Carnegie Free Library

This is a Carnegie Free Library, built in the early 20th century. It is constructed of rock-faced coursed grey stone with pale stone dressings. The building exhibits group value, contributing significantly to the area's character.

The main front has a five-window, two-storey design, with a prominent central entrance bay topped by a high segmental pediment. Flanking this are balustraded parapets with end piers that have ball finials. Raised, rusticated quoins and pilasters frame the central bay and align with the advanced porch. The porch has flat balustraded parapets and a moulded round-arched entrance approached by stone steps. The doorway is recessed within a lower round arch, surrounded by dressed stone with square-ended voussoirs. Double panelled doors, partially lit and with a multipane overlight, lead into the building. Above the porch is a single window topped by a small triangular pediment. The pilasters rise to support the segmental pediment, beneath which is a stone tablet inscribed 'Carnegie Free Library'. Pairs of round-headed windows with continuous hoodmoulds flank the central bay on each floor. These windows have pale stone surrounds, high keystones, and replaced four-pane horned sashes with multipane overlights. A plinth with dressed chamfered coping sits at the base, below which is a worn foundation stone laid in 1914.

The side walls are roughcast, with round arched windows, yellow brick surrounds, and continuous hoodmoulds. The west side has three windows, the central ones slightly offset to the left. The east side is similar, but incorporates a pair of tall, round-headed stairlights between the left and center windows. All windows have four-pane horned sashes with multipane overlights, except for the stairlights, which have eight panes. The rear of the building mirrors this detailing, with a central doorway under a round arch, double boarded doors, a multipane overlight and flanking pairs of windows. The upper storey features a similar window to the right and a pair of smaller windows to the centre. Yellow brick quoins mark the rear angles.

Inside, the entrance vestibule has a coloured and encaustic tile floor and a moulded ceiling rose. Double, half-lit, panelled doors lead into the central stair hall, which features moulded coving and a similar ceiling rose. A panelled door to the right leads to a staff room. A round arch on large composite capitals with egg and dart moulding is centrally located within the hall. A dog-leg staircase with square section balusters, moulded handrail, and newel posts with four turned balusters is set behind and to the right of the arch. The door to the reading room, also half-lit and round headed with side lights, is straight ahead. The large L-shaped reading room occupies the left and rear sides, including a single filleted cross-beam, moulded coving, a picture rail, and two large foliate ceiling roses.