Barony A Frame

Press Release. August 2005 - 'The Glennie'

Restoration of the Barony ‘A’ Frame is a step closer thanks to the announcement by Historic Scotland that the funding application submitted by the Barony Trust has been accepted. A grant of £237,000 will be utilised to restore the last remaining mining monument of its kind. The ‘A’ Frame is a familiar site on Barony Road, Auchinleck and is a grade B listed structure. The Trust proposes to implement the regeneration project which includes the restoration and floodlighting of the frame, car parking facilities and an educational and interpretive resource. The announcement of the Historic Scotland grant is great news not only for the project but for East Ayrshire as a whole. The grants programme was recently reviewed and the Barony project is one of only six projects to be awarded a grant from the first batch.

A number of other grant applications are currently being prepared for the project, in addition to the application recently submitted to the Heritage Lottery Fund. Support has already been secured for the project through East Ayrshire Council and by the East Ayrshire Community Planning Partnership which is funded by the Scottish Executive and supported by a range of partner agencies. It is hoped that if successful, the complete funding package will be approved in time for work to be completed in 2006, the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Barony Colliery.

Councillor William Menzies, Chair of both the Barony Trust and the East Ayrshire Community Planning Partnership said:

“I am absolutely delighted that the first stage approval has been given to the project by Historic Scotland. This is an indication of the importance of the restoration of the ‘A’ Frame and the desire at local and now national level to see this important mining monument preserved for future generations. The success of this application demonstrates the commitment by the Trust to the project and I am confident that, on completion, this project will be nationally recognised as a successful example of partnership working.”

Philip Rayson, Planning Manager for Scottish Coal and Treasurer of the Barony Trust added “This is a very worthwhile project which is has the full support of Scottish Coal. The announcement by Historic Scotland is great news and is the first step in compiling the necessary funding package to complete the project. I am pleased that the project is progressing well.”

If you have navigated to this page from a search engine you may not be able to see the links on the left, if so navigate back to the Homepage.