Boundary Wall And Railings., Volunteer Hall, St John Street

William Stirling, dated 1874 with later additions. 2-storey, 5-bay, symmetrical rectangular-plan former drill hall comprising an upper hall and administrative block, a large main hall to the rear and a slightly later flat-roofed single storey extension infilling the re-entrant angle to the east. The building is of squared snecked rock-faced sandstone with smooth chamfered arrises to the window margins, and there is a projecting base course; moulded cill course at first floor and a stone bracketed banded eaves course. The south (entrance) elevation has a central and advanced crow-stepped gable with a wide stone archway, a bipartite window at the first floor with a rounded and bracketed hoodmould over a datestone, and an arrow slit opening at the gablehead. There is a moulded cill course at the first floor and a stone bracketed eaves course. The hall to the rear is constructed in rubble stonework with plain banded eaves course and has staged gable buttresses set between round arched windows, ball finials on the gable apexes, a small flat-roofed porch and basement boiler house steps to the east. There is a small, 20th century rendered extension to the rear with steps, and a low coped wall with cast iron railings to the west.

The windows are predominantly 4-pane glazing in timber sash and case frames and there are timber panelled doors. The roof has grey slates and there are short corniced end chimney stacks with slender octagonal clay cans and boxed ridge ventilators. The gables are crowstepped (stone skews to main hall) and have decorative skewputts. The rainwater goods are cast iron and the the are downpipes recessed behind the string course.

The interior, seen 2006, has a good later 19th century civic decorative scheme in place with a pair of plaster lion head corbels to entrance hall, egg and dart cornices to the ground floor room and a floral cornice to the first floor hall. The dog-leg stair has decorative cast iron balusters leading to a timber balcony overlooking the main hall. The main hall roof structure is cast iron with tension rods. The former keeper's rooms and armoury to the ground floor are now converted to offices and public toilets.