Misplaced Pages

#978021

39-720: Glasgow Cross is at the hub of the ancient royal burgh and now city of Glasgow , Scotland, close to its first crossing over the River Clyde . It marks the notional boundary between the city centre and the East End As a major junction at the gateway into the city centre, its five streets run: north up the High Street to Glasgow Cathedral , Cathedral Square and the Royal Infirmary ; east along Gallowgate and London Road, close to St Andrew's Square ; south on

78-521: A Dean of Guild Court which was given the specific duty of building control. The courts were abolished in 1975, with building regulation transferred to the relevant local authority. Appointments to the office of Dean of Guild are still made in some areas: for instance the Lord Dean of Guild of Glasgow is described as the "second citizen of Glasgow" after the Lord Provost although the appointment

117-504: A mayor , was called a provost . Many different titles were in use until the Town Councils (Scotland) Act 1900 standardised the term as "provost", except in cities with a lord provost. Since 1975 local authorities have been free to choose the title of their convener and provosts are appointed to chair a number of area and community councils . Under the provost were magistrates or baillies who both acted as councillors, and in

156-536: A "burgess" was a member of the legislative body, which was termed the " House of Burgesses ". In Connecticut , New Jersey , and Pennsylvania , the Burgess, or Chief Burgess, was the executive of many colonial-era municipalities until the turn of the 20th century, and persists in some places as the highest ranking magistrate of a municipality. The word was derived in Middle English and Middle Scots from

195-536: A guild, but many merchants did not belong to it, and it would be run by a small group of the most powerful merchants. The class of merchants included all traders, from stall-holders and pack-men to shop-holders and traders of considerable wealth. As used in this article, the Scots language word burgh is derived from the Old English Burh . In Scotland it refers to corporate entities whose legality

234-447: A number of their members to be bailies, who acted as a magistrates bench for the burgh and dealt with such issues as licensing. The provost, or chief magistrate, was elected from among the council every three years. The Royal Burghs Act was also extended to the 12 parliamentary burghs which had recently been enfranchised. These were growing industrial centres, and apart from the lack of a charter, they had identical powers and privileges to

273-617: A placename on its own, in the West Germanic countries: Burgess (title) In England, burgess meant an elected or unelected official of a borough, or the representative of one in the House of Commons of England . This use of the word burgess has since disappeared. Burgesses as freemen had the sole right to vote in municipal or parliamentary elections. However, in Britain and Ireland these special privileges were removed by

312-491: A region outside their settlements. Properties known as Burgage tenures were a key feature, whose tenants had to be of the Burgher class, known as a " Burgesses ", and therefore eligible to participate in trade within the town, and to elect town officials. Most of the early burghs were on the east coast, and among them were the largest and wealthiest, including Old and New Aberdeen , Berwick, Perth and Edinburgh, whose growth

351-611: A widened high street or junction, marked by a mercat cross , beside houses for the burgesses and other inhabitants. The founding of 16 royal burghs can be traced to the reign of David I (1124–53) and there is evidence of 55 burghs by 1296. In addition to the major royal burghs , the late Middle Ages saw the proliferation of baronial and ecclesiastical burghs, with 51 created between 1450 and 1516. Most of these were much smaller than their royal counterparts. Excluded from foreign trade, they acted mainly as local markets and centres of craftsmanship. Burghs were centres of basic crafts, including

390-546: Is also linguistically close to the French term bourgeois , which evolved from burgeis . The original version of the well-known English folk song " Greensleeves " includes the following: Thy purse and eke thy gay guilt knives, thy pincase gallant to the eye: No better wore the Burgesse wives, and yet thou wouldst not love me. This clearly implies that at the time when it was composed (late 16th to early 17th century)

429-621: Is an autonomous municipal corporation in Scotland , usually a city , town , or toun in Scots . This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when King David I created the first royal burghs . Burgh status was broadly analogous to borough status , found in the rest of the United Kingdom . Following local government reorganisation in 1975 , the title of "royal burgh" remains in use in many towns, but now has little more than ceremonial value. The first burgh

SECTION 10

#1732765041979

468-503: Is in the hands of the Merchants House of Glasgow, and not the city council. Early Burghs were granted the power to trade, which allowed them to control trade until the 19th century. The population of burgesses could be roughly divided between merchants and craftsmen , and the tensions between the interests of the two classes was often a feature of the cities. Craftsmen were usually organised into guilds . Merchants also had

507-613: Is incorporated into many placenames , such as Hamburg , Flensburg and Strasburg . The word has cognates in other Germanic languages . For example, burg in German, and borg in both Danish and Swedish . The equivalent word is also to be found in Frisian , Dutch , Norwegian , Icelandic and Faroese . Burgh in placenames is found in its greatest UK concentration in the East Anglia region of southern England, where also

