Burntisland Burgh Chambers
Burntisland Burgh Chambers
LocationHigh Street, Burntisland
Coordinates56°03′32″N 3°14′03″W / 56.0590°N 3.2341°W / 56.0590; -3.2341
Built1846
ArchitectJohn Henderson
Architectural style(s)Gothic Revival style
Listed Building – Category B
Official nameTown Hall, 104 High Street, Burntisland
Designated3 August 1977
Reference no.LB22820
Burntisland Burgh Chambers is located in Fife
Burntisland Burgh Chambers
Shown in Fife

Burntisland Burgh Chambers is a municipal structure in the High Street, Burntisland, Fife, Scotland. The building, which is the meeting place of the Burntisland Community Council, is a Category B listed building.[1]

History

The first municipal building in Burntisland was a tolbooth which dated back to 1598.[2] Several local Covenanters were incarcerated in the tolbooth during the Killing Time in the early 1680s[3][4] and, later, some members of the Catholic Church were imprisoned there after the Glorious Revolution in 1688.[5] By the early 1840s, despite being repaired several times, the tolbooth had become dilapidated and the burgh leaders decided to erect a new building on the same site.[2]

The new building was designed by John Henderson in the Gothic Revival style, built in ashlar stone and was completed in 1846.[1][6][7] The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage of two bays facing the High Street. The left-hand bay, which was gabled, featured two arched windows on the ground floor, a tripartite window with tracery on the first floor and a quatrefoil above. The right-hand bay, which was slightly projected forward, took the form of a four-stage tower: there was an arched doorway with a hood mould in the first stage, a lancet window flanked by buttresses in the second stage, an octagonal tower head in the third stage and a belfry with louvres in the fourth stage, with a spire and weather vane above. Internally, the principal room was the burgh council chamber on the first floor.[1]

A clock, designed and manufactured by James Ritchie & Son of Broxburn was installed in the fourth stage of the tower to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887.[8] The building was extended by three extra bays to the west in 1906: the extension was fenestrated by mullioned and transomed windows, with arched window heads on the ground floor and cusped window heads on the first floor.[1]

The town hall 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 Kirkcaldy District Council was formed in 1975.[9][10] Instead the building became the meeting place of the Burntisland Community Council.[11] In 2013, the upper part of the tower was deemed unsafe and the fourth stage and the spire were dismantled and the stone was placed in storage.[8] In November 2021, the community council confirmed that it was seeking funding for plans to redevelop the burgh chambers and to restore the upper part of the tower.[12]

Works of art in the town hall include a portrait by William Oliphant Hutchison of the founder of Burntisland Shipbuilding Company, Sir Wilfrid Ayre.[13]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Historic Environment Scotland. "Town Hall, 104 High Street, Burntisland (LB22820)". Retrieved 21 August 2022.
  2. 1 2 Historic Environment Scotland. "Burntisland, 104 High Street, Town Hall (52821)". Canmore. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
  3. ↑ The Scottish Antiquary, or, Northern Notes and Queries. Vol. 8–10. T. and A. Constable. 1894. p. 154.
  4. ↑ Wilson, John Mackay; Leighton, Alexander (1885). Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Historical, Traditionary, & Imaginative, with a Glossary. Vol. 8. W. Scott. p. 105.
  5. ↑ Bellesheim, Alphons; Blair, D. Oswald Hunter (1890). History of the Catholic Church in Scotland: From the accession of Charles the First to the restoration of the Scottish hierarchy, A.D. 1625-1878. Blackwood. p. 141.
  6. ↑ "Burntisland Town Hall". Dictionary of Scottish Architects. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
  7. ↑ O' Connor, Susan (2017). "Architecture, power and ritual in Scottish town halls, 1833–1973" (PDF). University of Bath. p. 39.
  8. 1 2 "The Clock Tower". Burntisland Heritage Trust. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
  9. ↑ "Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973". Legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  10. ↑ "Burntisland Burgh". Vision of Britain. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
  11. ↑ "Minutes of the Council Meeting" (PDF). 12 August 2022. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
  12. ↑ "Boost for £4m plan to restore Burntisland Burgh Chambers". The Courier. 12 November 2021. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
  13. ↑ Hutchison, William Oliphant. "Sir Wilfred Ayre (1890–1971)". Art UK. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
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