Westerkirk Parish Library, Bentpath is a Grade B listed building in the Dumfries and Galloway local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 12 July 1988. Library.
Westerkirk Parish Library, Bentpath
- WRENN ID
- muted-alcove-wagtail
- Grade
- B
- Local Planning Authority
- Dumfries and Galloway
- Constituency
- Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale MP: David Mundell (Con)
- Country
- Scotland
- Date first listed
- 12 July 1988
- Type
- Library
- OS grid reference
- NY 308 900
- Coordinates
- 55.20007, -3.08777
- Source
- Historic Environment Scotland listing
Description
Westerkirk Parish Library, built in 1860, is a rural library known for its significant book collection. The building features simplified Gothic detailing around its openings. It has a rectangular plan, is a single storey, and consists of three bays with bipartite windows. A tall two-light south gable window includes a cinquefoil design. To the north, there is a recessed low reading room with a gabled porch that projects east from the re-entrant angle, which has a timber shouldered opening and barge-boards. An east-facing tripartite window is situated alongside. The exterior is constructed from squared and snecked bull-nosed ashlar with contrasting dressings, and it has a coped end stack with roofs covered in graded slates.
Inside, the library features fitted timber bookshelves lining the walls, with most books uniformly bound and embossed with "Telford's legacy." There are also two freestanding bookcases, an ornate cast-iron stove, and exposed roof timbers. Pointed doorways link the rooms and flank the fireplace in the north reading room.
The library is set behind a low rubble-built wall with ashlar coping and spear-head cast-iron railings.
Local climate
Westerkirk Parish Library, Bentpath sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 1,200 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 91% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 81% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 63 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 98% of listed buildings. Of these, 37 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
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