Racquet Hall, Eglinton Country Park, Irvine

The Racquet Hall at Eglinton Country Park, built in the early 1840s (circa 1842), is the oldest surviving covered racquet court in the world. It was commissioned by the 13th Earl of Eglinton and the first recorded match took place there in 1846.

The building is rectangular in plan with predominantly rubble masonry and coursed stone to the north façade, with ashlar margins. The north elevation features a simple pilastered pedimented entrance. A central 6-panelled timber leaf entrance door is set within a pilastered pedimented doorway. The roof is covered with grey slates and incorporates roof lights. Window openings to the north elevation include ground-floor windows with timber shutters and three upper-storey windows of 3-over-3-pane timber sash and case design. A later single-storey cottage with attic space adjoins the hall to the south.

Internally, an entrance vestibule leads to a large open space. The roof and gallery are replacements dating from the 1980s, though the original large granite floor slabs are believed to remain in situ beneath the current timber flooring. The interior was inspected in 2014 and the original open quality of the building is retained. The hall is currently used as an exhibition centre.

The racquet hall formed part of a cluster of ancillary buildings on the Eglinton Castle Estate, once one of Scotland's wealthiest properties owned by the Montgomery family. The 13th Earl also founded the first racquet club in Glasgow at 285 Bath Street. The estate fell into decline following the Earl's extravagant medieval-style tournament and pageant of 1839, which contributed significantly to the family's financial difficulties. The Montgomery family vacated the estate in 1925 and it was sold in 1948. By 1981, the Irvine Development Corporation began redeveloping the estate, and in 1986 around 1,000 acres were designated as Eglinton Country Park.