Renfrew Town Hall

Before heading to Ayrshire for a funeral this morning I nipped into Renfrew for a quick blip in the early morning sunshine.

Having lived in Renfrew for over 30 years, I always admired the tower of Renfrew Town Hall, which has a kind of fairytale castle look about it. Having said that, I was only ever in it twice, once being when #2 son was receiving a prize for a poster he designed for a crime prevention campaign. At that time the hall was a bit shabby and not the kind of place you would rush back to.

The original town hall or tollbooth was built in 1670 and used as both a courthouse and jail. It was demolished in 1871 and replaced with the current town hall. £5.2 million has just been spent refurbishing it to create a new museum and community facilities. Between the small turrets are white Prince of Wales Feathers, signifying the towns status as a Royal Burgh

Since the scaffolding came down a month or so ago, I have been impressed by the stonework and the features on the tower. Atop each of the small turrets is a Thistle and on of tip of the tower there is a weathervane, with wind direction indicated by a splendid gold coloured Boat, which symbolises the town's shipbuilding history. The link blip shows just how good the x35 zoom is in my new camera!

Isn't Blip wonderful. I have learned as much about the town hall today as I did in all the years I lived here!