Whithorn, 65-69 George Street, Old Town Hall

Photographic survey of buildings in Whithorn, Wigtownshire, by the Scottish National Buildings Record in 1962.

Situated near the middle of the W side of George Street, the former town hall is of irregular T-shaped plan, having a two-storeyed main block to the street and a square steeple and two-storeyed wing to the rear. The gabled main block, which is of three bays and is inscribed '1814' on the blocking-course, presents a somewhat domestic appearance. The steeple is of traditional character, and it has been suggested that it is of early 18th-century date. While the carefully-wrought ashlar of its conical spire may have been re-used, however, the building as a whole appears to be of early 19th-century date.

It measures 12.8m across the main (E) front by 7.2m, and the steeple and rear wing extend a further 9.9m to the W. The masonry is of rubble with dressed margins, the street frontage being harled. The main block has stepped quoins, and a channelled surround to the segmental-headed central doorway. To the N of this there is an inserted square-headed doorway, probably of late 19th-century date, which opens into the N ground-floor room. The shop-front in the S part of this frontage was inserted in the early 20th century, and the ground-floor rooms in the main block were probably entered originally from the central corridor.

The steeple, which is of four stages, is set at the centre of the rear wall of the main block. It has narrow raised margins to the quoins and the three round-headed openings of the belfry stage. The top stage, which is slightly intaken above an ashlar band, contains circular clock-faces. Its cornice carries a balustraded parapet within which there is an ashlar-built conical spire, having a ship as weather-vane.

Internally, the building retains few early features, but the main meeting-room on the first floor of the main block has an original chimney piece in the S wall and a co om bed ceiling. There are two vaulted cells in the rear wing at ground-floor level, and the room above these, as well as the rooms at both levels in the SW re-entrant of the steeple and main block, were also used for prison-accommodation.

In the steeple there hangs a bell, 0.51m in diameter and inscribed, between two bands of fleurs-de-lis: PETER VANDER GHEIN HEEFT MY GHEGOTEN INT IAER / 1708 (,Peter van den Ghein cast me in the year 1708') .

HISTORY

Historical evidence is limited, but it is known that a tolbooth was in existence at Whithorn from at least the middle of the 17th century. A contract for its repair was made with a local landowner in 1664, and it was rebuilt in 1708-9. A re-used stone inscribed' 1709' is built into the rear wall of the present building. The local minister in 1795 stated that: 'About the centre of the town, there is a good hall for public meetings, adorned with a spire and turrets, and provided with a set of bells'. It evidently stood on an island site, for in 1839 it was reported that 'the town-house and gaol were removed about twenty years ago from the middle of the street, where they formerly stood, and are now erected upon the west side of the street, about the centre of the town, and ornamented with a steeple'. A new town hall was built in 1885, but the upper floor of the old building remained in use by the local authority.

Information from ‘Tolbooths and Town-Houses: Civic Architecture in Scotland to 1833’ (1996).

In 1708 the town was granted £5 sterling by the Convention of Royal Burghs towards the rebuilding of its tolbooth, and in 1709 £100 Scots for both tolbooth and harbour. In 1709 it also received 100 merks from the Exchequer towards the building of a steeple and casting of a bell. At the time of Bishop Pococke’s visit in 1760, the tolbooth consisted of ‘a square tower in the middle of the street, which they always keep well whitened’. It was replaced by a new town house in 1814 (figs 25 & 26). There have been suggestions that the present tower may date from the early eighteenth century rebuilding, but it cannot, as it definitely stands on a different site. A Dutch bell dated 1708 hung in the present steeple, and a stone dated 1709 is built into the rear wall of the present building. The bell is presumably that paid for with Exchequer funds and the date-stone records the rebuilding work undertaken on the old tolbooth at that time.

Information from ‘The Scottish Burgh Survey, Historic Whithorn: Archaeology and Development’ (2010).