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Cellardyke Town Hall

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Municipal building in Cellardyke, Scotland

Cellardyke Town Hall
Cellardyke Town Hall
LocationTolbooth Wynd, Cellardyke
Coordinates56°13′23″N 2°41′23″W / 56.2231°N 2.6898°W / 56.2231; -2.6898
Built1883
ArchitectDavid Henry and Jesse Hall
Architectural style(s)Gothic Revival style
Cellardyke Town Hall is located in FifeCellardyke Town HallShown in Fife

Cellardyke Town Hall is a municipal structure in Tolbooth Wynd, Cellardyke, Fife, Scotland. The building is used for local events. The mercat cross, which has been affixed to the front of the building, is a Category B listed structure.

History

The first municipal building in Cellardyke was a tolbooth which was completed in 1624. A new mercat cross was carved at that time and erected outside the building in 1642. The tolbooth was used as a prison as well as being a regular meeting place for Kilrenny Burgh Council. By the early 1880s, the tolbooth had become dilapidated and the burgh leaders decided to demolish the tolbooth and to erect a new building on the same site. The politician and shipping company founder, Stephen Williamson, and the Australian grocery wholesaler, David Fowler, each agreed to contribute £5,000 to the cost of the new building.

The foundation stone for the new building was laid by the provost, Robert Watson, on 5 April 1882. It was designed by David Henry and Jesse Hall of the St Andrews firm of Henry & Hall, built in rubble masonry and was officially opened as "Kilrenny Town Hall" on 19 September 1883. The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage of five bays facing Tolbooth Wynd. The fourth bay from the left featured an arched opening with a wrought iron gate and a hood mould; there was a mullioned and transomed window on the first floor and a clock face in the stepped gable above. The first three bays on the left were fenestrated in a similar style, while in the right-hand bay, which was recessed, the old mercat cross was affixed to wall. There was a stone plaque above the mercat cross inscribed with the words "Erected by Stephen Williamson and David Fowler For Municipal and other Purposes in this their native town A.D. 1883". The right hand bay was fenestrated by a small window above and to the left of the plaque and was surmounted a stepped gable which contained a plain stone panel. Internally, the principal rooms were the burgh chambers and a meeting room for the St Ayles Masonic Lodge on the ground floor, and the main assembly hall on the first floor.

The council chamber continued to serve as the meeting place of the burgh council into the 20th century but ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlarged Kilrenny, Anstruther Easter and Anstruther Wester Burgh Council was formed at Anstruther Easter Town Hall in 1930. A contingent which formed part of the Polish I Corps was accommodated in the building during the early years of the Second World War.

After North-East Fife District declared its intention to close the building in the mid-1980s, the specially formed Cellardyke Town Hall Committee took a lease on the building in 1988. The committee initiated a programme of refurbishment works which was completed in 1995: the works provided facilities for a local history museum and also enabled allowed the assembly hall to be used as a community events venue. The committee was merged into the East Neuk Centre Trust, which also administered Anstruther Easter Town Hall, in 2015.

Works of art in the town hall include a landscape painted by Sidney Richard Percy depicting highland cattle drinking from the River Llugwy in Northwest Wales.

References

  1. Historic Environment Scotland. "Cellardyke, Tolbooth Road, Market Cross Affixed To Town Hall (LB36012)". Retrieved 22 August 2022.
  2. Corstorphine, Alexander (1 September 2009). "The Evolution of Cellardyke". Cellardyke Residents Association. Retrieved 25 July 2024.
  3. Worrall's directory of the north-eastern counties of Scotland comprising the counties of Forfar, Fife, Kinross, Aberdeen, Banff, and Kincardine. Oldham: John Worrall. 1877. p. 179.
  4. "The Tolbooth & Mercat Cross". Cellardyke Historical Boards. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
  5. "Cellardyke Town Hall: Some events which have taken place over the years" (PDF). Cellardyke Trust. p. 26. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
  6. ^ "Cellardyke Town Hall". East Neuk Centre Trust. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
  7. "Cellardyke Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plan" (PDF). Fife Council. 1 June 2015. p. 8. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
  8. "Kilrenny Town Hall". Dictionary of Scottish Architects. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
  9. "Kilrenny Burgh". Vision of Britain. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
  10. Historic Environment Scotland. "Cellardyke, Tollbooth Wynd, Town Hall (214576)". Canmore. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
  11. Stevenson, Stephanie (2004). Anstruther: A History. John Donald. p. 206. ISBN 978-1904607441.
  12. Gillon, Jack (2015). East Neuk of Fife Through Time. Amberley Publishing. ISBN 978-1445653501.
  13. Percy, Sidney Richard. "Landscape with Highland Cattle". Art UK. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
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