With a little imagination, Carnwath pavilion could be the sort of place you might find Hercule Poirot as he ponders the evidence of some terrible crime before revealing the culprit.
Many episodes of the TV series featuring Agatha Christie’s little Belgium detective were filmed in some of Britain’s most stylish art deco buildings, which have been saved from demolition and restored to their past elegance. Fashionable buildings designed “in the International Style” featured plain white walls, streamlined curves, metal-framed windows and flat roofs. The simple beauty of the style must have appeared startlingly modern in the1930’s, but was boldly applied to the design of prestigious seaside hotels, fashionable villas and cinemas, as well as more humble buildings such as the little pavilion serving new tennis courts and bowling green in the village of Carnwath.
Many new recreation grounds, parks and sports facilities were established during the 1930’s, encouraged by grants from the National Play Fields Association, and often supported by public subscription. In Carnwath, Lady Lockhart was happy to sell the Council a plot of land to the west of Biggar Road for the construction of a new public park. This modest facility included two tennis courts and a bowling green, and featured a central path with rose beds leading to a pavilion equipped with all necessary facilities. A football pitch was subsequently added, funded under a programme to commemorate the reign of King George V.
In July 1935, the park was opened to great celebration, operating on a seasonal basis with a caretaker appointed to oversee and maintain the facility.
The design of the park and the pavilion was the work of Lanark-based architect J.H. Fraser Stewart (1904-1945). His practice was responsible for the design of a wide range of other local buildings (including the bonkers brick-clad Windsor Kinema in Carluke), however the Carnwath pavilion provided a rare opportunity to design a building in the international modernist style. Perhaps this indulgence contributed to an increase in cost from the initial estimate of £1,200 to an actual £2,400. Captain Fraser Stewart later served his country, was captured following the fall of Singapore, and died in a Japanese POW labour camp over three years later.
The pavilion served the community well, and will be fondly remembered by many. Times, needs and circumstances change however, and the pavilion building has now stood unloved, disused and decaying for many years.
In November South Lanarkshire Council submitted an application to demolish the building (application reference P/24/1364 ) which is C-listed and described as “a little-altered example of a purpose-built inter-war sports pavilion designed in the International Style….. recognised to be a rare type of building in Scotland.” Both Historic Scotland and the Scottish Civic Trust have objected to the proposed demolition, and a decision on its future has yet to be reached at Council committee.
Poirot’s little grey cells would certainly be useful in coming up with some brilliant plan to ensure a useful future for a little building that was once such an asset to the local community. In the meantime, the plywood shutters protecting the doors and windows have again been prized off, allowing anyone to enter, light fires or cause other mischief. So often in such circumstances, a building is allowed to decay to such an extent that it is deemed unsafe and must then be demolished. Let’s hope that a more imaginative solution can be found for the neat little pavilion at Carnwath.
Robin Chesters 15/03/25
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