Kirriemuir Town House is a municipal structure in the High Street in

Kirriemuir Kirriemuir, sometimes called Kirrie or the ''Wee Red Toon'' ( gd, An Ceathramh Mòr; IPA: nˈkʰʲɛɾəvmoːɾ, is a burgh in Angus, Scotland. It reaches back to earliest recorded times, when it is thought to have been a major ecclesiastical ...

Angus Angus may refer to: Media * ''Angus'' (film), a 1995 film * ''Angus Og'' (comics), in the ''Daily Record'' Places Australia * Angus, New South Wales Canada * Angus, Ontario, a community in Essa, Ontario * East Angus, Quebec Scotland * An ...

, Scotland. The structure, which is used as a museum, 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 building was commissioned during the tenure of

William Douglas, 10th Earl of Angus William Douglas, 10th Earl of Angus (15543 March 1611) was a Scottish nobleman. He was the son of William Douglas, 9th Earl of Angus (1533–1591). He was a direct descendant of King James I through his paternal grandmother, Agnes Keith, a d ...

who, as chieftain and ruler of the province of

, owned extensive estates across the area. The building was designed in the Scottish medieval style, built in

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 inn ...

and was completed in 1604. It accommodated a lock-up for petty criminals on the ground floor and an assembly room for the burgh council on the first floor. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage facing north onto The Square, with an external staircase for access to the first floor in front of the middle bay. In the mid-19th century, the town house was the place to which local weavers brought their cloth for examination by government inspectors; if the cloth met the required standard, it was stamped, the duty was taken and the weaver was paid. Weavers at that time included David Barrie, father of the

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

J. M. Barrie Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, (; 9 May 1860 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several succ ...

. The building was repaired in 1835 and extensively remodelled by John Carver from

Forfar Forfar ( sco, Farfar, gd, Baile Fharfair) is the county town of Angus, Scotland and the administrative centre for Angus Council, with a new multi-million pound office complex located on the outskirts of the town. As of 2021, the town has a p ...

in 1862. The remodelling involved coating the building in red

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) ...

, the removal of the external staircase, the construction of a clock tower and the installation of a small clock in the clock tower. Following the remodelling, the left-hand section, which was bowed, featured a segmental headed doorway in the central bay; on the first floor, there was a

cross-window A cross-window is a window whose lights are defined by a mullion and a transom, forming a cross.Curl, James Stevens (2006). ''Oxford Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture'', 2nd ed., OUP, Oxford and New York, p. 214. . The Late ...

flanked by

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 supporting a pediment which was decorated with

finial A finial (from '' la, finis'', end) or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature. In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a d ...

s. On the right, there was a three-stage

crenelated A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interv ...

clock tower with a doorway in the first stage, a blind panel in the second stage and clock faces in the third stage; the clock tower was surmounted by a

pyramid A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...

-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 ...

. In the 1880s, the burgh council decided that the town house was too small for the administration of the burgh and they relocated to a new purpose built town hall in Reform Street in 1885. In 1896, the town house was converted for retail use; it initially operated as a post office but by the early 20th century, the bowed section was operating as a chemist and the clock tower accommodated a bookseller. During the second half of the 20th century, the condition of the building deteriorated. The council acquired the building from the then owner, the former

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Sir Alec Douglas-Home Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home of the Hirsel (; 2 July 1903 – 9 October 1995), styled as Lord Dunglass between 1918 and 1951 and being The 14th Earl of Home from 1951 till 1963, was a British Conservative Party (UK), Conse ...

, with the intention of improving the appearance of the High Street. In the late 20th century the building was restored and it re-opened as the Kirriemuir Gateway to the Glens Museum in 2001. Exhibits in the museum include memorabilia associated with the novelist, J. M. Barrie, the author,

Violet Jacob Violet Jacob (1 September 1863 – 9 September 1946) was a Scottish writer known especially for her historical novel ''Flemington'' and for her poetry, mainly in Scots. She was described by a fellow Scottish poet Hugh MacDiarmid as "the most ...

, and the

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

singer,

Bon Scott Ronald Belford "Bon" Scott (9 July 1946 – 19 February 1980) was an Australian singer and songwriter. He was the lead vocalist and lyricist of the hard rock band AC/DC from 1974 until his death in 1980. Born in Forfar in Angus, Scotland, ...

, as well as an exhibition on the work of the geologist,

Sir Charles Lyell Sir Charles Lyell, 1st Baronet, (14 November 1797 – 22 February 1875) was a Scottish geologist who demonstrated the power of known natural causes in explaining the earth's history. He is best known as the author of ''Principles of Geolo ...

. Exhibits also include a silver casket containing the scroll which was presented to J. M. Barrie when he received the Freedom of Kirriemuir on 7 June 1930.

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1604 City chambers and town halls in Scotland Category B listed buildings in Angus, Scotland Kirriemuir

History

See also

References