Listed Building

The only legal part of the listing under the Planning (Listing Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 is the address/name of site. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing – see 'About Listed Buildings' below for more information. The further details below the 'Address/Name of Site' are provided for information purposes only.

Address/Name of Site

14 - 20 (EVEN NOS) UNION STREET AND 3 - 11 (ODD NOS) REGISTER STREET, FORMER CUSTOM HOUSELB22400

Status: Designated

Documents

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Summary

Category
B
Date Added
25/11/1980
Local Authority
Falkirk
Planning Authority
Falkirk
Burgh
Bo'Ness
NGR
NS 99973 81789
Coordinates
299973, 681789

Description

William Simpson of Stirling, circa 1880. Extensive 2-storey commercial range with splayed angle to W. Deep base course forming ground floor cill course, stepped band course and eaves course. Squared and snecked bull-faced rubble with ashlar dressings. Roll-moulded segmental-headed openings to ground and basket-arched openings to 1st floor; deeply moulded doorheads; hoodmoulds with label stops; bracketted piend roofs; raked cills; stop-chamfered arrises, stone transoms and mullions.

N (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: prominent centre bay with paired panelled timber doors and plate glass fanlights linked under segmental hoodmould with high relief carved crown flanked by 'V' and 'R', bipartite window at 1st floor giving way to cast-iron letters 'CUSTOM HOUSE' breaking eaves into corbelled cornice and piended roof. Flanking bays with single and bipartite windows punctuated by 2 further doors to left and 1 to right at ground, and smaller piend-roofed 1st floor bays; bay to outer left with transomed bipartite window at 1st floor with floreate carved top 'lights' flanked by canine gargoyles and breaking eaves into spike-finialled pavilion roof.

E ELEVATION: single window to ground with bipartite to 1st floor.

S (REGISTER STREET) ELEVATION: similar door and window treatment.

4-pane and plate glass glazing patterns in timber sash and case windows. Grey slates. Coped ashlar stacks with cans. Decorative cast-iron finials.

INTERIOR: little altered interiors retaining decorative plasterwork cornices and centre roses; stone dog-leg staircases with decorative cast-iron balusters; architraved surrounds, panelled timber shutters and carved and plain timber fire surrounds. Also with etched glass screen door and tiled hall to No 7 Register Street.

Statement of Special Interest

In 1672 Bo'ness received 'the liberty to export, import and retail' and subsequently the customs office was transferred here from Blackness. When a protest was sent to Edinburgh's provost from Linlithgow's town council, they were informed that they would have to provide, rent free for a year, a 'convenient office house', as well as 'accommodation for officers, merchants and mariners' together with boats, horses and workmen to enable the merchants to work 'at as easy rates as they were used to'. This requirement indicating the high standards offered at Bo'ness. The large property produced is evidence of the scale of trade and nature of the economy in Bo'ness at this date.

References

Bibliography

Gifford and Walker STIRLING AND DISTRICT (2002), p253. Dennison and Coleman HISTORIC LINLITHGOW, p35.

About Listed Buildings

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Listing is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for buildings of special architectural or historic interest as set out in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.

We list buildings which are found to be of special architectural or historic interest using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Listed building records provide an indication of the special architectural or historic interest of the listed building which has been identified by its statutory address. The description and additional information provided are supplementary and have no legal weight.

These records are not definitive historical accounts or a complete description of the building(s). If part of a building is not described it does not mean it is not listed. The format of the listed building record has changed over time. Earlier records may be brief and some information will not have been recorded.

The legal part of the listing is the address/name of site which is known as the statutory address. Other than the name or address of a listed building, further details are provided for information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland does not accept any liability for any loss or damage suffered as a consequence of inaccuracies in the information provided. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing. Even if a number or name is missing from a listing address it will still be listed. Listing covers both the exterior and the interior and any object or structure fixed to the building. Listing also applies to buildings or structures not physically attached but which are part of the curtilage (or land) of the listed building as long as they were erected before 1 July 1948.

While Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating listed buildings, the planning authority is responsible for determining what is covered by the listing, including what is listed through curtilage. However, for listed buildings designated or for listings amended from 1 October 2015, legal exclusions to the listing may apply.

If part of a building is not listed, it will say that it is excluded in the statutory address and in the statement of special interest in the listed building record. The statement will use the word 'excluding' and quote the relevant section of the 1997 Act. Some earlier listed building records may use the word 'excluding', but if the Act is not quoted, the record has not been revised to reflect subsequent legislation.

Listed building consent is required for changes to a listed building which affect its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest. The relevant planning authority is the point of contact for applications for listed building consent.

Find out more about listing and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.

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