The Pollokshields Burgh Hall is a municipal building at the edge of Maxwell Park,

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. The burgh hall, which was briefly the headquarters of Pollokshields Burgh Council, is a Category A

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

The building was commissioned and endowed for future maintenance by the politician, Sir John Stirling Maxwell of

Pollok House Pollok House, formerly the family seat of the Stirling-Maxwell family, is located at Pollok Country Park in Glasgow, Scotland (which also houses the Burrell Collection). Overview The house, built in 1752 and originally thought to be designed ...

, as a gift for the people of Pollokshields. The site he selected in Glencairn Drive had formed part of the Old Pollok Estate, which had been home to the

Maxwell family Clan Maxwell is a Scottish clan of the Scottish Lowlands and is recognized as such by the Lord Lyon King of Arms. However, as the clan does not currently have a chief, it is considered an armigerous clan. History Origins of the clan The clai ...

for over 700 years. The burgh hall was designed by

Harry Edward Clifford Henry Edward Clifford Royal Institute of British Architects, FRIBA (12 September 1852 – 14 October 1932) was a Scottish architect, prominent in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.Scottish Baronial style Scottish baronial or Scots baronial is an architectural style of 19th-century Gothic Revival which revived the forms and ornaments of historical architecture of Scotland in the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. Reminiscent of Scot ...

and built with dark red

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

from the Ballochmyle Estate in

Ayrshire Ayrshire (, ) is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county, in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. The lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area of Ayrshire and Arran covers the entirety ...

. A ceremony was held at which Maxwell laid a memorial stone to commemorate the opening of the burgh hall and also the opening of Maxwell Park, which he had also gifted to the local people, on 25 October 1890. The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage facing Glencairn Drive; the main hall, which projected forward was on the left; the right bay featured a gabled porch with a round-headed doorway on the ground floor and a tower above; there is a

bartizan A bartizan (an alteration of ''bratticing''), also called a guerite, ''garita'', or ''échauguette'', or spelled bartisan, is an overhanging turret projecting from the walls of late-medieval and early-modern fortifications from the early 14th c ...

on the left-hand corner of the tower, seen on the photos above and below. The building was initially used as a

masonic Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

meeting place by masonic lodge no. 772 and was also briefly used as the headquarters of the independent

burgh A burgh ( ) is an Autonomy, autonomous municipal corporation in Scotland, usually a city, town, or toun in Scots language, Scots. This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when David I of Scotland, King David I created ...

Pollokshields Pollokshields (, Scots language, Scots: ''Powkshiels'') is an area in the Southside of Glasgow, Scotland. Its modern boundaries are largely man-made, being formed by the M77 motorway to the west and northwest with the open land of Pollok Count ...

until 1891, when the burgh was absorbed into the city of

. It was extended in 1935. After functioning as a day centre for

Glasgow Corporation Glasgow City Council (Scottish Gaelic: ''Comhairle Baile Ghlaschu'') is the local government authority for Glasgow City council area, Scotland. In its modern form it was created in 1996. Glasgow was formerly governed by a corporation, also kno ...

and then, from 1975, for

Strathclyde Regional Council Strathclyde ( in Welsh; in Gaelic, meaning 'strath alleyof the River Clyde') was one of nine former local government regions of Scotland created in 1975 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and abolished in 1996 by the Local Govern ...

, it was deemed surplus to requirements in 1982 and was acquired by the Pollokshields Burgh Hall Trust for a nominal sum in 1986. Following refurbishment by the trust it reopened for community use in 1997. The lower ground floor was refurbished and converted for conference use with financial support from the

National Heritage Memorial Fund The National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) was set up in 1980 to save the most outstanding parts of the British national heritage, in memory of those who have given their lives for the UK. It replaced the National Land Fund, which had fulfilled t ...

in the late 1990s. The actress,

Keira Knightley Keira Christina Knightley ( ; born 26 March 1985) is an English actress. Known for her work in independent films and Blockbuster (entertainment), blockbusters, particularly Historical drama, period dramas, she has received List of awards and no ...

, attended her brother's wedding at the hall in April 2011.

Architecture

The dominant external feature of the building is the high tower, while the entrance porch exhibits the Maxwell family coat of arms flanked by two Scottish lions. File:Pollok Memorial Stone.jpg, Foundation Stone File:Burgh Hall Entrance 3.jpg, The Tower with

at top left File:Maxwell COA.jpg, Maxwell Coat of Arms File:Morris Carswell Window 1.jpg, Stained Glass Window donated by Lodge Pollok's 1st Master Morris Carswell File:David R Clark Window 1.jpg, Stained Glass Window donated by Lodge Pollok's 2nd Master David R Clark

References

External links

*{{Commons category-inline City chambers and town halls in Scotland Category A listed buildings in Glasgow Masonic buildings in Scotland Listed government buildings in Scotland Government buildings in Glasgow 1890 establishments in Scotland Pollokshields Government buildings completed in 1890 Masonic buildings completed in 1890 Scottish baronial architecture

History

Architecture

See also

References

External links