546-718: Is peculiar to Scotland. ( Scottish law was protected and preserved as distinct from laws of England under the Acts of Union of 1707 .) Another variant pronunciation, / b r ʌ f / , is heard in several Cumbrian place names, e.g. Burgh by Sands , Longburgh , Drumburgh , Mayburgh Henge . The English language borough , like the Scots Burgh , is derived from the same Old English language word burh (whose dative singular and nominative/accusative plural form byrig sometimes underlies modern place-names, and which had dialectal variants including "burg" ; it

585-407: Is to say, all counties, counties of cities, large burghs, small burghs and districts, shall cease to exist, and the council of every such area shall also cease to exist. The use of the title continues in informal use, however. The common good properties and funds of the royal burghs continue to exist. They are administered by the present area councils , who must make "have regard to the interests of

624-592: The Burgesses of Edinburgh . The burgesses' ancient exclusive trading rights through their Guilds were abolished in 1846. Thereafter a burgess became a title that gave social standing to the office and usually carried with it a role which involved charitable activities of their guild or livery company, as it does today. The term was also used in some of the Thirteen Colonies . In the Colony of Virginia ,

663-494: The Old French word burgeis , simply meaning "an inhabitant of a town" (cf. burgeis or burges respectively). The Old French word burgeis is derived from bourg , meaning a market town or medieval village, itself derived from Late Latin burgus , meaning " fortress " or "wall". In effect, the reference was to the north-west European medieval and renaissance merchant class which tended to set up their storefronts along

702-677: The Parliament of Great Britain . Under the Scottish Reform Act 1832 , 32 years after the merger of the Parliament of Great Britain into the Parliament of the United Kingdom , the boundaries of burghs for parliamentary elections ceased to be necessarily their boundaries for other purposes. There were several types of burgh, including; Until 1833, each burgh had a different constitution or "sett". The government of

741-536: The Reform Act 1832 . Burgesses were originally freeman inhabitants of a city in which they owned land and who contributed to the running of the town and its taxation. The title of burgess was later restricted to merchants and craftsmen, so that only burgesses could enjoy the privileges of trading or practising a craft in the city through belonging to a guild (by holding a guild ticket) or were able to own companies trading in their guild's craft. One example are

780-617: The Saltmarket to Glasgow Green and the Justiciary Buildings ; and west along Trongate continuing as Argyle Street towards St Enoch Square and Buchanan Street . Its most recognisable features are the Tolbooth Steeple, the surviving part of the 17th century Glasgow Tolbooth , and the mercat cross replica commissioned in 1929 by William George Black , and designed by architect Edith Hughes . Linked to

819-535: The Tolbooth stood the Tontine Hotel and its Assembly Rooms, designed from 1737 by architect Allan Dreghorn with adaptations in 1781 by architect William Hamilton of St Andrew's Square. The Tontine was the exchange centre of early mercantile business and the focal point of political and social gatherings. A number of artist paintings over the centuries depict Glasgow Cross, the Tolbooth and Tontine. In front of

SECTION 20

#1732765041979

858-513: The Tontine was placed the equestrian statue of King William III, erected in 1734; now sited at Cathedral Square . After the Tolbooth Steeple, the nearby Tron Theatre , formerly the Tron Kirk, built in 1794 is one of the oldest buildings in the city. The presently disused Glasgow Cross railway station sits beneath the junction. Burgh A burgh ( / ˈ b ʌr ə / BURR -ə )

897-433: The act as "paving, lighting, cleansing, watching, supplying with water, and improving such Burghs respectively, as may be necessary and expedient" . The act could be adopted following its approval in a poll of householders in the burgh. Burghs reformed or created under this and later legislation became known as police burghs . The governing body of a police burgh were the police commissioners. The commissioners were elected by

936-434: The anomalies in the administration of burghs were removed: police commissioners were retitled as councillors and all burghs were to consist of a single body corporate, ending the existence of parallel burghs. All burghs of barony and regality that had not adopted a police system were abolished. Councils were to be headed by a chief magistrate using the "customary title" of the burgh. In 1900, the chief magistrate of every burgh

975-503: The burgh was often in the hands of a self-nominating corporation, and few local government functions were performed: these were often left to ad hoc bodies. Two pieces of reforming legislation were enacted in 1833: The Royal Burghs (Scotland) Act 1833 ( 3 & 4 Will. 4 . c. 76) and the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act 1833 ( 3 & 4 Will. 4 . c. 46). The Royal Burghs (Scotland) Act 1833 ( 3 & 4 Will. 4 . c. 76) provided for

1014-421: The election of magistrates and councillors. Each burgh was to have a common council consisting of a provost (or lord provost), magistrates (or bailies) and councillors. Every parliamentary elector living within the "royalty" or area of the royal burgh, or within seven statute miles of its boundary, was entitled to vote in burgh elections. One third of the common council was elected each year. The councillors selected

1053-483: The enforcement of laws. As well as general tasks, they often had specific tasks such as inspecting wine, or ale, or other products sold at market. The title of bailie ceased to have any statutory meaning in 1975, although modern area councils do sometimes make appointments to the office on a purely ceremonial basis. For example, Glasgow City Council grants the title in an honorary capacity to senior councillors, while Stirling Council appoints four bailies to act in lieu of

