Old Town Hall, Stranraer

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Old Town Hall, Stranraer
Stranraer Museum (geograph 1688392).jpg
Old Town Hall, Stranraer
LocationGeorge Street, Stranraer
Coordinates 54°54′16″N5°01′42″W / 54.9044°N 5.0283°W / 54.9044; -5.0283 Coordinates: 54°54′16″N5°01′42″W / 54.9044°N 5.0283°W / 54.9044; -5.0283
Built1776
ArchitectEdward Wallace and Thomas Hall
Architectural style(s) Neoclassical style
Listed Building – Category A
Official nameOld Town Hall, George Street, Stranraer
Designated20 July 1972
Reference no.LB41745
Dumfries and Galloway UK location map.svg
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Shown in Dumfries and Galloway

The Old Town Hall is a municipal structure in George Street, Stranraer, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. The structure, which is used as a local history museum, is a Category A listed building. [1]

Contents

History

The first municipal structure in Stanraer was a tolbooth which was built on part of the local parish churchyard and dated back to the late 17th century: the tolbooth was the host to an Irish pirate known as "Mccairty" who was captured off the coast of Kirkcudbrightshire and imprisoned there in 1699. [2] By the 1770s, the tolbooth was very dilapidated and the burgh leaders decided to demolish it and replace it with a new town hall on the same site. [3]

The new building was designed and built by Edward Wallace and Thomas Hall in the neoclassical style, built in rubble masonry with a stucco finish and was completed in June 1776. [4] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing onto George Street; the central bay, which slightly projected forward, featured a doorway with a fanlight and a pediment above; on the first floor there was a panel showing the burgh coat of arms which depicted a ship with three sails and the motto "Tutissima Statio" (English: "The safest station"). The outer bays were fenestrated with sash windows on the first floor, while the central bay was surmounted by a tower, with a parapet and a balustrade in the first stage, an octagonal belfry in the second stage and a spire with a weather vane above. [1] Internally, the principal rooms were the guardhouse and the lock-up on the ground floor and the debtors' prison, which was later converted for use as a council chamber, on the first floor. [4] The building was extended to the rear to accommodate a corn exchange and a courtroom in 1855. [3]

After the council relocated to new premises in Lewis Street in 1874, the old town hall was briefly used as a drill hall and armoury for the 2nd Wigtownshire Rifle Volunteer Corps, [5] and was then used as the home of the Athenaeum Club, before being taken over by the fire service in 1879. [6] A clock, which was presented to the town by a former town clerk, William Black, was installed in the tower in 1936. [3] The fire service eventually relocated from the town hall to a new purpose-built fire station in Lewis Street in 1960. [7] The Stranraer Museum, which by the middle of the 20th century had built up a substantial collection of axes and other archaeological exhibits, then established itself in the building. [8] Other significant items which were added to the collection included an 18th century plough, [9] as well as a variety of items relating to the polar explorers, Sir John Ross, and his nephew, James Clark Ross. [10]

Works of art in the building include a painting by Henry John Dobson depicting an old lady spinning, [11] and a painting by George Pirie depicting a boy with a terrier and pups, [12] as well as landscape paintings by Alexander Brownlie Docharty, [13] George Houston [14] and Archibald David Reid. [15]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 Historic Environment Scotland. "Old Town Hall, George Street, Stranraer (LB41745)" . Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  2. ↑ Dobson, David (2009). Scots-Irish Links, 1575-1725. Vol. 6. Clearfield. p. 70. ISBN   978-0806353517.
  3. 1 2 3 "Stranraer Town House". Scran. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  4. 1 2 Historic Environment Scotland. "Stranraer, 55 George Street, Old Town Hall (60827)". Canmore . Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  5. ↑ Westlake, Ray (2010). Tracing the Rifle Volunteers: A Guide for Military and Family Historians. Pen and Sword. ISBN   978-1848842113.
  6. ↑ "Stranraer Conservation Area Character Appraisal and Management Plan" (PDF). Dumfries and Galloway Council. 1 May 2018. p. 35. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  7. ↑ "Stranraer Fire Brigade" . Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  8. ↑ "Transactions and Journal of Proceedings". Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society. 1956. p. 202.
  9. ↑ "The Chilcarroch Plough". Future Museum. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  10. ↑ "Stranraer Museum". Culture 24. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  11. ↑ Dobson, Henry John. "Old Lady Spinning". Art UK. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  12. ↑ Pirie, George. "Boy with Terrier and Pups". Art UK. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  13. ↑ Docharty, Alexander Brownlie. "Highland River Scene with Mountain". Art UK. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  14. ↑ Houston, George. "Sunlit Wooded Mountain Scene". Art UK. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  15. ↑ Reid, Archibald David. "Landscape". Art UK. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
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