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

ABDIE CURLING CLUB HOUSE, LECTURER'S INCH, LINDORES LOCH, NEAR NEWBURGHLB52182

Status: Designated

Documents

There are no additional online documents for this record.

Summary

Category
B
Date Added
17/03/2014
Local Authority
Fife
Planning Authority
Fife
Parish
Abdie
NGR
NO 26074 16623
Coordinates
326074, 716623

Description

Built between 1863 and 1865. Single storey, rectangular-plan, gabled, curling club house located at the north west end of Lindores Loch. Squared and snecked rubble with rock-faced quoins and raised cills. Entrance to east gable: later metal door flanked by openings with wrought iron bars (fragments of leaded diamond-pattern glazing behind) and timber shutters. Timber bargeboards and corrugated iron roof covering. Octagonal chimney can to west gable end.

Interior seen in 2013. Largely complete and unaltered interior with stone fireplace, press cupboard to west gable. Timber curling stone storage shelves to north and south walls. Cast iron Carron Dover stove.

Statement of Special Interest

The Abdie Curling Club House, probably built in 1864, is a rare, distinctive and substantially unaltered stone-built curling house in a scenic loch-side setting with rusticated dressings and an intact interior with a fireplace and timber shelving. The rural setting at the north west end of Lindores Loch in North Fife is both scenic and integral to the building type. A man-made curling pond area to the north east of the pavilion is currently overgrown with loch-side vegetation. Curling was likely to take place on the loch itself in the 19th century.

The use of stone construction rather than the more common timber is of interest with the rusticated rock-faced quoins in the classical manner adding to the visual interest. The building would have originally been thatched with reed from the loch-side. The simple interior scheme remains much as built with a fireplace, recessed cupboard, shelves for storing the curling stones, table and benches. The inclusion of a fireplace was an important feature of the building type.

The importance of the game of curling to Scotland's sporting history is second perhaps only to golf. Known as the 'Roarin' Game' after the sound of the stones on the ice, some argue that the game was brought to Scotland from the Low Countries, and others putting the case for a Scottish origin. The earliest reference to the game in print in Medieval Scotland is in 1541.

The longest continuously operating Curling Club in Scotland is Kilsyth in North Lanarkshire, instituted in 1716. The Duddingston Curling Society (instituted 1795) in Edinburgh had a strong influence on furthering interest in the game during the early years of the nineteenth century and their rules of 1806 form the basis of the modern game.

Its popularity increased dramatically in the early years of the 19th century, with varying rules and forms of play across the rapidly increasing number of clubs that were forming at that time, around 40 clubs by 1800 and at least 200 by 1850. Secure storage facilities for curling stones, near to the loch or curling pond, first began appearing during this period.

Abdie Curling Club has a complete set of minute books dating back to 1831, the year it was initiated. Kerr's A History of Curling (1890) notes that the Abdie Curling Club was "a revival in 1830 of an old club which had long been dormant". It was one of 36 Scottish curling clubs involved in the founding of the Grand Caledonian Curling Club in 1838, a national governing body for the sport to regulate and promote curling.

The drafting of the first constitution of the Grand Club was largely indebted to Captain James Ogilvy Dalgleish of Abdie Curling Club. His hand is visible in most of the constitution and the essential features including the promotion of the sport by providing medals for competitions between member clubs, establishing provincial 'bonspiels' (tournaments), inaugurating Grand Matches, and publishing an Annual, have remained much the same since it was unanimously adopted in 1838. Such was its success in promoting the sport that almost every mainland parish had a curling pond by the mid-19th century.

Most curling houses of the period were simple timber huts and very few of these survive. There are less than 10 curling club houses currently recognised through listing (2014). Four are built of stone, one is brick, the remaining are timber.

References

Bibliography

Ordnance Survey 1st Edition (1856). 25 Inch to the Mile, London: Ordnance Survey

Kerr, J (1890), A History of Curling, Edinburgh, pp 212, 239-241.

Historical Curling Places: www.historicalcurlingplaces.org

The Curling Blog (David B Smith; Bob Cowan): www.curlinghistory.blogspot.co.uk

Royal Caledonian Curling Club: http://royalcaledoniancurlingclub.org/curling-history/history-of-the-game

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.

Images

There are no images available for this record, you may want to check Canmore for images relating to ABDIE CURLING CLUB HOUSE, LECTURER'S INCH, LINDORES LOCH, NEAR NEWBURGH

There are no images available for this record.

Search Canmore

Printed: 29/03/2024 00:57