Inverbervie Town House is a municipal structure in Church Street in

Inverbervie Inverbervie (from gd, Inbhir Biorbhaidh or ''Biorbhaigh'', "mouth of the River Bervie") is a small town on the north-east coast of Scotland, south of Stonehaven. Etymology The name ''Inverbervie'' involves the Gaelic ''Inbhir Biorbhaigh'', ...

, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The structure, which is primarily used as a public library, is a Category B

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

The first municipal building in the town 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 esse ...

which was erected in the Market Place in 1569. After the tolbooth became dilapidated, it was demolished, and a new town house was erected in Church Street: it was built in the Scottish medieval style using

rubble masonry Rubble stone is rough, uneven building stone not laid in regular courses. It may fill the core of a wall which is faced with unit masonry such as brick or ashlar. Analogously, some medieval cathedral walls are outer shells of ashlar with an i ...

and was completed in 1720. The date stone from the old tolbooth was recovered and inserted into the wall of the new building. On the ground floor there was a market hall and, adjacent to it, a

vault Vault may refer to: * Jumping, the act of propelling oneself upwards Architecture * Vault (architecture), an arched form above an enclosed space * Bank vault, a reinforced room or compartment where valuables are stored * Burial vault (enclosure ...

ed cell which was used for the incarnation of petty criminals. On the first floor, there was an assembly hall and a small council chamber for the burgh council and, at roof level, there was an ornate belfry. By the early 19th century the building was in a poor state: the cell was described as "quite unfit for the regular confinement of prisoners" and was locally known as the "Black Hole". The conditions were so bad that, by the early 19th century, no criminals had been incarcerated in the cell within living memory. In the light of these critical reports, the burgh council had the building substantially remodelled in 1840. The new design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto Church Street; the central bay, which slightly projected forward, featured round headed opening with

voussoir A voussoir () is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, which is used in building an arch or vault. Although each unit in an arch or vault is a voussoir, two units are of distinct functional importance: the keystone and the springer. The ...

s enclosing a doorway, and, on the first floor, there was a tall round headed sash window which rose into the pediment above. The outer bays contained doorways on the ground floor, while the other bays on both floors were fenestrated by standard sash windows. At roof level, the belfry was replaced by a simple

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 ...

. Internally, the principal room was the burgh council chamber on the first floor. The building continued to serve as the meeting place of the burgh council for much of the 20th century, but ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlarged Kincardine and Deeside District Council was formed in 1975. The building was subsequently converted for use as a public library and, in 2018, was the venue for the launch of the new Inverbervie Folk Museum.

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1840 City chambers and town halls in Scotland Category B listed buildings in Aberdeenshire Inverbervie

History

See also

References