Todmorden Town Hall

Todmorden Town Hall is a late 19th-century building, opened on 3rd April 1875, designed by John Gibson for Samuel, John and Joshua Fielden. It is constructed of sandstone ashlar with a lead roof and is of group value. The building is designed in a Classical style and takes the form of an apsidal temple raised on a high basement. The basement has banded rustication, and the upper walls are slightly channelled. A plinth and stylobat support ¾ unfluted Composite columns, which support an elaborate entablature featuring a fretted, pulvinated frieze enriched by rosettes. The front of the building has three bays, and the return wall has seven bays, each terminating in clasping pilasters. The apse is stepped in slightly and similarly treated, with detached columns having a cabled surface. The tall first floor has round-headed windows with richly carved surrounds to the front, and straight-headed windows with circular windows above to the sides. A deeply moulded triangular pediment contains impressive statuary: two central female figures seated on a pedestal inscribed "LANCASHIRE/YORKSHIRE”, and flanking groups depicting the Lancashire cotton industry and the engineering and agriculture of Yorkshire.

The interior features a semi-circular entrance hall with Tuscan columns and pilasters, containing a marble bust of John Fielden M.P. (1784-1849) by Thomas Campbell, dated 1850, alongside sculptures by G.D. Benzoni, dated 1878, depicting Ruth and the Flight of Pompey. An elaborate cast-iron balustrade ascends an imperial staircase, with linking figures decorating the risers. A painting of Thomas Fielden is located at the head of the stairs, alongside a memorial tablet to Sir John Cockcroft (1897-1967). The large first-floor hall boasts a modillion cornice and a coved fretted cornice with medallions. The ceiling is divided into three panels with a large circular sun motif and pendant bosses, with three large medallions set to the rear of the stage. Below the hall are court chambers, including an oak-panelled, horse-shoe inner chamber with a canopied chair and dais. The foundations of an earlier hall designed by Mr. Green were laid in the early 1860s, but the Fieldens purchased the partially constructed hall in 1866. The resulting building is characterised by concentrated richness and great assurance, unusual for the style at that period, and is considered one of the finest town halls in West Yorkshire.