Nethermains Community Centre, Nethermains Road, Kilwinning

Nethermains Community Centre

The Nethermains Community Centre was built in 1900 as an institute for the workers of Eglinton Ironworks. It is a tall single storey building of roughly rectangular plan in Italianate classical style, with a prominent square-plan three-stage clock tower. The structure is constructed of blonde coursed and squared sandstone rubble with smooth and advanced ashlar quoins, some of which are margined. It features an advanced rusticated base course, an eaves band course, mullioned windows and projecting cills. The building stands in a residential area on a main road leading south out of Kilwinning.

The entrance elevation to the west is asymmetrical, with an off-centre clock tower and a hall on either side. The taller main hall to the left has an advanced and pedimented gable with three windows; a carved scroll and blank shield appear in the pediment. The lower hall to the right features an angled corner bay. The rear elevation to the east has a long, lower central section of six bays with narrow windows, flanked by shallow roofed bays.

The clock tower contains the main entrance to the building, fitted with a replacement glazed and timber door and square fanlight. The middle stage of the tower has a plain band course and smooth ashlar panelled sections. The coursed rubble top stage carries a cornice, band course and overhanging eaves, with large recessed clock faces on each side. The tower is topped by a pyramidal slate roof. The windows throughout are non-traditional and multi-pane. The multi-pitch roofs are covered with small slates and there are ashlar and corniced chimneystacks at the rear.

The interior retains its early 20th century plan-form and fittings including timber boarding to dado height and four and five-panelled timber doors. The entrance lobby contains a narrow office with a glazed and panelled timber screen incorporating a ticket window and letter box, and a timber and glazed notice cabinet inscribed 'Eglinton Iron Works Institute'. A ceiling hatch in the office gives access to the clock tower, which has rough-hewn stone walls and exposed timber floors; the original clock mechanism remains in use.

The main hall is boarded to dado height with a plain ceiling cornice and two large painted centenary wall murals. A timber fronted stage with an arch contains a floor hatch to an under-stage storage area (which houses the decorative wrought iron finial from the clock tower and the former ladder board from the office to the clock tower). The smaller hall has a slightly raised stage area in the canted corner window. The former caretaker's rooms to the north of the plan have tall skirtings, coat hook rails and rounded cast iron radiators; the scullery retains a butler's sink. The kitchen and public toilet areas have been modernised.

Historical Development

The institute was designed and built by Baird and Company in 1900 to provide reading rooms, a library, two recreational halls and public baths for the workers and families of Eglinton Ironworks.

Eglinton Ironworks opened in 1846, with the first blast furnace lit on Christmas Eve. It was built on estate land leased from the Earl of Eglinton, where iron ore and coal had been discovered in the early 19th century. The River Garnock and the newly opened Great Western Railway provided good transport connections. At its peak, the ironworks was the largest employer in the Kilwinning area, with over 1000 workers. The company built rows of houses for workers and a school, visible on the 1st and 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey maps to the north of the ironworks. Workers were paid with tokens redeemable at the works' shop and bakery, with wages deducted for children's schooling.

Newspaper articles from the late 19th century reveal a poor health and safety record with numerous accidents and fatalities. The assistant works physician, Dr David Gage, recorded concern about high levels of infectious disease due to poor living conditions and campaigned for improvements.

By the late 19th century it was recognised that workers' conditions required improvement. The institute, opened officially on 30th November 1900 at a celebratory evening concert, provided health, educational and recreational facilities. The bathrooms were essential, as most workers' cottages had no sanitary services. The institute first appears on the 3rd Edition Ordnance Survey map (surveyed 1908, published 1910), positioned to the north of the ironworks, workers' cottages and opposite a school.

At the time of its construction, the institute was admired as a fine example of progressive provision for workers. A 1901 article in the Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald praised the newly built institute and called for comparative quality institutes at similar Ayrshire works.

Eglinton Ironworks closed in 1924, largely because the company had not switched to steel production. The institute then served as an ancillary building to Eglinton Ironworks School. A 1960s photograph shows the building in its current form with a wrought iron foliage-style finial on the clock tower roof (now stored under the stage).

The building has functioned as a community centre since around 1975 and remains in use as such.

Legal Exclusion

The railings are excluded from the listing in accordance with Section 1 (4A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.