The Guildhall

The Guildhall is a building with origins probably dating back to the 16th or 17th century, but largely rebuilt around 1707 and extended to the rear in 1742. It underwent alterations in the early 19th century, and the main hall was rebuilt between 1846 and 1848 by Joseph Potter Jnr of Lichfield. The building is constructed of brick with an ashlar facade, a brick rear wing, and tile roofs, arranged in a right-angle plan with an earlier rear wing.

The hall itself is in a Gothic style. It has two storeys and features an offset plinth and cornice over the ground floor. First-floor features include offset buttresses, a sill course, and a coped gable. There are two pointed-arch entrances, one with triple-chamfered continuous moulding and a hood over a heavy door with strap hinges, and the other with a hood and paired half-glazed doors with studs and strap hinges. The first-floor window has five lights with plate tracery, a hood, and relief flower motifs, with a plain blind roundel above. A stair wing to the left has an offset ground floor and a coped parapet, with a two-light window with single-chamfered plate tracery on the first floor. A plaque below the window commemorates the Coronation of George V and Mary, flanked by their busts. The returns have two-light first-floor windows with ashlar plate tracery.

The interior includes a passage with an iron grille, gate, and cells to the left. The hall features a hammerbeam roof, panelling, and an arch to the south with glazed infill over trefoil-headed arcading and benches that were used by the quarter sessions. A fireplace has a segmental-pointed arch and a 16th-century cast-iron fireback depicting Royal arms. An 1811 stained-glass window, originally from the north transept of the Cathedral, was moved in 1891 and depicts the founders and patrons of the Cathedral, along with a figure of Queen Victoria from 1891. A rear staircase has simple turned balusters, square newels, and a moulded handrail. Original cells from around 1710 within the rear range have barrel vaults, segmental-headed entrances with original doors, shuttered and barred windows, benches, and latrines; some features are now incorporated into a later infill wing.

The Guildhall was originally used by the Guild of St Mary and St John the Baptist until its dissolution, and subsequently by the Corporation from 1548.