Description

Dated 1892. 3-bay, single storey, bowling clubhouse with jerkin-head gables and overhanging bargeboarded eaves. Red brick with polychromatic brick dressings. Base course, painted stone cills and mullions.

S (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: step to half-piended, slated, gabled verandah with rusticated timber supports and part-glazed returns. Decorative timber panel infill with date, piended at apex; part-glazed timber door at centre. Bipartite windows in flanking bays and blind outer flanking walls; flag pole to left.

E ELEVATION: round-headed bipartite window to left of centre in advanced face, part-glazed timber door in recess to right with veranda roof and further timber door in recess with slightly raised roofline to outer right.

W ELEVATION: quadripartite bow window with tiled half-conical roof at centre.

Leaded small upper lights over plate glass lower to S and W, plate glass glazing to E and 6-pane glazing pattern to veranda. Decorative diamond bands to grey and purple slates; terracotta ridge tiles with ball finials and exposed eaves.

INTERIOR: seen 2013; 2 rooms. Principal room to left timber-lined with exposed boarded roof.

Statement of Interest

The Burntisland Bowling Club is a particulary well detailed and largely unaltered example of a late 19th century bowling clubhouse. It is an eclectic mix of neo-Tudor, Cottage-Orné and Arts and Crafts influences. The jerkin-head roofs, polychromatic brickwork, diamond slates and timber supports to the half-timbered veranda all add to its distinctive character and mark it out as exceptional in bowling club design. The building is prominently located and is visible from the sea road.

The history of lawn bowls in Scotland is long and distinguished and it remains a hugely popular sport. The earliest reference to the game in Scotland appearing in 1469 when James IV played a variation referred to as 'lang bowlis' at St Andrews in Fife. The first public bowling green in Scotland was laid out in 1669 at Haddington near Edinburgh. However, it was not until 1864 that William Mitchell of Glasgow committed the rules of the modern game to writing in his Manual of Bowl-Playing. Machine manufactured standard bowls were invented by Thomas Taylor Ltd, also of Glasgow, in 1871 and the Scottish Bowling Association was formed in 1892. The advent of indoor bowling also began in Scotland around 1879. There are currently (2013) around 900 clubs with an estimated 90,000 players. Sport is a hugely important part of Scotland's shared social and cultural history and it is fitting that the country's sport-related architectural heritage is so rich and varied.

Category changed from C to B and statutory address and list description updated as part of the sporting buildings thematic study (2012-13). Previously listed as 'South Greenmount Road, Bowling Club'.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17795019

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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