Scalloway Public Hall is a municipal building on Berry Road in

Scalloway Scalloway (, name of the bay) is the largest settlement on the west coast of the Mainland, Shetland, Mainland, the largest island of the Shetland, Scotland. The village had a population of roughly 900, at the 2011 census. Now a fishing port, u ...

Shetland Shetland (until 1975 spelled Zetland), also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands, and Norway, marking the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the ...

in Scotland. The building, which is used as a community events venue, is a Category C

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

Scalloway Town Hall - stained glass window - geograph

Following significant population growth, largely associated with fishing industry, civic leaders decided to commission a public hall for Scalloway. The development, which was financed by the Scottish-American businessman,

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie ( , ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the History of the iron and steel industry in the United States, American steel industry in the late ...

, included a public library and a

mechanics' institute Mechanics' institutes, also known as mechanics' institutions, sometimes simply known as institutes, and also called schools of arts (especially in the Australian colonies), were educational establishments originally formed to provide adult edu ...

. The site they selected was open land on the west side of Berry Road. The new building followed a freestyle design, was built in

rubble masonry Rubble masonry or rubble stone is rough, uneven building stone not laid in regular courses. It may fill the core of a wall which is faced with unit masonry such as brick or ashlar. Some medieval cathedral walls have outer shells of ashlar wi ...

with

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

stone dressings and was completed in 1902. The design involved a main block of three bays, with a circular entrance tower to the right, facing south onto Berry Road. The main block was fenestrated by three

casement window A casement window is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges at the side. They are used singly or in pairs within a common frame, in which case they are hinged on the outside. Casement windows are often held open using a c ...

s on the ground floor and by a large Venetian window on the first floor with a wide gable above. At roof level, there was a square metal tower with a slate base and clock faces, surmounted by a

weather vane A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , m ...

. The circular entrance tower, which was faced in ashlar stone, featured a doorway in a stone surround on the ground floor, and a casement window on the first floor, all surmounted by a

crenelated A battlement, in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at intervals t ...

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...

. Internally, the principal room was the assembly hall, which stretched back to the north behind the main frontage. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, when Scalloway accommodated the headquarters of the

Shetland bus The Shetland Bus ( Norwegian Bokmål: ''Shetlandsbussene'', def. pl.) was the nickname of a clandestine special operations group that made a permanent link between Mainland Shetland in Scotland and German-occupied Norway from 1941 until t ...

, part of the Norwegian resistance against the

German occupation German-occupied Europe, or Nazi-occupied Europe, refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly militarily occupied and civil-occupied, including puppet states, by the (armed forces) and the government of Nazi Germany at ...

, the public hall operated as a 100-bed hospital for use by soldiers and evacuees from Norway. The assembly hall was extended to the east and west with modern additions during the second half of the 20th century. In the early 1970s, the building was the venue for a talk by the county development officer from Zetland County Council, Michael Stansbury, on the proposed Sullom Voe Terminal and the likely implications for Scalloway as a potential service centre. In the 21st century, the building continued to be used for public meetings, film premieres and concerts. Performers have included

Jarvis Cocker Jarvis Branson Cocker (born 19 September 1963) is an English musician. As the founder, frontman, lyricist and only consistent member of the band Pulp (band), Pulp, he became a reluctant figurehead of the Britpop genre of the mid-1990s. Cocker h ...

and

Candida Doyle Candida Mary Doyle (born 25 August 1963) is an Irish musician who is keyboard player and occasional backing vocalist with the band Pulp, which she joined in 1984. She joined her brother, drummer Magnus Doyle, in the line-up to replace the prev ...

from the

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band,

Pulp Pulp may refer to: * Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit * Pulp (band), an English rock band Engineering * Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper * Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture ...

, who appeared at a function in August 2023.

References

{{reflist Category C listed buildings in Shetland 1902 establishments in Scotland City chambers and town halls in Scotland Government buildings completed in 1902 Listed government buildings in Scotland

History

See also

References