Tolbooth Steeple, High Street, Glasgow is a Grade A listed building in the Glasgow City local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 6 July 1966. Tower. 2 related planning applications.

Tolbooth Steeple, High Street, Glasgow

WRENN ID
upper-spire-raven
Grade
A
Local Planning Authority
Glasgow City
Constituency
Glasgow East MP: John Grady (Lab)
Country
Scotland
Date first listed
6 July 1966
Type
Tower
Address
Tolbooth Steeple, High Street, Glasgow, G1 1LX
OS grid reference
NS 596 649
Coordinates
55.85681, -4.24364
Source
Historic Environment Scotland listing

Also on this page: related consents · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Tolbooth Steeple is a tall tower from the early 17th century and is the only remaining part of Glasgow's Tolbooth, which was built between 1626 and 1634 by architect and Master of Works John Boyd. The Tolbooth was demolished in 1921. This seven-stage square tower features an open crown spire and is constructed of ashlar stone with raised buckle-quoins. There are moulded string courses between the stages. The steeple once connected to the Tolbooth on the west side. The ground-level doors, which are roll-moulded and architraved, were added in the 20th century. Each face of the upper stages, except for the west side, has roll-moulded windows adorned with decorative strapwork pediments. The seventh stage includes square clock faces. The tower has a corbelled parapet with projecting square-section bartizans, from which flying buttresses rise to support the crown steeple topped with a gilded weathervane.

Local climate

Tolbooth Steeple, High Street, Glasgow sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 1,250 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 93% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 80% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 58 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 97% of listed buildings. Of these, 34 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

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  • No EPC on record for this property
  • No sale records on file
  • Related listed building consents — 2 applications
  • 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
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