Area Programmes

Elin Isaksson creates blown and cast glass pieces. Her work is elegant, fluid and organic. The glass stretches and pulls as it is allowed to drop and it swiftly forms into delicate simple shapes in stunning colours. Elin produces very tactile pieces, often with some element of movement within the finished work. She creates bespoke handcrafted sculptural lighting and architectural glass for individual and corporate clients and also sells sculptural glass through galleries and shops around the UK.

Elin's Glass Studio is located in an addition to the former Alloa Academy Infant School, probably designed in the 1870s by Alloa architect Adam Frame.

Designed by Alloa-based architect William Kerr in symmetrical Jacobean style, the building has a fine Doric-columned entrance with a date panel over the arch. The main first floor room has a tall central window flanked by mullioned oriel bays. The billiard rooms were on the top floor and the main front room has sculpted dormer windows.

William Kerr's firm, John Melvin & Son, designed many buildings in the county and used part of the ground floor as its office until 1985. Most of the original fine interiors, including woodwork, plasterwork and interesting Arts & Crafts stained glass by Oscar Paterson, who also designed the glass in Inglewood, remain intact. It is now used as offices.

The Paton family and their woollen mills had a great influence on the industrial history of Clackmannanshire. Their sense of civic responsibility gave Alloa some of its fine public buildings. Several of their impressive family homes have also survived.   

Designed by William Kerr of Alloa, this is one of his finest buildings. The Gean is a spacious mansion house in the Elizabethan style, heavily influenced by Sir Edwin Lutyens. It was built in 1912  for Alexander Forrester-Paton as a wedding present from his parents.

The two-storey house is set on a terrace in extensive grounds and gardens. It has a high, red-tiled roof with small dormer windows, a drawing room window which rises through two floors, mullioned and transomed windows, tall gables and chimneys and a splendid interior, with carved panelling, balustrading and superb plasterwork. It has been sensitively restored and is now used as a conference centre. It will be open courtesy of Ceteris (Scotland) Ltd.

Information leaflet.

Assisted wheelchair access to ground floor and garden only.

This fine house was designed by Alloa architect John Melvin, who was also responsible for many other buildings in Clackmannanshire. Glenmore House, originally known as Gracedieu House, was built for William Bailey (1841 - 1916), joint owner with his brother John Asbury Bailey (who built a matching house next door at the same time), of Alloa Pottery, which their father  Joseph Bailey had acquired in 1856. The two houses were once connected by a long corridor.

The Baileys, originally Edinburgh glass and china merchants ,  developed Alloa Pottery into a significant Scottish pottery, producing a wide range of products and exporting to many parts of the world, including Australia and the Far East. William Bailey travelled abroad to develop the foreign markets. He was also a JP and was Senior Magistrate of Alloa from 1875 to 1880. John Asbury Bailey died in 1905 and a decline in sales led William Bailey to retire and close the pottery in 1907.

Glenmore House still contains many original features, including plasterwork, fireplaces and stained glass. It is now a luxury guest house.

The Paton family and their woollen mills had a great influence on the industrial history of Clackmannanshire. Their sense of civic responsibility gave Alloa some of its fine public buildings. Several of their impressive family homes have also survived.   

Greenfield House was designed by the Edinburgh architects A G Sydney Mitchell & Wilson for David Paton Thomson. It was elegantly furnished and housed a considerable art collection. The same architects reconstructed and extended the house after a fire in 1914. David Paton Thomson died in 1917 and in his will instructed that his wife should live in the house until her death, after which it must be sold.  Jane Thomson died in 1951 and in 1952 the house was purchased by Alloa Burgh Council. Greenfield House is now the headquarters of Clackmannanshire Council. Many of the fine original fittings of the house, including stained glass, Arts & Crafts style carved stone and wood, plasterwork and wood panelling, have survived.

Guided tours in afternoon at 1.30, 2.30 and 3.30

Most of the collection can be seen at Alloa Tower, which is open daily from 1.00 - 5.00 until 31st October.

Guided tours.

The Paton family and their woollen mills had a great influence on the industrial history of Clackmannanshire. Their sense of civic responsibility gave Alloa some of its fine public buildings. Several of their impressive family homes have also survived.   

This large Jacobean-style house was designed by A G Sydney Mitchell & Wilson for Alexander Forrester-Paton. The south front has impressive two-storey bay windows with a verandah, rising to huge curve and triangular shaped gables, and a massive, four-storey battlemented tower. It has a stunning full-height recess with a large mullioned and transomed window containing Arts & Crafts style stained glass designed, along with the other stained glass in the house, by Oscar Paterson.  The main staircase leads off the hall, which also contains a fine inglenook fireplace.

The Forrester Room was originally the drawing room, with a conservatory on its west side. The house was an Eventide Home for many years after the Forrester-Patons left, but has been restored and is now a business and conference centre. Much of the fine original decorative detail, including bespoke door handles, has been preserved. The lodge and coach house (home of The Alman Dramatic Club) have also survived. Inglewood will be open courtesy of Ceteris (Scotland) Ltd.

Guided tours

Designed by Peddie & Kinnear, this elaborate church replaced a much simpler 18th century building. Early French Gothic in style, it has a tall bell-tower, originally with a spire though without bells. In 1902 Scots late Gothic transepts and a pine and marble sanctuary with an elaborate pulpit by A G Sydney Mitchell & Wilson, who had also designed Greenfield for David Thomson, were added; David Thomson and his brother John Thomson Paton paid for this work. The north window is in memory of their parents, while the west and east transept  windows were given by the Procters,  another branch of the Paton family. All three windows are by C E Kempe. The pipe organ of 1904 by Messrs Lewis and Co, also given by the Thomsons, remains intact and in fine condition. The adjacent church hall was designed by the Alloa architect Adam frame in 1891.