Tolbooth, 60 High Street, Kirkcudbright is a Grade A listed building in the Dumfries and Galloway local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 4 November 1971. Tolbooth, market cross, well. 1 related planning application.
Tolbooth, 60 High Street, Kirkcudbright
- WRENN ID
- ragged-rampart-storm
- Grade
- A
- Local Planning Authority
- Dumfries and Galloway
- Constituency
- Dumfries and Galloway MP: John Cooper (Con)
- Country
- Scotland
- Date first listed
- 4 November 1971
- Type
- Tolbooth, market cross, well
- Address
- Tolbooth, 60 High Street, Kirkcudbright, DG6 4JL
- OS grid reference
- NX 680 508
- Coordinates
- 54.83546, -4.05571
- Source
- Historic Environment Scotland listing
Description
The Tolbooth, located at 60 High Street in Kirkcudbright, was built around 1580 and has undergone repairs and alterations in 1591, 1625, and 1751. It is a long three-storey building featuring a tower at the eastern end. The structure is constructed from rubble with some red sandstone dressings, and it has irregular door and window openings from various periods. In the centre of the three-storey range, there are remains of a roll-moulded arch that is now blocked, with a plaque above it engraved with 'Royal burgh of kircudbrightshire 1455-1755'. The upper floor has narrow slit lights that were originally used as a gaol.
The two-stage tower includes a forestair, with a door at the top that has much weathered, roll-moulded reveals, and a blocked window above. The second stage features a set-off with one blocked window, a clock, and a louvered belfry opening with a pointed head. The tower is topped with a machicolated parapet adorned with pyramidal finials and a circular stone spire. A weathervane in the shape of a fully rigged ship model commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar of 1805.
Additionally, the Market Cross, erected in 1610, features a common 17th-century design with a square plinth, a chamfered shaft, scrolls, and a triangular carved capstone. The Well has two sun heads in lead spouts, and above it is a plaque in a bolection moulded frame inscribed: "This Fount - non Riches - Life supplies, Art gives what Nature Here Denies, Posterity Must surely Bliss, St Cuthbert's sons who purchased this." Water was introduced on 23 March 1762, and the table was renewed in 1840 and again in 1865.
Local climate
Tolbooth, 60 High Street, Kirkcudbright sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 1,380 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 97% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 99% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 14 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 86% of listed buildings. Of these, 6 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.2°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
Sign in or create a free account to unlock:
- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 1 application
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
Similar buildings
The closest matches to this building from all 493,000 UK listed buildings, by architecture, period and materials.
this building 1 similar nearby listed buildings
Nearby listed buildings
- Mercat Cross, High Street, Kirkcudbright
- The Anchorage, 60 High Street, Kirkcudbright
- 62 High Street, Kirkcudbright
- 66 High Street, Kirkcudbright
- The Rectory, 54, 56 High Street, Kirkcudbright
- 68 High Street, Kirkcudbright
- 52 High Street, Kirkcudbright
- 67A-67B High Street, Kirkcudbright
- 70 High Street, Kirkcudbright
- 63 High Street, Kirkcudbright