Tolbooth And Town Hall, 14 Victoria Street, Dysart

The Tolbooth and Town Hall, located at 14 Victoria Street, Dysart, is a building of considerable historical and architectural significance, reflecting multiple phases of construction and adaptation. The original tolbooth tower dates from 1576, with a forestair added in 1617. A significant rebuilding of the upper stages and belfry occurred between 1743 and 1744. In 1885, a Town Hall designed by Campbell Douglas and Sellars was added, incorporating the existing tower.

The original tower is a four-stage structure with a rectangular plan and a distinctive ogee-roofed octagonal belfry. The exterior is largely harled with irregular stone quoins and stepped string courses to the lower stages, transitioning to quoin strips and a band course on the third stage. The belfry is constructed of ashlar. Notable features include a base course, cavetto cornice, stone clock faces set within segmental open pediments that break the cornice, and round-headed keystoned openings to the belfry. The High Street elevation displays a small timber door and windows on the first stage, a datestone above a window, a glazed oculus on the third stage, and a round stair tower with narrow windows. A forestair leads to a high-level timber door on the west elevation, while the east elevation adjoins a separately listed building. The octagonal belfry sits atop the tower, featuring louvered openings, a cavetto cornice, a stone ogee roof, and a weathervane finial.

The Town Hall addition, facing Victoria Street, is characterized by three symmetrical bays. A transomed window, originally a doorway, is centrally located on the ground floor, flanked by bipartite windows. A blocked window and a moulded panel bearing a shield and stylized tree are visible on the side of the forestair. The first floor features three tall windows and a two-leaf boarded timber door on the return. The building is finished with a deep blocking course and a piended roof on the left and a gable on the right, connecting to an irregular terrace.

The tolbooth’s windows are barred. The Town Hall features timber sash and case windows with six-pane glazing. A coped ashlar stack is visible.

The interior of the original tolbooth tower is accessed via a door on the north (High Street) side, with the south side blocked off. The first stage and upper levels are vaulted, with a stair turret in the northeast angle and a shaft for clock weights in the northwest. Iron gates provide access to the upper stages, featuring an inner wooden door at the top. A bell dating from 1876 is housed in the belfry. The Town Hall portion includes a decorative plasterwork ceiling, a boarded timber dado with a panelled frieze, a timber fireplace with a corniced mantel, panelled soffits, and a round-headed arch with a scroll-pedimented panel. A Magistrate’s Room is located off the main area.