1092-607: The existing town council of the burgh, not by the electorate at large. The town council of a burgh could by a three-quarters majority become police commissioners for the burgh. In many cases this led to the existence of two parallel burgh administrations, the town council and the police commissioners, each with the same membership, but separate legal identity and powers. Further legislation, the Police (Scotland) Act 1850 ( 13 & 14 Vict. c. 33), allowed "populous places" other than existing burghs to become police burghs. In 1893, most of

1131-411: The inhabitants of the area to which the common good formerly related". The use of these assets are to be for the benefit of the inhabitants of the former burgh. Any person or body holding the honorary freedom of any place... formerly having the status of a city, burgh or royal burgh continued to enjoy that status after the 1975 reorganisation. The chief magistrate or convener of a burgh, equivalent to

1170-471: The manufacture of shoes, clothes, dishes, pots, joinery, bread and ale, which would normally be sold to "indwellers" and "outdwellers" on market days. In general, burghs carried out far more local trading with their hinterlands, on which they relied for food and raw materials, than trading nationally or abroad. Burghs had rights to representation in the Parliament of Scotland . Under the Acts of Union of 1707 many became parliamentary burghs , represented in

1209-456: The outside of the city wall, where traffic through the gates was an advantage and safety in event of an attack was easily accessible. The right to seek shelter within a burg was known as the right of burgess . The term was close in meaning to the Germanic term burgher , a formally defined class in medieval German cities ( Middle Dutch burgher , Dutch burger and German Bürger ). It

Glasgow Cross - Misplaced Pages Continue

1248-475: The provost in specific geographical areas. A resident granted the rights of a "freeman" of the burgh, was styled a burgess ( pl. burgesses ), a title also used in English boroughs. These freemen and their wives were a class which did not include dependants (e.g. apprentices) and servants, though they were not guaranteed to be wealthy. This was a title held by one of the bailies of the burgh who presided over

1287-522: The royal burghs. Royal Burghs retained the right to corporate property or "common good". This property was used for the advantage of the inhabitants of the burgh, funding such facilities as public parks, museums and civic events. The Burgh Police (Scotland) Act 1833 ( 3 & 4 Will. 4 . c. 46) allowed the inhabitants of royal burghs, burghs of regality and of bBarony to adopt a "police system". "Police" in this sense did not refer to law enforcement, but to various local government activities summarised in

1326-1001: The word has taken the form bury , as in Canterbury. A number of other European languages have cognate words which were borrowed from the Germanic languages during the Middle Ages , including brog in Irish , bwr or bwrc , meaning 'wall, rampart' in Welsh , bourg in French , borgo in Italian , and burgo in Spanish (hence the place-name Burgos ). The most obviously derivative words are burgher in English, Bürger in German or burger in Dutch (literally ' citizen ', with connotations of middle-class in English and other Germanic languages). Also related are

1365-474: The words bourgeois and belfry (both from the French ), and burglar . More distantly, it is related to words meaning ' hill ' or ' mountain ' in a number of languages (cf. the second element of iceberg ). Burgh is commonly used as a suffix in place names in Great Britain, particularly Scotland and northern England, and other places where Britons settled, examples: Examples: And as

1404-553: Was Berwick . By 1130, David I (r. 1124–53) had established other burghs including Edinburgh , Stirling , Dunfermline , Haddington , Perth , Dumfries , Jedburgh , Montrose , Rutherglen and Lanark . Most of the burghs granted charters in his reign probably already existed as settlements. Charters were copied almost verbatim from those used in England, and early burgesses usually invited English and Flemish settlers. They were able to impose tolls and fines on traders within

1443-547: Was also sometimes confused with beorh , beorg , 'mound, hill', on which see Hall 2001, 69–70). The Old English word was originally used for a fortified town or proto- castle (e.g. at Dover Castle or Burgh Castle ) and was related to the verb beorgan ( cf. Dutch and German bergen ) 'to keep, save, make secure'. In the German language , Burg means ' castle ' or ' fortress ', though so many towns grew up around castles that it almost came to mean city , and

1482-529: Was facilitated by trade with other North Sea ports on the continent, in particular in the Low Countries , as well as ports on the Baltic Sea . In the south-west, Glasgow , Ayr and Kirkcudbright were aided by the less profitable sea trade with Ireland and to a lesser extent France and Spain. Burghs were typically settlements under the protection of a castle and usually had a market place, with

1521-456: Was to be known as the provost – except in burghs granted a lord provost . The last major legislation to effect burghs came into effect in 1930. The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929 ( 19 & 20 Geo. 5 . c. 25) divided burghs into three classes: The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (c. 65) formally abolished burghs. Section 1(5) of the act stated: On 16 May 1975, all local government areas existing immediately before that date, that

#978021