Prestwick Burgh Hall

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Prestwick Burgh Hall
Prestwick Town Hall.jpg
Prestwick Burgh Hall in 2004 before the steeple was dismantled
LocationKirk Street, Prestwick
Coordinates 55°30′08″N4°36′38″W / 55.5021°N 4.6105°W / 55.5021; -4.6105 Coordinates: 55°30′08″N4°36′38″W / 55.5021°N 4.6105°W / 55.5021; -4.6105
Built1837
Architectural style(s) Gothic Revival style
Listed Building – Category B
Official nameOld Burgh Chambers (now County Council District Office)
Designated14 April 1971
Reference no.LB40329
South Ayrshire UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Shown in South Ayrshire

Prestwick Burgh Hall, also known as Prestwick Freeman's Hall and Prestwick Freemen's Hall, is a municipal building in Kirk Street, Prestwick, Scotland. The structure, which served as the meeting place of Prestwick Burgh Council, is a Category B listed building. [1]

Contents

History

The first municipal building in Prestwick was an early 18th century tolbooth. [2] The tolbooth was used as the offices and meeting place of the chancellor and the two bailies who administered the town: they were elected annually by the 36 freemen of the burgh who owned 1,000 acres (400 ha) of land in and around the town. [3] The current building was commissioned by the freemen of Prestwick for use as the local burgh school. [4] [5] [6] It was designed in the Gothic Revival style, built in ashlar stone and was completed in 1837. [7]

The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing onto the corner of The Cross and Kirk Street; the central bay, which projected forward, featured a porch with an arched doorway and an octagonal tower above. The tower was fenestrated with a lancet window on the first floor and featured a clock face in the stage above which was surmounted by a spire. There were lancet windows in the outer bays. The ground floor was initially used as a prison and the first floor was used by the burgh school which accommodated some 60 children. [4]

By the late 19th century the burgh council had assumed most of the functions of the freemen and the building had become the burgh hall. [8] It continued in that use until the burgh council established the municipal buildings in Links Road in the late 1930s. [9] [10] The former burgh hall was then acquired by Ayrshire County Council and became their local district offices. [1] [11]

After the steeple was found to be structurally unsound, it was removed in 2011: [12] a firm of consultants advised that it should be rebuilt using new masonry and that the original stone should be used as template. [13] Although residents lobbied for it to be restored South Ayrshire Council failed to attract support from the Heritage Lottery Fund, or any other charitable source, to carry out the necessary works. [14]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 Historic Environment Scotland. "Old Burgh Chambers (now County Council District Office) (LB40329)" . Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  2. ↑ Tolbooths and town-houses: civic architecture in Scotland to 1833. Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. 1996. ISBN   978-0114957995.
  3. ↑ Escott, T. H. S. (1885). The Fourtnightly. Vol. 38. Chapman and Hall.
  4. 1 2 Historic Environment Scotland. "Prestwick, Kirk Street, Council Offices (205038)". Canmore . Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  5. ↑ "Ordnance Survey Map 1858 showing the "burgh school"" . Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  6. ↑ "Prestwick History". Visit Prestwick. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  7. ↑ Groome, Francis H. (1885). "Prestwick". Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  8. ↑ "Ordnance Survey Map 1896 showing the "burgh hall"" . Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  9. ↑ "Legal Services review of 15 Links Road, Prestwick property". South Ayrshire Council. 19 July 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  10. ↑ "No. 16912". The Edinburgh Gazette . 30 November 1951. p. 601.
  11. ↑ "Ordnance Survey Map 1896 showing the "district offices"" . Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  12. ↑ "Give us our steeple back!". Ayr Advertiser. 30 May 2011. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  13. ↑ "Conservation" (PDF). Mast Architects. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  14. ↑ "Residents want to bring back Prestwick's steeple". Ayr Advertiser. 18 October 2017. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
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