Cumnock Town Hall is a municipal building in Glaisnock Street,

Cumnock Cumnock (Scottish Gaelic: ''Cumnag'') is a town and former civil parish located in East Ayrshire, Scotland. The town sits at the confluence of the Glaisnock Water and the Lugar Water. There are three neighbouring housing projects which lie just o ...

East Ayrshire East Ayrshire ( sco, Aest Ayrshire; gd, Siorrachd Àir an Ear) is one of thirty-two council areas of Scotland. It shares borders with Dumfries and Galloway, East Renfrewshire, North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire. The headquart ...

, Scotland. The structure, which is used as a community events venue, is a Category C

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

History

Following significant population growth, largely associated with the mining industry, the Cumnock and Holmhead area became a

police burgh A police burgh was a Scottish burgh which had adopted a "police system" for governing the town. They existed from 1833 to 1975. The 1833 act The first police burghs were created under the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act 1833 (3 & 4 Wm IV c.46). This ...

in 1866. In this context, in 1880, the provost, George Samson, launched a campaign to procure a town hall. The local landowner,

John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute John Patrick Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute, (12 September 1847 – 9 October 1900) was a landed aristocracy, aristocrat, industrial magnate, antiquarian, scholar, philanthropist, and architectural patron. Succeeding to the Marquess of ...

, whose seat was at

Mount Stuart House Mount Stuart House, on the east coast of the Isle of Bute, Scotland, is a country house built in the Gothic Revival style and the ancestral home of the Marquesses of Bute. It was designed by Sir Robert Rowand Anderson for the 3rd Marquess in ...

, offered to donate the site and contribute £500 towards the cost of construction. The site chosen was vacant land on the west side of Glaisnock Street. The new building was designed by Robert Samson Ingram in the

Renaissance Revival style Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range ...

, built in red

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 ...

stone from the Ballochmyle Quarry at a cost of £3,000 and was officially opened by the Marquess of Bute on 6 June 1885. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing onto Glaisnock Street. The central bay, which slightly projected forward, featured a round headed doorway with a moulded surround flanked by pairs of banded

Doric order The Doric order was one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of col ...

columns supporting an

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

and a

balustraded A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its con ...

balcony A balcony (from it, balcone, "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. Types The traditional Maltese balcony is ...

; there was a Venetian-style doorway on the first floor flanked by pairs of

Corinthian order The Corinthian order (Greek: Κορινθιακός ρυθμός, Latin: ''Ordo Corinthius'') is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order ...

columns supporting an entablature, a

modillion A modillion is an ornate bracket, more horizontal in shape and less imposing than a corbel. They are often seen underneath a cornice which it helps to support. Modillions are more elaborate than dentils (literally translated as small teeth). All ...

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

and a balustraded parapet. The outer bays were fenestrated by tri-partite mullioned windows on the ground floor and by Venetian windows on the first floor. At roof level, there was a large central

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

canopy Canopy may refer to: Plants * Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests) * Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes Religion and ceremonies * Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an a ...

. Internally, the principal room was the main assembly hall. Repairs were undertaken after a major thunderstorm ignited a fire in the town hall on 9 July 1893. A bust of the former Leader of the Labour Party,

Keir Hardie James Keir Hardie (15 August 185626 September 1915) was a Scottish trade unionist and politician. He was a founder of the Labour Party, and served as its first parliamentary leader from 1906 to 1908. Hardie was born in Newhouse, Lanarkshire. ...

, who had lived in the town, was sculpted by

Benno Schotz Benno Schotz (28 August 1891 Arensburg, Livonia, Russian Empire – 11 October 1984 Glasgow, Scotland) was an Estonian-born Scottish sculptor, and one of twentieth century Scotland's leading artists. Biography Early life Schotz was the y ...

and unveiled outside the town hall by

Nan Hardie Agnes "Nan" Paterson Hardie (5 October 1885 – 27 June 1947) was a Scottish labour movement activist. Life Hardie was born in Cumnock in Ayrshire, Hardie was the daughter of Keir and Lilian Hardie. Hardie was then a prominent mining trad ...

in August 1939. The building continued to serve as the offices and meeting place of the burgh council for much of the 20th century, but ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlarged Cumnock and Doon Valley District Council was formed at the council offices in Lugar in 1975. However, the building subsequently continued to serve in its traditional role as a community events venue hosting concerts and theatre performances. A public meeting to protest about the imminent introduction of the

poll tax A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources. Head taxes were important sources of revenue for many governments fr ...

was held at the town hall in April 1988. A major refurbishment programme, which involved extensive repairs to the masonry and cost £850,000, was completed in May 2014. The programme was financed by

Historic Scotland Historic Scotland ( gd, Alba Aosmhor) was an executive agency of the Scottish Office and later the Scottish Government from 1991 to 2015, responsible for safeguarding Scotland's built heritage, and promoting its understanding and enjoyment. ...

and

East Ayrshire Council East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

, carried out to a design by the council architect's department supported by Wylie Shanks Architects, and undertaken by Clark Contracts. A statue, in the form of a floral tribute encircled in steel which was intended to commemorate the

Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II The Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II was the international celebration in 2022 marking the 70th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II on 6 February 1952, the first British monarch to ever celebrate one. In the United Kingdom, the ...

, was unveiled outside the town hall in May 2022.

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1884 City chambers and town halls in Scotland Category C listed buildings in East Ayrshire Cumnock

History

See also

References