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Inverbervie, Church Street, Council Offices And Library
Library (Period Unassigned), Town Hall (19th Century)
Site Name Inverbervie, Church Street, Council Offices And Library
Classification Library (Period Unassigned), Town Hall (19th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Town House
Canmore ID 36845
Site Number NO87SW 18
NGR NO 82981 72637
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/36845
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Bervie
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Kincardine And Deeside
- Former County Kincardineshire
NO87SW 18 82981 72637
Inverbervie town-house, of two storeys, was built in 1569 and rebuilt in 1720 (these dates are inscribed above the door). It consists of a hall and small council-room in the upper floor, and the lower contains the flesh and meat market, to which there is attached a small arched vault, sometimes used to retain troublesome vagrants for a few hours. It has also a handsome belfry.
New Statistical Account (NSA) 1845; J C Watt 1914
(NO 830 726) Town House, Church Street: Two storey classic, rubble and slate capped by an 18th century belfry. Built about 1840. Contains two jail vaults and upper hall with council chamber. Inset stone 1569.
SDD List, undated
Listed.
Scottish Castle Survey 1988; N Bogdan and I B D Bryce 1991.
Publication Account (1996)
This two-storeyed rectangular building stands on the S side of Church Street. Measuring 17.4m across the five-bayed main (N) front by 6.6m, it is built of coursed rubble and the hipped roof is slated. The projecting central bay of the N front contains a round-headed arch enclosing a lintelled entrance doorway, nd a round-headed first-floor window rises into the wall-head pediment. This carried a round-arched bell cot which was removed in 1965. Built into the E wall at the wall head there is a re-used lintel inscribed' 1569', possibly from an earlier tolbooth in the market-place at the NW end of the High Street.
Although the appearance of the building indicates that it was extensively rebuilt in the middle of the 19th century, its fabric may incorporate work of 1720, a date which was formerly inscribed above the doorway. In 1837 the upper floor was used as a meeting-hall and council-chamber, while the ground floor contained a market-area and vaulted cell. Modern conversion of the building has obscured any early features of the interior.
On the open platform above the central pediment there is a bell, dated 1792 and believed to have come from the old parish church, which was exchanged with one cast by Thomas Mears and inscribed: GIVEN BY PROVOST BARCLAY TO THE BURGH OF BERVIE 1791. This now hangs in the parish church, and the exchange probably took place when that building was opened in 1837.
Information from ‘Tolbooths and Town-Houses: Civic Architecture in Scotland to 1833’ (1996).
