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  Location in Aberdeen City council area | |
| Location | Aberdeen |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 57°08′53″N2°05′39″W / 57.1480°N 2.0942°W |
| Type | Prison Museum |
| Website | Museum Website |
The Tolbooth in Aberdeen, Scotland is a 17th-century former jail which is now operated as a museum. The museum contains prison cells and exhibits various police and law and order related items. [1] The building has been featured on popular television as the setting for a ghostlore story.
Considered one of the oldest buildings in Aberdeen, the tolbooth was built between 1616 and 1629 [2] and is attached to Aberdeen Town House on the city centre's Union Street. [3] In the mid-16th century, Aberdeen commissioned its first guillotine for executing criminals there. [3] This device is on display at the museum for the public to view. [4]
In around 1630, Marion Hardie from Elgin was arrested for practicing witchcraft, incarcerated in the tolbooth and then strangled and burnt in front of the public outside the tolbooth. [3] By 1703, witchcraft was no longer a crime, but by then many of the 45 women and 2 men accused of it in the area had been executed. [3] [5]
In 1686, a market cross was built in front of the tolbooth. It was restored in 1821 and then moved to its present site in 1827. [6]
During the Jacobite rising of 1715, many local people announced their support for James Francis Edward Stuart as the true King of Scotland in front of the tolbooth, [3] and after the Jacobite rising of 1745 and subsequent defeat at the Battle of Culloden, the tolbooth accommodated over 96 Jacobite prisoners while they awaited trial. [3]
In the 18th century, Aberdeen merchants and magistrates imprisoned many local children in the tolbooth and other buildings around the city before transporting them to America to work as slaves. These children were supposed to have been street children with nobody looking after them, although some were said to have been snatched when out playing. [3]
Aberdeen City Council took over the former jail and opened it to the public in 1995. [7] A paranormal investigation team visited the building as part of the Most Haunted TV series in April 2009: the episode aired in December 2009. [3] In 2016, the museum celebrated its 400th anniversary. [8]
Visitors can see the prison cells with their original barred windows and doors, [9] and the guillotine which was used to execute convicted prisoners. [10] There is a cell known as the Jacobite cell where visitors can experience an interactive model of Willie Baird, a prisoner in 1746, sitting next to his Jacobite compatriots, James Innes and Alexander Annand, and telling visitors about his life, while they await trial and sentencing. [11]
Aberdeenshire is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland.
Newgate Prison was a prison at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey Street just inside the City of London, England, originally at the site of Newgate, a gate in the Roman London Wall. Built in the 12th century and demolished in 1904, the prison was extended and rebuilt many times, and remained in use for over 700 years, from 1188 to 1902.
Kilmainham Gaol is a former prison in Kilmainham, Dublin, Ireland. It is now a museum run by the Office of Public Works, an agency of the Government of Ireland. Many Irish revolutionaries, including the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising, were imprisoned and executed in the prison by the orders of the UK Government.
The Old Melbourne Gaol is a former jail and current museum on Russell Street, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It consists of a bluestone building and courtyard, and is located next to the old City Police Watch House and City Courts buildings, and opposite the Russell Street Police Headquarters. It was first constructed starting in 1839, and during its operation as a prison between 1845 and 1924, it held and executed some of Australia's most notorious criminals, including bushranger Ned Kelly and serial killer Frederick Bailey Deeming. In total, 133 people were executed by hanging. Though it was used briefly during World War II, it formally ceased operating as a prison in 1924; with parts of the jail being incorporated into the RMIT University, and the rest becoming a museum.
Boggo Road Gaol in Brisbane, Australia, was Queensland’s main prison from the 1880s to the 1980s. By the time it closed, it had become notorious for poor conditions and rioting. Located on Annerley Road in Dutton Park, an inner southern suburb of Brisbane, it is the only surviving intact gaol in Queensland that reflects penological principles of the 19th century. After closing in 1992, the larger 1960s section was demolished, leaving the heritage listed section.
The Constitution Hill precinct is located at 11 Kotze Street in Braamfontein, Johannesburg near the western end of the suburb of Hillbrow. Constitution Hill is the seat of the Constitutional Court of South Africa.
The Maitland Gaol, also known as Maitland Correctional Centre, is a heritage-listed former Australian prison located in East Maitland, New South Wales. Its construction was started in 1844 and prisoners first entered the gaol in 1848. By the time of its closure, on 31 January 1998, it had become the longest continuously-run gaol in Australia. It has since been turned into a museum and is a popular tourist attraction. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
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The Stonehaven Tolbooth is a late 16th-century stone building originally used as a courthouse and a prison in the town of Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Constructed of local Old Red Sandstone, the prison probably attained its greatest note, when three local Episcopalian clergymen were imprisoned for holding services for more than nine people. Lying midway along the old north quay of the Stonehaven Harbour, the present day Tolbooth serves as a local museum with a restaurant on the floor above the ground floor. It is a category A listed building.
Aberdeen Maritime Museum is a maritime museum in Aberdeen, Scotland.
A tolbooth or town house was the main municipal building of a Scottish burgh, from medieval times until the 19th century. The tolbooth usually provided a council meeting chamber, a court house and a jail. The tolbooth was one of three essential features in a Scottish burgh, along with the mercat cross and the kirk (church).
Kirkcudbright Tolbooth is a historic municipal building in Kirkcudbright in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Built between 1627 and 1629 to serve the town as a centre of commercial administration, a meeting place for the council, and a prison, it was used for all these roles until the late eighteenth century when the council moved much of its business to new, larger premises they had constructed across the street; the tolbooth remained in use as a prison until the early nineteenth century, after which it remained in council ownership and was put to a variety of uses.
Inverurie Town Hall is a municipal building in the Market Place in Inverurie, Scotland. The structure, which served as the meeting place of Inverurie Burgh Council, is a Category B listed building.
Banff Town House is a municipal building in Low Street, Banff, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The building, which is used as a customer service point and job centre, forms part of a complex consisting of a steeple, completed in 1767, which is a Category A listed building, and a town house, completed in 1797, which is also a Category A listed building.
Culross Town House, also known as Culross Tolbooth, is a municipal structure in the Sandhaven area of Culross, Fife, Scotland. The building, which now serves as a visitor centre, is Category A listed.
Kintore Town House is a municipal structure in The Square, Kintore, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The structure, which is used as commercial offices, is a Category A listed building.
Inverbervie Town House is a municipal structure in Church Street in Inverbervie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The structure, which is primarily used as a public library, is a Category B listed building.
Brechin Town House is a municipal structure in the High Street in Brechin, Angus, Scotland. The structure, which is now used as a museum, is a Category B listed building.
Lauder Town Hall is a municipal structure in the Market Place in Lauder, Scottish Borders, Scotland. The structure, which is used as the local registrar's office and as a venue for weddings and civil partnership ceremonies, is a Category B listed building.
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