User:Financefactz/sandbox/The Tholsel, Dublin

The Tholsel, Dublin was an important building which combined the function of civic hall, guildhall, court and gaol which was located on Skinner's Row (now Christchurch Place) in central Dublin. It existed in various forms from after the Norman invasion of Ireland until it was finally demolished around 1809. It was one of the most important and imposing buildings in medieval Dublin and was a secular focal point within the city walls situated at a major crossroads near to Dublin Castle, St Patrick's Cathedral and Christchurch Cathedral. It was the first of several tholsels which were constructed in the major cities and towns of late medieval Ireland and the Dublin tholsel also housed the first public clock faces on its tower.

History
There are mentions of the tholsel as far back as 1311 being called the 'new' tholsel indicating an earlier building had probably been constructed sometime after Henry II had granted Dublin to his men in 1164.

In 1343 the tholsel is again mentioned when there was a charter granted by Edward III which set an exemption from the portion of tolls due to the King so that the burghers of the city could repair the building.

Later in 1395 a Geradus 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 the archbishop of Dublin Adam Loftus addressed the Lord mayor and corporation of Dublin at the tholsel and requested the use of the old priory at All Hallows to establish a University. He was granted permission and two years later he established Trinity College Dublin on the site.

In 1775, in an address to King George III, 3,000 freemen of Dublin, assembled at the tholsel to urge a conciliatory policy towards the American colonistsin order to ensure peace between Britain and the American colonists.

The building from 1682 - 1809
The last tholsel buildin was completed around 1681 and was finally occupied by the corporation and merchants' guild in 1682.

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 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 depicting King Charles II, and his brother, James Duke of York, along with the royal coat of arms were sculpted by William De Keysar and faced the building to the front.

The tholsel features as one of the most notable of the 25 illustrations in James Malton'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 on to 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.

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 the late 18th century. The only portions of the structure which still exist are the royal coat of arms and two front statues which were removed to the crypt of the nearby Christchurch Cathedral prior to demolition where they remain open for public viewing as of 2020.

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.