Kilmacolm - Landmarks

Landmarks

Whilst having a long history, the majority of Kilmacolm's significant architecture is Victorian and Edwardian in origin, beginning with the arrival of the railway in the village, its gentrification and the subsequent boom in population. Utilising a wide variation of styles, the parish contains a considerable number of listed and notable buildings.

William Leiper's flamboyant Gothic Revival St Columba's Church (c.1902) is the most apparent Category A listed building in the village. The parish church (Old Kirk), mainly constructed in 1831 incorporating a 13th century chancel, is B-listed and another example of the Gothic Revival style. The third listed church in the parish, Mount Zion Church (Quarrier's Village; 1888; Robert A Bryden) is also Category B listed and in the Scots Baronial style.

Kilmacolm's community centre, reopened in 2011 as the Cargill Centre following a refurbishment and donation from the WA Cargill Trust, has a significant position in the centre of the village and consists of two Victorian former schoolhouses. It contains a village hall, police office and is planned to house the village's relocated public library later in 2011. Other notable non-residential listed buildings in the parish include Bridge of Weir Hospital built by William Quarrier, as a sanatorium for tuberculosis sufferers at the turn of the 20th century, in the free revivalist style and incorporating ecclesiastical references. The Hospital buildings are Category B listed, and have been converted into private flats. Shallot, the former mansionhouse of Adam Birkmyre which now accommodates the St Columba's Junior School, constructed in 1884, is also B-listed.

In the countryside outside the village are the ruins of Duchal Castle, dating back to the 13th century and lending its name to the modern Duchal House and estate in the village. On a hill above the village lies the derelict remains of Balrossie School, formerly the Sailors' Orphans' Home. Of historical interest are preserved examples of significant anti-aircraft batteries dating back to the Second World War contained within the parish, and a Decontamination Centre built in case of gas attacks on the United Kingdom. There is also a narrow-gauge railway line formerly used for grouse-shooting in Kilmacolm. Known as the Duchal Moor Railway, it lies within the Clyde Muirshiel Park; it was used by, amongst others, King Edward VIII and finally closed in the 1970s.