Beith Townhouse is a municipal building in The Strand,

Beith Beith is a small town in the Garnock Valley, North Ayrshire, Scotland approximately south-west of Glasgow. The town is situated on the crest of a hill and was known originally as the "''Hill o' Beith''" (hill of the birches) after its ''Court ...

North Ayrshire North Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Àir a Tuath, ) is one of 32 council areas in Scotland. The council area borders Inverclyde to the north, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire to the northeast, and East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire to the east and so ...

, Scotland. The structure, which is currently used as an information and heritage centre, is a Category B listed building.

History

The first municipal building in Beith was a

tolbooth A tolbooth or town house was the main municipal building of a Scottish burgh, from medieval times until the 19th century. The tolbooth usually provided a council meeting chamber, a court house and a jail. The tolbooth was one of three essen ...

in The Strand which was completed in 1636. It accommodated prison cells on the ground floor and the parish school on the first floor. Both the prisoners and the schoolchildren were transferred to

Braehead Braehead ( sco, Braeheid, Gaelic: ''Ceann a' Bhruthaich'') is a commercial development located at the former site of Braehead Power Station in Renfrew on the south bank of the River Clyde in Renfrew, Renfrewshire. It is particularly notable ...

in 1768 and the building was subsequently used as stabling for the horses of customers staying at the Saracen's Head Hotel. By the early 19th century, the tolbooth was in such a dilapidated state that a group of local merchants led by William Wilson decided to raise money by

public subscription Subscription refers to the process of investors signing up and committing to invest in a financial instrument, before the actual closing of the purchase. The term comes from the Latin word ''subscribere''. Historical Praenumeration An early form ...

with a view to erecting a new building on the same site. The foundation stone for the new building was laid on 22 May 1817. It was designed by William Dobie in the

neoclassical style Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The pr ...

, built in painted

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

and was completed later that year. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of three bays facing onto The Strand. The ground floor featured a segmental headed doorway with a fanlight, flanked by a pair of segmental headed windows, while the first floor was fenestrated by three square headed

sash window A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned window (architecture), paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double gla ...

Pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

s were erected at the edges of the outer bays to support a

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedimen ...

with a

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

in the tympanum. At roof level, there was a central

bellcote A bellcote, bell-cote or bell-cot is a small framework and shelter for one or more bells. Bellcotes are most common in church architecture but are also seen on institutions such as schools. The bellcote may be carried on brackets projecting from ...

with a

ogive An ogive ( ) is the roundly tapered end of a two-dimensional or three-dimensional object. Ogive curves and surfaces are used in engineering, architecture and woodworking. Etymology The earliest use of the word ''ogive'' is found in the 13th c ...

-shaped roof and a

weather vane A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , m ...

. Internally, the principal room on the first floor was the assembly hall, while the ground floor accommodated two shops, one of which was let as an ironmonger's shop from 1862 until the end of the century. There was a prison cell for incarcerating petty criminals under the stairs. A bell for the bellcote was donated by George Sheddon, a partner in the firm of the trading firm of Robert Sheddon & Sons: it was cast by Thomas Mears of

Whitechapel Bell Foundry The Whitechapel Bell Foundry was a business in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. At the time of the closure of its Whitechapel premises, it was the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain. The bell foundry primarily made church bells a ...

and installed in the bellcote in 1823. The building remained in the ownership of the subscribers and was managed a committee of magistrates and local gentry until 1838. The building subsequently fell under the management of the local parish council. However, following the re-organisation of local government in 1975, the building came into the ownership of the newly-formed Cunninghame District Council which used it as offices for the delivery of local services. That use ceased in the late 1980s and the building fell vacant for the remainder of the 20th century. In the early 21st century, it was used as temporary offices for local businesses undergoing refurbishment. Following the introduction of

unitary authorities A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

in 1996, ownership passed to

North Ayrshire Council North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

. The Beith Cultural and Heritage Society, a charity founded in 2006, took a lease on the building from North Ayrshire Council in 2010. After completion of an extensive programme of refurbishment works, the ground floor of the building was re-opened as an information and heritage centre in April 2011. Further works to make to building fully watertight were then completed in 2014.

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1817 City chambers and town halls in Scotland Category B listed buildings in North Ayrshire Beith

History

See also

References