A HERITAGE stalwart has received an accolade for his service to a long-running local campaign to restore the Old Town Hall and Tolbooth in Musselburgh.

Paul Lambie, a retired architect and former Musselburgh resident, has played a major part in the initiative, which is seeking to have the historic building on High Street brought back into full use.

Efforts to reach this goal are still ongoing and Mr Lambie, who now lives in Pencaitland, was presented with a certificate of appreciation for his work by the Musselburgh Museum & Heritage Group, which is spearheading the campaign.

The presentation took place at the group’s Christmas lunch at the EH15 Restaurant & Bar at Edinburgh College.

A group spokesperson said: “This was in recognition of his dedicated work over a long period of time drawing attention to and campaigning to bring back the Musselburgh Old Town Hall and Tolbooth to full and beneficial use.”

Tolbooths were the centre of local administration and justice in Scottish burghs from the medieval period until the 19th century.

The complex of buildings is owned by the Musselburgh Common Good Fund but looked after by East Lothian Council.

The building is in three parts.

The Tolbooth, which is the High Street frontage, originally dates from the late 15th century, though except for the clock tower it was destroyed in 1544 and rebuilt in 1572. It has been a court, a jail and a police station.

The Old Town Hall fronting the square dates from 1733 and has been a court room and a meeting place for the town council, with a market area beneath.

The Assembly Hall to the rear of the Town Hall was built in 1901 and was the forerunner of the Brunton Hall.

The campaign has sought to bring the upper floors of the building into new use.

Mr Lambie, who has now retired from the group, also received a bottle of Glenkinchie Distillery whisky.

Alister Hadden, group chairman, thanked everyone for attending the lunch and staff at EH15 Restaurant & Bar for their “excellent food and service”, as well as Kitty Renton for organising the lunch.

Thanks also went to Simon Fairnie, the group’s secretary and treasurer, for arranging the tribute to Mr Lambie.

Mr Fairnie thanked members for their support during Musselburgh Museum’s two themed exhibitions: Battle of Pinkie Tapestries and The Mighty Mills of Musselburgh.

He said their input had been “invaluable”, adding: “As the comments in the visitor book more than endorse. With a total of 1,189 visitors recorded – 545 for the tapestries and 644 for the mills – these are the best numbers we have had for some time, thus both exhibitions can be considered as being successful.”

The museum is set to open its doors again for the new season on Thursday, April 6, with an exhibition on schools in the Musselburgh area, which will be followed by a further exhibition in the middle of 2023.