The first tolbooth in the town, referred to as the "Steeple of Inverness" dated back to at least 1593. After a new stone bridge was built across the
River Ness in 1685, prison cells were accommodated in the
spandrels of the bridge and offices for civic officials were accommodated in the East Gatehouse to the bridge, leaving the old tolbooth underutilised. The tolbooth was rebuilt in 1690 and benefited from its clock being repaired by Thomas Kilgour in 1692. Although repairs were carried out in 1732, the tolbooth was described as very dilapidated and in need of replacement by 1786. Construction work on a new tolbooth, on the northwest side of Bridge Street, started in April 1789. It was designed by
Alexander Laing in the
neoclassical style, built by John Symens and William MacDonald in
ashlar stone at a cost of £1,497 and was completed in May 1791. The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage, consisting of a courtroom block and a seven-stage tower, facing onto the High Street. In relation to the tower, there were three round headed openings in the first stage, a blind
Venetian window in the second stage, a round headed window breaking into an open
pediment in the third stage, rounded headed openings with
louvres flanked by pairs of
pilasters supporting an
entablature with
triglyphs in the fourth stage, clock faces in the fifth stage, an
octagonal
belfry in the sixth stage, and an octagonal platform in the seventh stage, all surmounted by a
spire and a
weather vane. The local
member of parliament,
Sir Hector Munro, contributed £105 towards the cost of the clock. The clock was designed and manufactured by James Bridges of
Glasgow and the hour and quarters were struck on a set of three bells, with a "ting-tang" for the quarters. Internally, the principal rooms were a courtroom, which was long and wide, four prison cells, a guardroom, a jury room and a witness room. In 1814, during clearances at
Strathnaver, the factor to the Sutherland Estate,
Patrick Sellar, was accused of culpable homicide and arson, after the mother-in-law of a tenant farmer had her cottage set alight, and she subsequently died. Sellar was found not guilty, but a plaque on the building records the firm belief of the tenant farmers that he was guilty. The spire, at the top of the tower, was damaged by an earth tremor on 13 August 1816, but was fully restored by 1828. After new courthouse and prison blocks were erected at
Inverness Castle in 1836 and 1848 respectively, the tolbooth became redundant. After becoming dilapidated, the courthouse block was demolished in 1853, and was replaced by a row of shops, which were built adjoining the surviving tower. The lower levels of the tower were converted for retail use and are currently occupied by a business selling historical and heraldic gifts, known as "Hall of Names". ==See also==