Description

1856; later additions and alterations. Single storey, 5-bay former school. Tooled squared and snecked sandstone polished to margins. Chamfered reveals; strip quoins; overhanging eaves.

SE (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: asymmetrical; regular fenestration to centre 3 bays; gabled bay advanced to left with bipartite window to centre, and louvred opening set in gablehead; gabled porch to re-entrant angle to right, window to centre, boarded timber door to right return. Gabled porch advanced to bay to outer right, window to centre, with blind plaque above, birdcage bellcote to apex with bell surviving, and obelisk finial, boarded timber door to right return.

NE ELEVATION: gabled; cement-faced kitchen wing advanced to ground floor, opening set in gablehead.

NW ELEVATION: asymmetrical; 5-bay; regular fenestration to 4 bays to left, gabled bay stepped-forward to right, window to centre, louvred opening set in gablehead.

SW ELEVATION: 4-bay, regular fenestration.

Replacement PVCu window. Slate roof with tiled ridge. Coped gablehead and ridge stacks with circular cans. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: simple interior, boarded timer below cill level; cast-iron fire surrounds to majority of rooms, with neo-classical detailing.

GATES, GATEPIERS AND BOUNDARY WALLS: sandstone random rubble walls, with stepped coping, swept round to 2 oversized circular gatepiers with waisted necks, cornicing and curved caps; 2-leaf simple iron gates.

Statement of Interest

Reddingmuirhead Community Centre was originally built as a school by the Duke of Hamilton to serve the Redding Colliery. It was used as such until 1870, when, following the Education Act, the School Board took it over. The student roll outgrew Reddingmuirhead School (or Mr Liddle's School, as it was also known), and a new school was built, leaving the old school empty. In 1906 the school was taken on for use as recreation rooms for the young miners of the district. Three years later the hall was upgraded, and formally reopened as Reddingmuir Institute on the 18th of June 1910, with the purpose, according to the Duchess of Hamilton, of being an "attractive place...where harmless amusement and recreation could be engaged in" (The Falkirk Herald). Facilities provided within the Institute included a reading room, billiard room, recreation room, hall, shooting gallery and bowling green to the rear. With the exception of the replacement windows, Reddingmuirhead Community Centre survives largely unaltered since the 1910 refurbishment. The oversized gatepiers are particularly unusual.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q77774642

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

• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)