The McMillan Hall is a municipal building in Dashwood Square in Newton Stewart,

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway ( sco, Dumfries an Gallowa; gd, Dùn Phrìs is Gall-Ghaidhealaibh) is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland and is located in the western Southern Uplands. It covers the counties of Scotland, historic counties of ...

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

Old Town Hall, Victoria Street, Newton Stewart

The first municipal building in the town was the old town hall in Victoria Street, which was completed in around 1800. In the early 1880s, the burgh leaders found that the old town hall was inadequate for their needs and, after the local grocers, Peter and William McMillan, left £10,000 in their wills towards the cost of a new town hall, the burgh leaders decided to commission a new structure. The foundation stone for the new building was laid by Alan Stewart, 10th Earl of Galloway in August 1884. It was designed by a local architect, Richard Park, in the French Renaissance style, built by local contractors, T. & J. Agnew, in

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 and was completed in 1885. It appears that John Dick Peddie was involved in the design as well. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of five bays facing onto Dashwood Square with the end bays slightly projected forward as pavilions with

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 roofs; the central bay featured a doorway 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 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 date stone in the tympanum and an acroterion above. The other bays on the ground floor and all the bays on the first floor were fenestrated with tri-partite

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...

ed windows. On the extreme right of the frontage, there was an additional narrow bay, which was recessed and fenestrated by

casement window A casement window is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges at the side. They are used singly or in pairs within a common frame, in which case they are hinged on the outside. Casement windows are often held open using a cas ...

s on both floors. Internally, the principal room was the main assembly hall on the first floor. A war memorial, in the form of a

Celtic cross The Celtic cross is a form of Christian cross featuring a nimbus or ring that emerged in Ireland, France and Great Britain in the Early Middle Ages. A type of ringed cross, it became widespread through its use in the stone high crosses er ...

mounted on a pedestal, which was intended to commemorate the lives of local service personnel who had died in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, was unveiled outside the hall in the presence of the

Lord Lieutenant of Wigtown This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Wigtown, part of the Dumfries and Galloway council area of south-west Scotland. Prior to 1975 the lieutenancy area corresponded to the historic county of Wigtownshire. Since 1975 the li ...

Sir Herbert Maxwell, 7th Baronet Sir Herbert Eustace Maxwell, 7th Baronet, (8 January 1845 – 30 October 1937) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, artist, antiquarian, horticulturalist, prominent salmon angler and author of books on angling and Conservative politician who ...

, in June 1921. In 1933, the first of the annual Galloway Pageants took place: the celebrations involved the crowning of the "Queen of Galloway" outside the hall. In 1963, the BBC Radio programme, '' Have a Go'', hosted by

Wilfred Pickles Wilfred Pickles, OBE (13 October 1904 – 27 March 1978) was an English actor and radio presenter. Early life and personal life Pickles was born in Halifax in the West Riding of Yorkshire. He moved to Southport, Lancashire, with his family i ...

, was broadcast from the hall. 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 Wigtown District Council was formed in 1975. However, the building subsequently continued to serve in its traditional role as a community events venue hosting concerts and theatre performances.

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1885 City chambers and town halls in Scotland Category B listed buildings in Dumfries and Galloway Newton Stewart

History

See also

References