Description

Robert Smith, 1886. Single storey, 3 bay, Tudor gothic former public library with 20th century additions to rear. Tooled squared and snecked sandstone with droved dressings; long and short quoins; chamfered reveals; hoodmoulds; overhanging eaves; plain bargeboards to gables.

W (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: asymmetrical; gabled porch slightly advanced to centre bay with timber panelled door and letterbox fanlight; window to left return; bipartite window in advanced gabled bay to right; window in bay to left.

S ELEVATION: asymmetrical; snecked sandstone rubble; 7 bay; blank bay to outer left; small window in penultimate bay to left, and window 3rd bay from left, both set in gable; 4th and 5th bays, 1891, advanced in central gable of with window in each; boarded timber door with 2 pane fanlight to left return; brick lean to addition with boarded timber door in penultimate bay to right; brick lean to addition with corrugated iron roof set at base of gable to outer right.

E ELEVATION: asymmetrical; snecked sandstone rubble; 3 bay; 20th century lean to addition between centre and right bays; regular fenestration to centre and left bays; brick lean to to outer left; bipartite window with relieving arch in gable to right.

N ELEVATION: asymmetrical; 5 bay; windows to centre and outer left bay breaking eaves with cat slide roofs; shouldered chimney in penultimate bay to left with carved quatrefoil panel reading "RD 1886" (Robert Dundas); gabled timber door with 2 pane fanlight in penultimate bay to right; tripartite window in bay to outer right with relieving arch; carved tablet bearing the lion rampant (for Dundas) set in gablehead.

Predominantly 2 pane and 4 pane timber sash and case windows. Grey slate roof with lead ridge; cast iron rainwater goods; coped tooled shouldered wallhead stacks.

INTERIOR: not seen 1997.

Statement of Interest

Known as the Newbyres Reading Room, the hall was built by Robert Dundas as a public library (for books originally donated by Dr Milne of the gunpowder mill). In addition it was used by Gorebridge Working Men's Club for "social intercourse, instruction and rational amusement" (Gorebridge Yesterdays p5). The building was described has

"neat and handsome [in] appearance" with the grounds being ". . . tastefully laid out in terraces and sown with grass" (Gorebridge Yesterdays p5). It was subsequently used as a school, doctors surgery, and is now a private house.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q77771160

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.

Recommended Books

• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas