the sailor to collect the chest.  The unsuspecting crew handed the chest over to him.  However, the thief, being unused to ships, slipped on the plank leading down to the dock and fell into the sea, along with the chest.  A host of people quickly gathered around to rescue the poor man, including the owner of the chest, who was shocked to see that it was his own chest that was fished out of the water along with the would be thief. The thief, still dripping wet and half drowned, was quickly marched along to the Tolbooth, and locked up in a cell.

 

At the eastern end of Tolbooth Wynd there stood for many years a signal tower looking out over the Forth.  It was said to be of a sturdy design, much like an old fort.   It had portholes at the top like those often designed for firing muskets out of, but that were actually for the local merchants to look out from and watch as their ships sailed off from, or returned to, the harbour.

 

A drawing of the signal tower that once stood on Tolbooth Wynd.  It is an impressive looking tower that stands above the other buildings on the street.
Signal Tower at Tolbooth Wynd - from ‘Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time’

 

Like any old street, Tolbooth Wynd has a ghost story attached to it.  Not to be outdone by other tales of headless horsemen and the suchlike, it was said that on stormy nights at midnight, a coach could be heard thundering down the street.  Anyone brave enough to peek out through their window as it passed would see a funereal looking coach tearing down along the cobbled street, driven by a tall, gaunt man, dressed all in black and without a head, and drawn by six black horses who were all also headless.  Through the coach window, it was said you could glimpse a mysterious woman sitting inside, her face covered by a black veil. 

 

Around midnight, during a foggy and cold night a few years ago, I was making my way back home from a local pub and walked up along Tolbooth Wynd.  There I heard a terrible rumbling and screeching.  On looking up and fully expecting to see the dreaded ghostly coach approaching, I instead saw a demonic like figure on an off road motorbike tearing down the road.  He wasn’t headless but rather had his head hidden in the depths of a grey hoodie.  With blue lights flashing and sirens wailing like a screaming banshee, a ghostly police car was in hot pursuit behind him.  They were soon lost in the swirling darkness of the night, like an apparition of old, and I continued my slightly inebriated stumble home.

 

A large part of Tolbooth Wynd was demolished and rebuilt in the 1880s.  During the slum clearances in Leith during the 1950s and 1960s much of it was again demolished and replaced with a housing scheme and the Linksview House tower block.  In 2017 Linksview House became a listed building with Category A Status, being seen as an important example of Brutalist architecture.

 

A drawing of how Tolbooth Wynd looked prior to the 1880s - it shows a street with tall tenement blocks on either side.  the street is cobbled and there are various people walking up and down it.
Tolbooth Wynd – from ‘Old and New Edinburgh’

 

A photo postcard of Tolbooth Wynd from around 1900.  It shows a street mainly of two and three storey houses with shops on the ground floor.  The building on the right appears to be a pub.  The street is full of people who are mainly facing the camera.
Tolbooth Wynd, Leith, circa 1900 – from a postcard by Valentine & Sons

 

A photo of Linksview House from the nearby park on Tolbooth Wynd.  It is a grey concrete block of flats built in the Brutalist style.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Linksview House, Tolbooth Wynd

 

Today, in the not so cold light of day, I took a walk around Leith and through Tolbooth Wynd.  In a gap in a crumbly, stone wall by the small park there, I left the Skulferatu that had accompanied me on my walk.

 

A photo of a small, ceramic skull (Skulferatu #93) being held up.  In the background is the street of Tolbooth Wynd.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #93

 

A photo of a small, ceramic skull (Skulferatu #93) lying in a gap in a wall, there are some dead leaves and twigs in the gap along with the Skulferatu.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #93 in a gap in the wall at Tolbooth Wynd

 

TomTom Map showing location of Skulferatu #93
Map showing location of Skulferatu #93

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

 

Latitude 55.974437

Longitude -3.171031

 

what3words: riches.moons.clear

 

I used the following sources for information on Tolbooth Wynd –

 

Historical Notes Concerning Leith and its Antiquities, Volume 1

By James Campbell Irons M.A.

1897

 

Cassell’s Old and New Edinburgh, Vol 3

By James Grant

1883

 

Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time, Vol 2

By Daniel Wilson

1891

 

 

Historic Environment Scotland

Iconic Leith flats recognised at highest listing category