Palatine Hall

Palatine Hall is a Roman Catholic church with an attached presbytery to its left, later adapted for use as a public hall, music hall, cinema, and now council offices. It was built between 1798 and 1799, with alterations in 1859 and extensive internal remodelling in 1983. The building is likely the work of Robert Roper.

The construction uses sandstone ashlar for the front, and coursed dressed sandstone with plinths, quoins, and dressings of ashlar for the sides and rear. The roofs are of varying pitches, using Welsh slate to the left (on the presbytery) and Cumbrian slate on Palatine Hall. A large chimney stack rises above the party wall between the two sections. Palatine Hall’s hipped roof incorporates a square, louvred ventilator. The presbytery has a double-depth plan, while the former church has a single-span roof running back from Dalton Square. The building is three storeys high, with a cellar, and consists of six bays with an eaves cornice that continues along Friar Street. Originally, the facade presented a pair of three-bay elevations with a central doorway in each, although the church bays are slightly wider, and most of the church's openings are blind. All the openings now have plain reveals. The doorway of the presbytery features a cornice on consoles, while Palatine Hall has a wide, single-storey, flat-roofed porch of 1859, with clasping Tuscan pilasters, a frieze inscribed 'PALATINE HALL', and a moulded cornice. The panelled doors of both sections are modern.

A Venetian window with a plain surround and keystone, originally lighting the church sanctuary, is located in the first bay of the side elevation to Friar Street, which is marked off by plain raised quoins. To the right are three taller, similarly detailed round-headed windows, linked by a band at impost level. In 1983, small oval windows were inserted above and to the right of these, to provide light to the top floor offices. A late 19th-century doorway, with ovolo-moulded jambs between rusticated strip pilasters, is located on the far right.

The 1983 conversion involved a split-level scheme to accommodate the site's natural slope, this retained all six trusses of the roof, exposing them. Each truss has five queen posts shaped as columns with moulded bases and caps, carrying brackets supporting moulded collars and longitudinal beams.

Historically, the church served as the first publicly visible Roman Catholic church in the town, following the Catholic Relief Act of 1778. It was in use until 1859, when it was superseded by St Peter's Church (now the Cathedral). Subsequently, the building became a public hall, then a music hall, and lastly a cinema.