Peebles Town House

Peebles Town House
The building in 2017
Location	High Street, Peebles
Coordinates	55°39′06″N3°11′23″W / 55.6516°N 3.1898°W / 55.6516; -3.1898
Built	1753
Architectural style(s)	Neoclassical style
Listed Building – Category A
Official name	High Street, Town House
Designated	23 February 1971
Reference no.	LB39188
Shown in the Scottish Borders

Peebles Town House is a former municipal building in the High Street in Peebles, Scotland. The building, which was the meeting place of the burgh council in the 19th century but is now in retail use, is a Category A listed building. ^[1]

History

The first municipal building in the town was a medieval tolbooth which stood on the south side of the Eddleston Water near the Bridgegate and which dated back to the 15th century. ^{[2] [3]} By the early 17th century, the tollbooth was in a dilapidated state. ^[4] The second municipal building was a structure known as The Steeple which stood on the north side of the High Street adjacent to Cuddy Bridge and which was completed between 1488 and 1496: it served as the town jail and meeting place of the burgh council until the mid-18th century. ^{[5] [6]}

The site for the town house, the third municipal building, was on the south side of the High Street. It was designed in the neoclassical style, built in brick with cream harling and stone finishings and was completed in 1753. ^[7] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of three bays facing into the High Street. On the ground floor, there were pends with stone surrounds in the outer bays and there was a small square window with a stone surround in the central bay. The first floor was fenestrated by sash windows with stone surrounds and, at roof level there was a pediment above the central bay with the burgh coat of arms, in reverse, the tympanum. Internally, the principal room was the council chamber on the first floor. ^[1] A single-storey corn exchange was erected behind the town house in 1860, but its use declined significantly in the wake of the great depression of British agriculture in the late 19th century. ^[8]

The town house ceased to be the local seat of government when the burgh council acquired the Chambers Institution in 1911. ^{[9] [10]} The town house, with its two pends, was ideally placed for use as a fire station, ^[11] and it remained in that use until the fire service relocated to Caledonian Road in 1965. ^[12] The building was then converted for retail use: the right-hand pend has since been enclosed by glass and the space behind it is currently being used as a sweet shop, known as Mr McGeever's Sweet Store. ^[13]

See also

• List of listed buildings in Peebles, Scottish Borders
• List of Category A listed buildings in the Scottish Borders

References

1. Historic Environment Scotland. "High Street, Town House (Category A Listed Building) (LB39188)" . Retrieved 27 August 2024.
2. Historic Environment Scotland. "Peebles Tolbooth (74421)". Canmore . Retrieved 10 December 2021.
3. "The origins of settlements at Kelso and Peebles, Scottish Borders archaeological excavations in Wester and Easter Kelso and Cuddyside/Bridgegate, Peebles". Border Burghs Archaeology Project and the Scottish Urban Archaeological Trust. 2003. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
4. Chambers, William (1864). A History of Peeblesshire (PDF). William and Robert Chambers. p. 125. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
5. "Bank House". Scotland Starts Here. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
6. Gourlay, Robert; Turner, Anne (1977). "Historic Peebles, the archaeological implications of development" (PDF). Scottish Burgh Survey, Department of Archaeology, University of Glasgow. p. 7. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
7. Hanson, Liz (2017). Secret Peebles. Amberley Publishing. ISBN   978-1445659251 . Retrieved 28 August 2024.
8. Fletcher, T. W. (1973). 'The Great Depression of English Agriculture 1873–1896' in British Agriculture 1875–1914. London: Methuen. p. 31. ISBN   9781136581182 . Retrieved 28 August 2024.
9. "No. 12304". The Edinburgh Gazette . 22 November 1910. p. 1247.
10. "Chambers Institution Peebles Order Confirmation Bill". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) . 1 June 1911. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
11. Historic Environment Scotland. "Peebles, High Street, Town House (51484)". Canmore . Retrieved 27 August 2024.
12. Kirkwood, Graham. "Peebles". graemekirkwood.co.uk. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
13. "Mr McGeever's Sweet Store". Nice Local. Retrieved 27 August 2024.