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Summary

Description

Circa 1937 with 1973 addition. Single storey, 5-bay, rectangular plan, symmetrical bowling pavilion to W of bowling green, within a public park; NE (principal) elevation with full-width veranda and triangular gable feature with clock to centre above veranda. Rendered with long and short ashlar margins. Overhanging eaves with timber boarding to soffit.

FURTHER DESCRIPTION: veranda with square, tapered, timber columns and elliptical beams; curved brakets to central columns, vertical timber boarding and glazed screen to veranda returns. Set-back elevation with bipartite window including stone mullion to centre and end bays, single entrances to flanking bays with panelled timber doors and fanlights. Pair of single windows to NW elevation. Lean-to SW (rear) elevation with door to returns. 1973 flat roofed addition to SE elevation.

Predominantly 3-pane top hung hoppers over 2 fixed panes in timber windows. Piended clay tiled roof, clay ridge tiles and finials.

INTERIOR: (seen 2012). Plan form largely unaltered consisting of kiosk at centre flanked by locker rooms. Kiosk converted to kitchen in 1965 but original timber lockers and bowls storage retained. Vertically boarded timber walls and ceiling. Cloakroom to N with continuous timber bench and memorial plaque consisting of bust set within round arch stone niche over inscribed plaque (see NOTES).

Statement of Special Interest

Good example of an interwar bowling pavilion constructed for municipal use. The building is well-detailed with a tapered columned veranda and a clock in the gable. The building retains many original features to the interior particularly its timber lockers and bowling ball storage, as well as the park's dedication niche. The inscription to the plaque reads 'JOHN STEWART BOYLE . A NATIVE OF FORFAR . DONAR OF THIS PARK AND . OTHER GIFTS TO FORFAR . DIED 1935 IN HIS 84TH YEAR'. The building is part of the burgh's social history.

The bowling green and pavilion is situated in the northeast corner of Boyle Park. The park was funded by Mrs Isabella Boyle from Glasgow, in memory of her late husband, John Stewart Boyle, a native of Forfar. The park was officially opened on 21 July 1937 and included a bowling green, a putting green, and a children's playground. Unsually the bowling green was intended to be a 'pay and play' muncipal bowling green and although since the 1980s the green and pavilion are leased by the Boyle Park Bowling Club, a condition of their lease is that facilities are open to the general public.

Lawn bowls today is a hugely popular sport in Scotland. It has a long and distinguished history with the earliest reference to the game in Scotland appearing in 1469, when James IV played a variation of the game referred to as 'lang bowlis' at St Andrews in Fife. The first public bowling green in Scotland was laid out in 1669 at Haddington, near Edinburgh, however it was not until 1864 that the rules of the modern game were committed to writing by William Mitchell of Glasgow in his Manual of Bowl-Playing. Machine manufactured standard bowls were invented by Thomas Taylor Ltd, also of Glasgow, in 1871 and the Scottish Bowling Association was formed in 1892. The advent of indoor bowling also began in Scotland around 1879. Today there are around 900 clubs in Scotland with an estimated 90,000 active lawn bowls players.

Listed as part of the sporting buildings thematic study (2012-13).

References

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