Listed Building

The only legal part of the listing under the Planning (Listing Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 is the address/name of site. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing – see 'About Listed Buildings' below for more information. The further details below the 'Address/Name of Site' are provided for information purposes only.

Address/Name of Site

HIGH STREET, TOWN HALLLB22820

Status: Designated

Documents

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Summary

Category
B
Date Added
03/08/1977
Local Authority
Fife
Planning Authority
Fife
Burgh
Burntisland
NGR
NT 23250 85818
Coordinates
323250, 685818

Description

John Henderson, 1843 with addition of W wing in 1903 and alterations, 1950s and 1964. 2-storey gothic Town Hall with 4-stage battered spire. Ornamental blind arcaded parapet with pepperpot turret. Fleche. Ashlar with stone cills and quoins, chamfered base course, moulded string course and eaves course; stone mullions and transoms, deeply chamfered arrises, hoodmoulds with label-stops and voussoirs. Pointed arch doors and windows, traceried windows.

N (HIGH STREET) ELEVATION: slightly advanced door to left of centre at foot of spire (see below), bipartite window and tripartite window to right, 2-leaf gothic panelled door with 2-light fanlight to outer right, regular fenestration at 1st floor with cusped windowheads and hoodmoulds with label-stops below decorative parapet with corbelled pepperpot turret to outer right. 2 windows in broad gabled bay to left at ground, large window above with curvilinear tracery, hoodmould with label-stops and small quatrefoil opening over in gablehead.

SPIRE: engaged 4-stage tower with spire. Slightly advanced to N; plinth, boarded door with quatrefoil in timber tympanum, moulded doorcase: 2nd stage with saw-tooth coped batter beneath saw-tooth coped buttresses flanking pointed lancet with hoodmould and label-stops; 3rd stage with octagonal towerhead, small pointed-arch lights with hoodmoulds and label-stops to N, S, E and W, below single arcaded-frieze: 4th stage with saw-tooth coped batter below belfry, 8 deeply chamfered pointed-arch louvred openings with colonnettes, Roman clock faces to NE, NW, SE and SW and single blank course surmounted by billetted cornice. Slated octagonal spire with louvred stone gablet lucarnes to N, S, E and W, and cockerel weathervane.

E ELEVATION: 4-bay with bipartite timber doors to left and right of centre, both with plate glass fanlights, windows to outer right and left; regular fenestration at 1st floor, cusped bipartite windows with hoodmoulds and diamond label-stops.

W ELEVATION: quatrefoil opening in gablehead to left with flat-roofed (extension?) to right.

S ELEVATION: W wing (obscured at ground). Broad gable to left of centre with 3 regular pointed lancets at 1st floor, 2 windows to right, further narrow window to outer right; pointed lancet in gablehead and large rooflight to right. Timber fleche as birdcage bellcote disguising ventilation flue, cusped arches and leaded, swept pyramidal roof with diminutive gablet lucarnes and decorative finial.

Small-pane leaded glazing pattern to 1st floor N, plate glass glazing in fixed windows to ground and 1st floor E. Grey slates. Ashlar coped skews, gablet skewputts, gablet-coped ashlar skews. Coped ashlar stacks and cans. Cast-iron downpipes with decorative rainwater hoppers (lion design to E) and fixings.

INTERIOR: gothic decorative scheme to principal rooms. Top-lit stone stair with colonnetted timber balustrade and fine carved lion newel post finial; brass chandelier presented by Robert Johnston of London, 1819.

Magistrates Room with carved armorial panel over door; and panelled Burgh Chamber with large rectangular rooflight and carved armorial panel, in new W wing.

Council Chamber with open beam ceiling, dado height panelling and ornamental gallery with model galleon (The St Michael).

Statement of Special Interest

Built to replace the 1616 Tolbooth, the Town Hall now houses the bell from that building described in the 1933 Royal Commission Inventory as a "large and unusually good casting" with "2 annulets on the sound-bow and 7 at the waist above which are 2 representations in bas-relief of full-rigged ships". Pearson notes the re-siting to the Town Hall of "the Royal Arms of Scotland, dated 1382 and originally hung on the vestibule wall at Rossend Castle".

Burntisland became a Royal Burgh in 1541.

References

Bibliography

BURNTISLAND, J M Pearson (1992). Royal Commission Inventory (1933).

About Listed Buildings

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Listing is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for buildings of special architectural or historic interest as set out in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.

We list buildings which are found to be of special architectural or historic interest using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Listed building records provide an indication of the special architectural or historic interest of the listed building which has been identified by its statutory address. The description and additional information provided are supplementary and have no legal weight.

These records are not definitive historical accounts or a complete description of the building(s). If part of a building is not described it does not mean it is not listed. The format of the listed building record has changed over time. Earlier records may be brief and some information will not have been recorded.

The legal part of the listing is the address/name of site which is known as the statutory address. Other than the name or address of a listed building, further details are provided for information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland does not accept any liability for any loss or damage suffered as a consequence of inaccuracies in the information provided. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing. Even if a number or name is missing from a listing address it will still be listed. Listing covers both the exterior and the interior and any object or structure fixed to the building. Listing also applies to buildings or structures not physically attached but which are part of the curtilage (or land) of the listed building as long as they were erected before 1 July 1948.

While Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating listed buildings, the planning authority is responsible for determining what is covered by the listing, including what is listed through curtilage. However, for listed buildings designated or for listings amended from 1 October 2015, legal exclusions to the listing may apply.

If part of a building is not listed, it will say that it is excluded in the statutory address and in the statement of special interest in the listed building record. The statement will use the word 'excluding' and quote the relevant section of the 1997 Act. Some earlier listed building records may use the word 'excluding', but if the Act is not quoted, the record has not been revised to reflect subsequent legislation.

Listed building consent is required for changes to a listed building which affect its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest. The relevant planning authority is the point of contact for applications for listed building consent.

Find out more about listing and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.

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Printed: 28/03/2024 19:18