Annan Town Hall

Annan Town Hall is a municipal building in the High Street in Annan, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. The structure, which accommodates the local library and is also used as a venue for the provision of local services, is a Category B listed building.^[1]

Annan Town Hall
Annan Town Hall
Location	High Street, Annan
Coordinates	54°59′14″N 3°15′53″W / 54.9872°N 3.2646°W / 54.9872; -3.2646
Built	1878
Architect	Peter Smith
Architectural style(s)	Scottish baronial style
Listed Building – Category B
Official name	High Street, Town hall and freestanding lamps
Designated	3 August 1971
Reference no.	LB21097
Shown in Dumfries and Galloway

History

The first municipal building in the town was a tolbooth which dated back at least to the early 17th century: a clock, a bell and a steeple were added in 1740.^[2] Debtors were typically incarcerated in the prison cells there during the 18th and 19th centuries.^[3] However, by the mid-19th century it had become dilapidated and it was demolished in 1875.^[2]

The current building was designed by Peter Smith of Glasgow in the Scottish baronial style, built in red sandstone from Corsehill Quarry and was completed in 1878.^[4][5][6] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing east along the High Street. The central bay, which projected forward, contained a four-stage tower. There was a wide doorway with a round headed hood mould in the first stage, a French door with a rectangular fanlight and a stone balustraded balcony in the second stage, a vacant pedestal intended for a statue with a small canopy above in the third stage, and a belfry with louvres and bartizans in the fourth stage; the tower was surmounted by a spire. The outer bays were fenestrated with cross windows on both floors. Internally, the principal room was the council chamber on the first floor.^[1] The stained glasswork was carried out by Adam & Small^[7] and the clock was designed, manufactured and installed by Potts of Leeds in around 1900.^[8]

A stone carved with the words "Robert de Brus, Count of Carrick and Seigneur of Annan", which had originated from the 12th century Mote of Annan was removed to Devon where it was found in 1925.^[9] The stone recalled the Bruce dynasty who were Lords of Annandale; it was subsequently returned to Annan and installed in the council chamber in the town hall in 1927.^[10][11][12]

The town hall continued to serve as the meeting place of the burgh council for much of the 20th century. The burgh council was abolished in 1975.^[13][14] The burgh council's successor, Annandale and Eskdale District Council, also based itself at the town hall. It built a large extension to the north of the building alongside Battery Street, which it called the District Council Chambers, with its main entrance to the right of the old town hall facing the High Street.^[15] Since the district council's abolition in 1996 the modern building has been an area office of Dumfries and Galloway Council.^[16] The council also continues to use the town hall for meetings of the Annandale and Eskdale area committee.^[17]

In 2007, a local businesswoman, Janette Weild, launched an initiative to commission a statue of Robert the Bruce to place on the vacant pedestal on the third stage of the tower.^[18] The statue, which took the form of the Scottish king holding the Declaration of Arbroath in one hand and a sword in the other, was designed by Andrew Brown, cast in bronze at a cost of £43,000 and was installed on the pedestal in the presence of Charles Edward Bruce, Lord Bruce, the son and heir of Andrew Bruce, 11th Earl of Elgin, in January 2010.^[19] The local library relocated from Charles Street into the town hall in December 2017.^[20]

Works of art in the town hall include a painting by William Ewart Lockhart depicting two children.^[21]

See also

• List of listed buildings in Annan, Dumfries and Galloway

References

1. Historic Environment Scotland. "High Street, Town hall and freestanding lamps (LB21097)". Retrieved 19 July 2022.
2. Tolbooths and Town-houses Civic Architecture in Scotland to 1833. Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. 1996. p. 202. ISBN 978-0114957995. A grant was made for repairs to the tolbooth in 1610.
3. Wilkins, Francis (2014). "Smuggling in Annandale" (PDF). Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society. pp. 101, 106. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
4. Historic Environment Scotland. "Annan Town Hall (66489)". Canmore. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
5. "Annan Regeneration Masterplan Report". Dumfries and Galloway Council. 1 July 2010. p. 23. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
6. O'Connor, Susan (2017). "Architecture, power and ritual in Scottish town halls, 1833-1973" (PDF). University of Bath. p. 252.
7. Gossman, Lionel. "Stephen Adam: The Early Years and the Glasgow Studio". Victorian Web. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
8. Messrs William Potts of Leeds. Vol. 55. The British Architect: A Journal of Architecture and the Accessory Arts. 1901. p. 394.
9. Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland. Harper Collins. 2000. p. 31. ISBN 978-0007103539. The Brus (Bruce) Stone, with an inscription possibly referring to Robert I, was removed in the 19th century but rediscovered in Devon and returned in 1925.
10. Historic Environment Scotland. "Annan, Town Hall, The Bruce Stone (257205)". Canmore. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
11. Palmer, William T. (1939). The Verge of Scotland. R. Hale. p. 35. It was retrieved from a descendant of the Annandale Johnstones who lives in Devonshire, in 1925, and, two years later, unveiled in Annan Town Hall
12. Burrell, Sir William (1997). Sir William Burrell's Northern Tour, 1758. Tuckwell Press. The stone is now preserved within the council chamber of Annan Town Hall.
13. "Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973". Legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
14. "Annan Burgh". Vision of Britain. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
15. "No. 22887". The London Gazette. 28 December 1990. p. 2611.
16. "Social work offices". Dumfries and Galloway Council. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
17. "Location details". Dumfries and Galloway Council. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
18. "Statue of King Robert the Bruce". Annan Online. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
19. "Bruce statue arrives in Annan after 130 years waiting". Daily Record. 13 January 2010. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
20. "Dates set for launch of town's new-look library". DNG24. 20 August 2017. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
21. Lockhart, William Ewart. "Theodora and Marjorie". Art UK. Retrieved 19 July 2022.