The theatre was originally a hall, and the arts centre was a library, opened in 1904. This is recorded on a plaque
Link inside the arts centre, part of which is now used as a community cafe (brilliant chips).
The library and hall were "built by the munificence of Andrew Carnegie...who gave £7,500 for the purpose". Carnegie was a Scot who became a steel magnate in the USA, later donating vast sums for philanthropic work
Link (
Archive Link ) . This included the building of some 3,000 libraries in the English-speaking world.