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Summary

Description

Circa 1886-87. Single storey, 3-bay, rectangular-plan symmetrical curling house overlooking curling pond and within a public park. Horizontal boarded, painted timber. Painted rustic tree trunk columns and brackets on later square bases to front and side elevations and supporting overhanging eaves. Vertically boarded timber shutters to windows. Circa 2009 lean to addition to rear elevation. Corrugated metal, piended roof.

The interior was seen in 2014 and has timber fixtures and fittings including lockers and shelves for curling stones lining the walls.

Statement of Special Interest

Banchory Curling Pavilion is a distinctive example of a late 19th-century curling house built for a public club. The rustic tree trunk columns are more commonly associated with estate architecture and are less usual for public buildings, such as this curling pavilion. The simple and largely intact interior scheme, with its traditional timber curling stone lockers and shelves, is rare as many public club curling houses still in use have been modernised.

The curling house retains its curling pond (located immediately to the north) which adds interest to the building as an indication of its functional relationship. The second edition Ordnance Survey map depicts a further pond to the north of the curling pond, which was used to top up the water level (no longer evident).

The Banchory Curling Club minutes record the setting out of a clay-lined pond in 1886. Burnett Curling Pavilion is situated within Burnett Park. This public park, originally of 16 acres, was presented to the people of Banchory by Sir Robert Burnett of nearby Crathes Castle, and opened in 1887. Groome's gazetteer of 1892 records that the park contained a large sheet of water, used for skating and curling in winter.

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, the earliest reference to the game in print 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 19th 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 1840. Secure storage facilities for curling stones, near to the loch or curling pond, first began appearing during this period. In north-east Scotland the game began and developed later than in lowland Scotland.

References

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