Dreel Halls is a municipal complex in Elizabeth Place,
Anstruther Wester
Anstruther ( sco, Ainster or Enster ; gd, Ànsruthair) is a small coastal resort town in Fife, Scotland, situated on the north-shore of the Firth of Forth and south-southeast of St Andrews. The town comprises two settlements, Anstruther Eas ...
,
Fife
Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...
, Scotland. The complex, which is used as a community events venue, consists of the former St Nicholas's Parish Church, which is a Category A
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 ...
, and the former Anstruther Wester Town Hall, which is a Category C listed building.
History
The Parish Church
The earliest part of the complex is the parish church dedicated to
St Nicholas
Saint Nicholas of Myra, ; la, Sanctus Nicolaus (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Myra in Asia Minor (; modern-da ...
which was completed in 1243. It was formed by a three-stage tower facing Elizabeth Place, which was rebuilt in
harled
Harling is a roughcast, rough-cast wall finish consisting of lime and aggregate, known for its rough texture. Many castles and other buildings in Scotland and Ulster have walls finished with harling. It is also used on contemporary buildings, w ...
rubble
Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionary ...
in about 1510, and a main transept which was rebuilt, also in harled rubble, to a design by James Smith, behind the tower in 1846.
There was a square-headed doorway in the first stage of the tower, a small square window with a
wrought iron
Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag Inclusion (mineral), inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a ...
grill in the second stage, and a
belfry with two
louvres in the third stage; the tower was surmounted by 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 ...
ed
parapet
A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). Whe ...
, a
spire
A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...
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 ...
. The east end of main transept, which was surmounted by a
stepped gable
A stepped gable, crow-stepped gable, or corbie step is a stairstep type of design at the top of the triangular gable-end of a building. The top of the parapet wall projects above the roofline and the top of the brick or stone wall is stacked in a ...
, featured a blind
oculus Oculus (a term from Latin ''oculus'', meaning 'eye'), may refer to the following
Architecture
* Oculus (architecture), a circular opening in the centre of a dome or in a wall
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Oculus'' (film), a 2013 American ...
containing a simple cross, while the north side was fenestrated by two rounded headed windows with
keystones
A keystone (or capstone) is the wedge-shaped stone at the apex of a masonry arch or typically round-shaped one at the apex of a vault. In both cases it is the final piece placed during construction and locks all the stones into position, allo ...
and the south side was fenestrated by three round headed windows with keystones. Internally, the principal room was the main transept which featured an
apse
In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...
at the east end.
A new bell, cast by George Watt of
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
, was installed in the belfry in 1789 and a clock, designed and manufactured by
James Ritchie & Son
James Ritchie & Son are a firm of Clockmakers in Broxburn, West Lothian, Scotland. The company was established in 1809 and is Scotland's oldest turret clock manufacturer.
The firm produces and maintains all sorts of clocks, including public clock ...
of
Broxburn
Broxburn ( gd, Srath Bhroc, IPA: s̪ɾaˈvɾɔʰk is a town in West Lothian, Scotland, on the A89 road, from the West End of Edinburgh, from Edinburgh Airport and to the north of Livingston.
Etymology
The name Broxburn is a corruption of " ...
, was installed in the tower in 1868.
The church was united with Anstruther Easter Parish Church, which was dedicated to
St Adrian, in 1961 and became St Adrian's Church Hall in 1970. It was subsequently renamed the Hew Scott Hall in memory of the local parish priest,
Hew Scott
Hew Scott (1791–1872) was a minister of the Church of Scotland parish of Anstruther Wester. He is largely remembered as a religious researcher and author. His "magnum opus" is the comprehensive, multi-volume work, ''Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae ...
, who wrote ''Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae: The succession of ministers in the parish churches of Scotland, from the reformation, A.D. 1560, to the present time''.
The Town Hall
The first municipal building in Anstruther Wester 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 Anstruther Wester Harbour area which dated back at least to the 17th century. After the tolbooth was destroyed in a storm, the burgh council met in the
bailie
A bailie or baillie is a civic officer in the local government of Scotland. The position arose in the burghs, where bailies formerly held a post similar to that of an alderman or magistrate (see bailiff). Baillies appointed the high constables i ...
's house until it decided to commission a dedicated burgh hall in the late 18th century. The site they chose for the new building was to the immediate south of the parish church. It was designed in the
Scottish medieval style, built in harled rubble and was completed in 1795. The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage of four bays facing Elizabeth Place. The third bay from the left featured a doorway with an
architrave
In classical architecture, an architrave (; from it, architrave "chief beam", also called an epistyle; from Greek ἐπίστυλον ''epistylon'' "door frame") is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of columns.
The term can ...
, 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 ...
, a
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 small triangular
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 ...
. The other bays were fenestrated, on an irregular basis, by
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 ...
s. Internally, the principal rooms were the local school room on the ground floor and the burgh council chamber on the first floor. The council chamber was decorated with a mural depicting the burgh
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 ...
on the south wall.
[
Although the school relocated in 1827, the council chamber continued to serve as the meeting place of the burgh council into the 20th century; it ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlarged Kilrenny, Anstruther Easter and Anstruther Wester Burgh Council was formed at Anstruther Easter Town Hall in 1930.
]
Restoration
In 2013, Fife Historic Buildings Trust acquired the parish church from the Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland.
The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...
and the town hall from Fife Council
Fife Council is the local authority for the Fife area of Scotland and is the third largest Scottish council, with 75 elected council members.
Councillors are generally elected every five years. At the 2012 election there were 78 councillors ele ...
and initiated an extensive programme of restoration works to the external fabric of the buildings. The work was carried out by John Smart & Sons (Kirkcaldy) Ltd at a cost of £915,000 to a design by Arc Architects and was completed in January 2014. The complex was renamed Dreel Halls to recall the name of the Dreel Burn which separates Anstruther Easter and Anstruther Wester. The building was then transferred to the ownership of the Anstruther Improvements Association which commissioned a programme of internal works which was completed in September 2020.
See also
* List of listed buildings in Kilrenny, Fife
References
{{reflist
Government buildings completed in 1795
City chambers and town halls in Scotland
Category A listed buildings in Fife
Category C listed buildings in Fife
Anstruther