History on Main Street

Image: © kim traynor Taken: 20 Jun 2013

Going back in time... A plaque on the tolbooth explains that it was built in 1592 at a cost of £294 and extended 40 feet east of the surviving bell tower seen here. It comprised a court room, prison, gaoler's house and instruments of punishment. Sir Laurence Dundas gave the town the bell in 1765 and Francis Horne gave the clock in 1865. I assume these two men were M.P.s for the burgh. Before the tolbooth was built, the Sheriff Court was held on the steps of the cross. The plaque states that the cross dates from the 17th century when Sir Henry Bruce was Sheriff, and it bears the Bruce arms. The ball is a replacement for the original and was taken in 1857 from the demolished Bruce mansion which stood next to Clackmannan Tower. The steps were renewed in 1949. The boulder, known as 'the clack' and sacred to the pre-Christian deity Mannan, was originally at the foot of Lookabootye Brae. It was placed on the larger stone in 1833.

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