The Tholsel was an important building in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

which combined the function of civic hall, guildhall, court, gaol and even for a period acted as parliament house from 1641-48. In its final form, it was located on

Skinners Row Christchurch Place () is a street in central Dublin, Ireland, formerly known as Skinners Row or Skinner's Row, it formed one of the main thoroughfares in medieval Dublin. History The street runs along the southern edge of Christ Church Cath ...

within the old city walls of Dublin, Ireland. It existed in various forms from after the

Norman invasion of Ireland The Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland took place during the late 12th century, when Anglo-Normans gradually conquered and acquired large swathes of land in Ireland over which the monarchs of England then claimed sovereignty. The Anglo-Normans ...

until it was finally demolished around 1809 and was one of the most important and imposing buildings in medieval Dublin. It was a secular and commercial focal point within the city walls situated at a major crossroads close to Dublin Castle, St Patrick's Cathedral and Christchurch Cathedral. It was the one of several tholsels which were constructed in the major cities and towns of medieval Ireland and the Dublin tholsel also housed the first public clock in Ireland on its tower from 1466.

History

Early history

There are mentions of the

tholsel Tholsel was a name traditionally used for a local municipal and administrative building used to collect tolls and taxes and to administer trade and other documents in Irish towns and cities. It was at one stage one of the most important secular ...

as far back as 1311 being called the 'new' tholsel, indicating that an earlier building had been constructed. In 1343, the tholsel was again mentioned when there was a charter granted by

Edward III Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring royal authority after t ...

which set an exemption from the portion of tolls due to the King so that the burghers of the city could repair the building. In 1395, Gerardus Van Raes was appointed keeper of the Dublin Tholsel for life. He was granted the keep of both the upper and lower gaol in that tholsel indicating an increasing number of prisoners. The upper keep was usually reserved for debtors while the lower keep was for felons and more serious criminals. In 1590, Archbishop of Dublin Adam Loftus addressed the lord mayor and Corporation of Dublin at the tholsel and requested the use of the old Priory of All Hallows to establish a university. He was granted permission and two years later he established

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

on the site. In 1597, the condition of the building, already weakened by a great cleft in the eastern flank, deteriorated under the force of the

Dublin gunpowder explosion The Dublin gunpowder explosion was a large explosion that took place on the quays of Dublin on 11 March 1597. The explosion demolished as many as forty houses, and left dozens of others badly damaged. The explosion claimed the lives of 126 peopl ...

. From 1641-48 the

Parliament of Ireland The Parliament of Ireland () was the legislature of the Lordship of Ireland, and later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1297 until the end of 1800. It was modelled on the Parliament of England and from 1537 comprised two chambers: the Irish Hou ...

met at the tholsel. The parliament was transferred here from the Castle because some of the parliamentarians were suspected to sympathise with the rebels and might try to seize the castle, which held important stores of weapons and munitions.

Reconstruction of 1681

The last tholsel building was completed around 1681 and was finally occupied by Dublin Corporation and the Merchants' Guild in 1682. It is unknown who designed the building although various masons including a William Rothery are recorded as having worked on it at various stages. In 1683, the exchange of Dublin was transferred from Cork House to the tholsel. In his study of Protestant Dublin in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Robin Usher describes the building as roughly square in plan and abutted on one side by houses. The elevations consisted of an arcaded ground storey, open to the elements on the north and western sides with a fenestrated

piano nobile ( Italian for "noble floor" or "noble level", also sometimes referred to by the corresponding French term, ) is the architectural term for the principal floor of a '' palazzo''. This floor contains the main reception and bedrooms of the house ...

above. The city assembly and the board of alderman met in richly ornamented rooms over the ground floor loggia, itself fitted out as the merchants’ exchange. Two statues sculpted by William De Keysar depicting King Charles II, and his brother, James Duke of York, along with the royal coat of arms faced the building to the front. The tholsel features as one of the most notable of the 25 illustrations in

James Malton James Malton (1761–1803) was an Irish engraver and watercolourist, who once taught geometry and perspective. He worked briefly as a draughtsman in the office of the celebrated Irish architect James Gandon. He is best known for a series of ...

's A Picturesque and Descriptive View of the City of Dublin and is one of the few structures depicted which does not remain standing as of 2020. The building is shown facing directly onto Skinner's Row at the corner of Nicholas Street near the Church of St. Nicholas Within with an adjacent lane named Ram Alley running alongside as well as the property of Robert Thomas, Tallow Chandler at 1 Skinner's Row. Records indicate that this was historically accurate with the business of Robert Thomas in situ at the adjacent property around the time of Malton's illustration in 1791. The illustration shows the building without a tower, cupola or weather vane which had all been lost in the previous decades as the building gradually degraded and fell out of functional use. Voting in the

1713 Irish general election The 1713 Irish general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons. The election took place during a high-point for party politics in Ireland, and saw heavy losses for the Tories and the emergence of a Whiggish majority in the commo ...

took place at the Tholsel (then considered a Whig stronghold), rather than at the Blue Coat School, setting off a chain of events which led to the

Dublin election riot Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. In 1718, persons broke into the tholsel and slashed the painting of George I with knives. Its ultimate demise came with the construction of the Royal Exchange and the migration of all major trade and mercantile operations to this more grand and spacious commercial building in 1769. Various plans for replacements were drawn up with a site at the old Custom House on Essex Quay earmarked for a new design by Benjamin Eaton in 1797 while another design by Richard Johnston in 1805 was proposed for further upriver alongside a new marshalsea to replace the City Marshalsea. The building was later used as a courthouse until it was demolished in 1809. At that point, the corporation took a lease of 100 years of

City Assembly House City Assembly House is a Georgian gallery, exhibition space and office developed by the Society of Artists in Ireland as a purpose built venue to hold exhibitions and display the works of Irish artists. It is often claimed to have been the first ...

on South William Street from Richard Cranfield.

Clerks of the Tholsel

The Clerk of the Tholsel or Town Clerk was one of only two elected officials of Dublin Corporation, the other being the

Recorder of Dublin The Recorder of Dublin was a judicial office holder in pre-Independence Ireland. Functions and duties of the Recorder The Recorder was the chief magistrate for Dublin, and heard a wide range of civil and criminal cases. The office existed by th ...

List of Clerks of the Tholsel

Notes

References

* – 1660 to 1690 * * * {{History of Dublin Government buildings in the Republic of Ireland City and town halls in the Republic of Ireland Buildings and structures in Dublin (city) Demolished buildings and structures in Dublin Guildhalls in Dublin (city) Baroque architecture in Ireland Buildings and structures demolished in 1809