New Cumnock Town Hall is a municipal building in Castle,

New Cumnock New Cumnock is a town in East Ayrshire, Scotland. It expanded during the coal-mining era from the late 18th century, and mining remained its key industry until its pits were shut in the 1960s. The town is southeast of Cumnock, and east of Ayr. ...

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, a group of local businessmen decided to raise finance for the building of a town hall. The site they selected formed part of the

glebe Glebe (; also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s))McGurk 1970, p. 17 is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved ...

, a plot of land adjacent to New Cumnock Parish Church. The foundation stone for the new building was laid by Mrs Shaw, the wife of a local solicitor and

factor Factor, a Latin word meaning "who/which acts", may refer to: Commerce * Factor (agent), a person who acts for, notably a mercantile and colonial agent * Factor (Scotland), a person or firm managing a Scottish estate * Factors of production, suc ...

to the

Marquess of Bute Marquess of the County of Bute, shortened in general usage to Marquess of Bute, is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1796 for John Stuart, 1st Marquess of Bute, John Stuart, 4th Earl of Bute. Family history John Stuart ...

, Charles George Shaw, on 23 June 1888. It was designed by Allan Stevenson of

Ayr Ayr (; sco, Ayr; gd, Inbhir Àir, "Mouth of the River Ayr") is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. It is the administrative centre of the South Ayrshire Subdivisions of Scotland, council area and the historic Shires of Scotlan ...

in the Queen Anne style, built 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) ...

at a cost of £750 and was officially opened by Charles George Shaw on 20 February 1889. The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto Castle. The left hand bay, which was significantly recessed, contained bi-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 both floors with a

Dutch gable A Dutch gable or Flemish gable is a gable whose sides have a shape made up of one or more curves and has a pediment at the top. The gable may be an entirely decorative projection above a flat section of roof line, or may be the termination of a ...

above. The second bay featured a doorway flanked by pilasters 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 an open

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

cartouche In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oval with a line at one end tangent to it, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The first examples of the cartouche are associated with pharaohs at the end of the Third Dynasty, but the fea ...

in the tympanum. The right-hand section of three bays, which was projected forward and gabled, was fenestrated by tri-partite mullioned windows on both floors with an open pediment above the first-floor window. The outer bays in that section contained single windows with segmental pediments. Internally, the principal room was the main assembly hall, which had a seating capacity of 480 people. The building was acquired by the parish council in 1904: it was used for concerts and theatrical performances for much of the first half of the 20th century and served as the home of the local contingent of the

Home Guard Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or reserve force raised for local defense. The term "home guard" was first officially used in the American Civil War, starting wi ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. However, following the industrial decline of the town in the second half of the 20th century, the building became underused and its fabric began deteriorating. Following an approach to the

Duke of Rothesay Duke of Rothesay ( ; gd, Diùc Baile Bhòid; sco, Duik o Rothesay) is a dynastic title of the heir apparent to the British throne, currently William, Prince of Wales. William's wife Catherine, Princess of Wales, is the current Duchess of R ...

and

the Prince's Foundation The Prince's Foundation (formerly the Prince of Wales's Institute of Architecture until 2001, the Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment until 2012, and the Prince's Foundation for Building Community until 2018) is an educational charity est ...

, which had recently completed the restoration of

Dumfries House Dumfries House (Scottish Gaelic: ''Taigh Dhùn Phris'') is a Palladian country house located in the town of Cumnock in East Ayrshire, Scotland. It is within a large estate, around west of Cumnock. Noted for being one of the few such houses wit ...

, ownership of the building was transferred to the Great Steward of Scotland's Dumfries House Trust in 2015. After some initial works had been completed with financial support from

Hans Rausing Hans Anders Rausing, KBE (25 March 1926 – 30 August 2019) was a Swedish industrialist and philanthropist based in the United Kingdom. He made his fortune from his co-inheritance of Tetra Pak, a company founded by his father Ruben Rausing, and ...

, a comprehensive restoration of the building, financed by the Mansour Foundation and the Hunter Foundation started in April 2016. The work was carried out by contractors, Taylor and Fraser, and involved extensive treatment for both

wet rot Wet rot is a generic term used to define a variety of fungal species, such as ''Coniophora puteana'' ( otherwise known as cellar fungus) and '' Choanephora cucurbitarum''. Some species obtain their food by breaking down the cell walls of wood, r ...

and

dry rot Dry rot is wood decay caused by one of several species of fungi that digest parts of the wood which give the wood strength and stiffness. It was previously used to describe any decay of cured wood in ships and buildings by a fungus which resul ...

as well as extensive repairs to the masonry. After the works had been completed, the building was officially re-opened by the Duke of Rothesay on 23 October 2016. The building subsequently reverted to serving as a community events venue as well as the regular meeting place of the New Cumnock Community Council.

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1889 City chambers and town halls in Scotland Category C listed buildings in East Ayrshire New Cumnock 1889 establishments in Scotland

History

See also

References