Doors Open Days is Scotland’s largest free festival that celebrates heritage and the built environment, new and old. Every September, you can explore hundreds of fascinating buildings across Scotland for free. Some open up once a year, some just once in a lifetime.
Doors Open Days is a national event run by the Scottish Civic Trust. Information about the national programme, including event listings, can be found at www.doorsopendays.org.uk. Doors Open Days, along with Scottish Archaeology Month take place throughout Scotland and are part of European Heritage Days – an initiative which promotes a sense of community and a “common heritage” throughout the continent.
Programme Highlights:
Biggar Kirk
Biggar Kirk, which dates from 1546, with 17th Century Penitent’s Stool and Pre-Reformation Tombstone in the porch from 1550’s and traces of the “jougs” outside the south door; these were metal collars by which people were once attached by way of punishment. Thirteen stained glass windows the earliest from 1870. The Kirkyard has many old and interesting stones and is the burial place of the Ancestors of William Ewart Gladstone (19th Century Prime Minister).
Biggar Puppet Theatre
Biggar Puppet Theatre is the first and only fully working puppet theatre of its kind in Scotland. The international Purves Puppets have now been firmly established as a leading professional company for 51 years in 2021! In this time, they have toured the world, while also performing in their own award-winning permanent theatre.
East Kilbride Old Parish Church
The present B listed building built by James Pollock as completed in 1775, the Scotch Belfry Tower by Robert Pollock was added in 1818.?Behind the Church is the Kirk yard where notable gravestones include the parents of the famous surgeons William and John Hunter and Rev. James French, minister of the Old Parish Church (1791-1835), who was tutor to the young Walter Scott. The 18th century mausoleum of the Stuarts of Torrance family has recently been restored.????
Hamilton Mausoleum
Hamilton Mausoleum was one of the finest private tombs in the country and is now one of the town's most famous buildings. It was built as a tomb and monument to Alexander, 10th Duke of Hamilton, nicknamed El Magnifico but was incomplete at the time of his death in 1852. The chapel has a massive dome (over 36 meters high), magnificent bronze doors and a stunning floor made up of different marbles from around the world. One of the first things you will probably notice however is its amazing 15 second echo one of the longest in the world! Two huge lion sculptures overlook the entrance to the crypt below where you can still see the niched for the bodies of the members of the Hamilton family.
Hamilton Old Parish Church
Hamilton Old Parish Church is a Church of Scotland parish church serving part of the Burgh of Hamilton in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is notable for its Georgian architecture and the church and grounds are Category A listed.
Low Parks Museum
The museum incorporates structures from the 17th to the 21st centuries and two grade A listed buildings. This is the oldest surviving building within Hamilton Burgh's former boundaries.
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