Grangemouth Town Hall | |
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![]() Grangemouth Town Hall | |
Location | Bo'ness Road, Grangemouth |
Coordinates | 56°01′11″N3°43′17″W / 56.0197°N 3.7214°W Coordinates: 56°01′11″N3°43′17″W / 56.0197°N 3.7214°W |
Built | 1885 |
Architect | William Black |
Architectural style(s) | Neoclassical style |
Grangemouth Town Hall is a municipal structure in Bo'ness Road, Grangemouth, Scotland. The structure was the meeting place of Grangemouth Burgh Council and remains the main events venue in the area.
After Grangemouth became a police burgh in 1872, [1] the burgh commissioners decided to procure a new civic building for the town: the site they chose for the town hall was open land which they acquired from the Caledonian Railway Company. [2] A design competition was arranged and won by William Black whose design for a town hall in Newmarket Street in Falkirk had already been successfully executed. [3] [4] The Grangemouth building was designed in the neoclassical style, built in ashlar stone and was completed in 1885. [5] [6]
The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto Bo'ness Road; the central bay, which was recessed, featured a flight of steps leading up to a doorway which was flanked by Ionic order columns supporting a entablature and a balustrade, behind which, on the first floor, there was a balcony and a French door. The side sections, which were enhanced by pairs of Ionic order pilasters on the first floor, were fenestrated by casement windows with brackets supporting canopies and, at roof level, there was a cornice and a balustrade. Internally, the principal room was the main assembly hall. [7]
Black was also responsible for the design of the public library on the opposite side of the road which was financed by the Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie: Carnegie travelled to the town hall from Glasgow to conduct the opening ceremony of the library personally on 31 January 1889. [8] The area was advanced to the status of small burgh in 1930 [1] and the council officers and their departments relocated to new municipal offices on the opposite side of the road in 1937. [9] The town hall continued to be used as an events venue and performers included the rock band, The Beatles, in 1960, [10] the rock band, Them, led by Van Morrison, in 1964 [11] and the new wave band, Ultravox, in 1978. [11]
The complex ceased to be the local seat of government after Falkirk District Council was established in 1975. [12] The buildings continued to be used for the delivery of local services, but in 2011, the council started to look for a developer to support the regeneration of the complex. [13]
Falkirk is one of 32 unitary authority council areas of Scotland. It was formed on 1 April 1996 by way of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 from the exact boundaries of Falkirk District, one of three parts of the Central region created in 1975, which was abolished at that time. Prior to the 1975 reorganisation, the majority of the council area was part of the historic county of Stirlingshire, and a small part, namely Bo'ness and Blackness, was part of the former county of West Lothian.
Falkirk is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, 23.3 miles (37.5 km) north-west of Edinburgh and 20.5 miles (33.0 km) north-east of Glasgow.
Borrowstounness is a town and former burgh and seaport on the south bank of the Firth of Forth in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. Historically part of the county of West Lothian, it is a place within the Falkirk council area, 16.9 miles (27.2 km) north-west of Edinburgh and 6.7 miles (10.8 km) east of Falkirk. At the 2011 United Kingdom census, the population of the Bo'ness locality was 15,100.
Grangemouth is a town in the Falkirk council area, Scotland. Historically part of the county of Stirlingshire, the town lies in the Forth Valley, on the banks of the Firth of Forth, 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Falkirk, 5 miles (8.0 km) west of Bo'ness and 13 miles (20.9 km) south-east of Stirling. Grangemouth had a resident population of 17,906 according to the 2001 Census. Preliminary figures from the 2011 census reported the number as 17,373.
Stirlingshire or the County of Stirling, Scottish Gaelic: Siorrachd Sruighlea) is a historic county and registration county of Scotland. Its county town is Stirling.
Falkirk East is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) covering part of the council area of Falkirk. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality method of election. Also, however, it is one of nine constituencies in the Central Scotland electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.
The Hippodrome Cinema in Bo'ness near Falkirk is an early example of a purpose-built cinema and thought to be the oldest such building surviving in Scotland. The cinema, which opened in 1912, was built for the Bo'ness cinematography pioneer Louis Dickson and designed by renowned local architect Matthew Steele. It is designated as a Category A listed building.
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