Colinsburgh Town Hall
{{short description|Municipal building in Colinsburgh, Scotland}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox historic site
| name = Colinsburgh Town Hall
| native_name =
| image = Colinsburgh Town Hall (geograph 4006344).jpg
| caption= Colinsburgh Town Hall
| locmapin =Scotland Fife
| map_caption =Shown in Fife
| coordinates ={{coord| 56.2211|-2.8437 |type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}}
| location = Main Street, Colinsburgh
| area =
| built =1895
| architect = Andrew Dewar and Alexander Cumming Dewar
| architecture = Free Style
| website=
}}
Colinsburgh Town Hall is a municipal building in Main Street, Colinsburgh, Fife, Scotland. The building is used as a community events venue.
History
For most of the 19th century, community events in Colinsburgh were held in the local school, but, in the early 1880s, the artist, Lady Caroline Coutts Lindsay, led an initiative to establish a dedicated town hall. The initiative gathered pace when Captain James Scott-Davidson of Cairnie took charge of fundraising and secured a significant contribution from Eudoxie, Countess of Lindsay, who, with her husband, John Trotter Bethune, 10th Earl of Lindsay, lived at Kilconquhar House.{{cite web|url=https://www.eastneukestates.co.uk/about-the-estates-of-the-east-neuk/kilconquhar/|title=Kilconquhar|publisher=East Neuk Eastates|access-date=6 January 2025}}{{cite web|url=https://www.scottishheritage.net/kilconquharcastle.html |title= Kilconquhar Castle|publisher=Scottish Heritage| access-date=6 January 2025}} The site they chose for the new town hall in Main Street was occupied by the Countess of Lindsay's sewing school.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bGMLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA185 |title=Annals of Colinsburgh With Notes on Church Life in Kilconquhar Parish|first= Robert |last=Dick|year= 1896 |pages=185–186|publisher=A, Elliot}}
Construction on the new building started in 1894.{{cite web|url=http://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/building_full.php?id=205451 |title=Colinsburgh Town Hall|publisher=Dictionary of Scottish Architects|access-date=23 August 2022}} It was designed by Andrew Dewar and Alexander Cumming Dewar of the Edinburgh architectural practice of A. and A. C. Dewar, built in black basalt whinstone with ashlar dressings and was officially opened by James Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford, whose seat was at Balcarres House, on 25 October 1895.{{cite web|url= https://www.scottish-places.info/towns/townfirst28.html |title=Colinsburgh|publisher= Gazetteer for Scotland| access-date=23 August 2022}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hFVIAQAAIAAJ |title= Scottish Architects' Papers: A Source Book |first= Rebecca M. |last=Bailey |year=1996|publisher=Rutland Press|page=112|isbn= 978-1873190388}}{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=SkFIAQAAIAAJ |title=Fife (Buildings of Scotland Series)|first=John |last=Gifford|publisher=Penguin|year=1988|isbn= 978-0140710779|page=128}} The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of thee bays facing Main Street. The central bay featured a prominent porte-cochère formed by square Doric order columns supporting segmental archways with voussoirs and keystones surmounted by a parapet. On the first floor, there was a large Diocletian window, also with voussoirs and a keystone, flanked by pilasters with finials and surmounted by a gable containing the inscription "Colinsburgh 1894 Town Hall". The outer bays took the form of single storey circular structures with conical roofs. Internally, the principal room was the main assembly hall which was well-lit by the Diocletian window.{{cite web|url=https://www.fife.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0027/155916/Colinsburgh-Conservation-Area-Appraisal-and-Management-Plan.pdf |title= Colinsburgh Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plan|publisher=Fife Council|page=14|date=1 August 2012|access-date=23 August 2022}}
A central heating system was installed in the building in 1904.{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=yFg_AQAAMAAJ |title=For heating Colinsburgh Town Hall|publisher=The Architect and Building News |volume=72 |year=1904| access-date=23 August 2022}} The building was brought under the management of the Colinsburgh Town Hall Management Committee which was formed in 1966,{{cite web|url= https://www.oscr.org.uk/about-charities/search-the-register/charity-details?number=SC022455 |title=Colinsburgh Town Hall|publisher=Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator| access-date=23 August 2022}} and then continued to serve as a community events venue for Colinsburgh through the remainder of the 20th century and into the 21st century.{{cite web|url=https://our.fife.scot/__data/assets/pdf_file/0029/187625/Colinsburgh_Kilconquhar_CAP.pdf |title= Colinsburgh and Kilconquhar Community Action Plan|page=4|publisher= Colinsburgh and Kilconquhar Community Action Plan Steering Group|year=2016| access-date=23 August 2022}} A programme of works to refurbish the town hall and to remodel it internally was carried out with financial support from the National Lottery Community Fund and was completed in 2011.{{cite web|url= https://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/funding/grants/0030061828|title= Refurbishing Colinsburgh Town Hall|publisher= National Lottery Community Fund| access-date=23 August 2022}} Then the windows were replaced, also with financial support from the National Lottery Community Fund, in 2018.{{cite web|url= https://grantnav.threesixtygiving.org/grant/360G-tnlcomfund-0010338965 |title=Colinsburgh Town Hall: Replacing our windows| publisher= National Lottery Community Fund| access-date=23 August 2022}}