Stornoway Town Hall | |
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![]() Stornoway Town Hall building in 2012 | |
Location | Stornoway |
Coordinates | 58°12′30″N6°23′18″W / 58.2082°N 6.3884°W |
Built | 1929 |
Architect | John Robertson |
Architectural style(s) | Gothic Revival style |
Listed Building – Category B | |
Designated | 25 November 1980 |
Reference no. | LB41738 |
Stornoway Town Hall is a former municipal building on South Beach in Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, Scotland. The town hall, which was the headquarters of Stornoway Town Council, is a Category B listed building. [1]
Proposals for a town hall in Stornoway, to be funded by public subscription, were first considered by the town council in 1897. [2] The foundation stone for the new building was laid by Major Duncan Matheson of Lews Castle in August 1903. [3] It designed by John Robertson of Inverness in the Gothic Revival style and opened by the former Prime Minister, the Earl of Rosebery, on 7 September 1905. [2] [4] After the original structure was gutted by fire on 2 March 1918, it was rebuilt in the same style and re-opened by the President of the Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada, Thomas Bassett Macaulay, who was a member of the Macaulay family of Lewis and a prominent contributor to the rebuilding fund, in 1929. [2]
The design involved a symmetrical frontage with eleven bays facing South Beach; the central section featured a round-headed doorway on the ground floor flanked by turreted bays; there were four triple windows, each with an ogee moulding, on the first floor; the building also turreted corner bays and a central clock tower with a cupola. [1] Internally, the principal room was the public hall, which was in the centre of the building, lying parallel to the main frontage. [5]
The clock tower gained some fame from the song Lovely Stornoway which was sung by Calum Kennedy in the 1960s. [6]
The building served as the headquarters of Stornoway Town Council until it was absorbed into Comhairle nan Eilean Siar in 1975. [7] The building was then used as the home of the arts centre, An Lanntair, until October 2005 when the centre moved to a purpose-built facility on the seafront. [8] The town hall was then extensively refurbished for £2.1 million, with financial support from Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, the Heritage Lottery Fund and Historic Scotland, to the designs of architects, Simpson & Brown, and was re-opened for community use in March 2012. [9] [10] The refurbishment works included the reinstatement of the original fourteen roof lights in the main hall, so providing natural lighting to the room, as well as the removal of the stage in the main hall, so revealing three stained glass windows in the western gable and providing additional natural light. [5]
The Earl and Countess of Essex visited the town hall and met local leaders of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award scheme in May 2014. [11] [12] [13]
The Outer Hebrides or Western Isles, sometimes known as the Long Isle or Long Island, is an island chain off the west coast of mainland Scotland. The islands are geographically coextensive with Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland. They form part of the archipelago of the Hebrides, separated from the Scottish mainland and from the Inner Hebrides by the waters of the Minch, the Little Minch, and the Sea of the Hebrides.
The Isle of Lewis or simply Lewis is the northern part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island of the Western Isles or Outer Hebrides archipelago in Scotland. The two parts are frequently referred to as if they were separate islands. The total area of Lewis is 683 square miles (1,770 km2).
Harris is the southern and more mountainous part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. Although not an island itself, Harris is often referred to in opposition to the Isle of Lewis as the Isle of Harris, which is the former postal county and the current post town for Royal Mail postcodes starting HS3 or HS5.
The island of Vatersay is the southernmost and westernmost inhabited island in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, and the settlement of Caolas on the north coast of the island is the westernmost permanently inhabited place in Scotland. The main village, also called Vatersay, is in the south of the island.
Stornoway is the main town of the Western Isles and the capital of Lewis and Harris in Scotland.
Leverburgh is the second largest village, after Tarbert, in Harris in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Leverburgh is within the parish of Harris. In 1971 it had a population of 223.
Balivanich is a village on the island of Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides off the west coast of Scotland. It is the main centre for Benbecula and the adjacent islands of North Uist, South Uist and several smaller islands. Balivanich is within the parish of South Uist.
Alasdair Morrison is a Scottish Labour Party politician. He was the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Western Isles constituency from 1999 to 2007.
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar is the local government council for Na h-Eileanan Siar council area of Scotland. It is based in Stornoway in the Isle of Lewis.
Na h-Eileanan an Iar, formerly Western Isles, is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, created in 1918. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.
Gravir, is a village on the shore of Loch Odhairn in the Park district of the Isle of Lewis. Gravir is within the parish of Lochs. There is a Free Church, a school and a voluntary fire station in the village. There is also a pier. Most of the plots of land used to be used for crofting, but this has declined in the last 50 years. The road leading to the village is the B8060, and continues on to Orinsay and Lemreway.
The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1997 enables local councils in Scotland to rename the areas for which they are responsible with Gaelic names. It enables them also to revert to names in English. The act was passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Lews Castle is a Victorian era castle located west of the town of Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, Scotland. It was built in the years 1844–51 as a country house for Sir James Matheson who had bought the whole island a few years previously with his fortune from the Chinese Opium trade. It was designed by the Glasgow architect Charles Wilson.
Lewis and Harris, or Lewis with Harris, is a single Scottish island in the Outer Hebrides, divided by mountains. It is the largest island in Scotland and the third largest in the British Isles, after Great Britain and the island of Ireland, with an area of 841 square miles (2,178 km2), which is approximately 1% of the area of Great Britain. The northern two-thirds is called [the Isle of] Lewis and the southern third [the Isle of] Harris; each is referred to as if it were a separate island and there are many cultural and linguistic differences between the two.
Rainish Eilean Mòr is an uninhabited island in Loch Orasaigh, north of the village of Leurbost in the area of South Lochs on the Isle of Lewis, Lewis and Harris. At 27 hectares in extent, it is one of Scotland's larger freshwater islands, but it is probably the largest relative to the size of the body of water in which it sits, Loch Orasaigh being only about 125 hectares in area.
Elections to Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles Council) were held on 3 May 2012, the same day as the other Scottish local government elections. The election was the second one using the 9 wards created as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004. Each ward elected three or four Councillors using the single transferable vote system: a form of proportional representation. A total of 31 Councillors were elected.
Elections to Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles Council) were held on 4 May 2017, the same day as the other Scottish local government elections. The election was the third one using the nine wards created under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004. Each ward elected three or four Councillors using the single transferable vote system: a form of proportional representation. A total of 31 Councillors were elected.
Scolpaig is a district on the north-west coast of the island of North Uist in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. In 2018 it was unsuccessfully proposed as the site of a spaceport backed by the Scottish government. In 2019 it was again proposed as the site of a spaceport.
Elections to Comhairle nan Eilean Siar took place on 5 May 2022 on the same day as the 31 other Scottish local government elections. The election was the first to use the nine wards created under the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 which allowed for single and dual member wards, with 29 councillors being elected. Each ward elected either 2, 3 or 4 members, using the Single Transferrable Vote electoral system, a form of proportional representation. Following a boundary review the number of wards will increase from nine to 11 while the number of councillors elected will fall from 31 to 29.
The Vatersay Causeway is a 250-metre-long causeway that links the Scottish Hebridean Islands of Vatersay and Barra across the Sound of Vatersay.