Town Clerk'S Department

The Town Clerk's Department, located at 100 and 102 Edmund Street, is a Grade II listed building designed by W H Ward and constructed between 1883 and 1884. This former Board of Guardians office features a stone exterior with a slate pavilion roof and stands three storeys tall plus a basement. The building has five bays, with the central bay slightly advanced and the outer two bays more prominently so.

The ground floor showcases banded rustication, with the entrance to No 100 accessed by steps and flanked by decorative bands. It has four windows with decorative aprons, while the entrance to No 102 is similar but includes a balcony above the first-floor window. The first floor is adorned with a segment-headed window within a pedimented surround, four additional windows with segmental pediments, a central arched window with a Venetian shell-hood, and more segment-headed windows.

On the second floor, there is a segment-headed window with a moulded surround, four windows bordered with rosettes, a triplet of small arched lights flanked by decorative bands, and further segment-headed windows. All windows are sash types. The outer first and second floor windows are flanked by giant banded granite columns of the Corinthian order, topped with pediments featuring winged beasts. The sculptural decoration is coarse and reflects a vaguely Early Renaissance style.

The right-hand return on Newhall Street, which includes the entrances to Nos 44 and 46, and the rear on Cornwall Street, where the entrance to No 78 is located, exhibit similar architectural details. Inside, there is a grand staircase with an unusually designed scrolly balustrade. At the first-floor level overlooking Newhall Street, a large hall is defined by pilasters, featuring a coved ceiling, a balcony at one end, and a 'reredos' flanked by two doors with segmental pediments at the opposite end.