The Drill Hall

This is an assembly rooms, now used as a drill hall, built around 1849. It was designed by the architect Martin Bulmer and constructed by Thomas Ware. The building is of brick, with a stuccoed front elevation, and has a low-pitched slate roof with a gable at the rear. A rendered stack is located on the right-hand side, featuring a moulded cornice.

The building comprises a rectangular assembly room measuring 54 feet long by 28 feet 6 inches wide, with a gallery at the front and a porch set back on the right-hand side. The front consists of three bays. The central bay is the assembly room, featuring three large windows with moulded architraves, sills, and later casements. The porch on the right has a wide doorway with a moulded architrave and 19th-century panelled double doors, along with 12-pane sashes. The left-hand side of the building abuts an adjoining property. At the rear, two small round-headed, louvred windows are positioned high in the gable.

The interior is largely intact, featuring a moulded plinth and paired pilasters with plaster console brackets supporting the ceiling. A moulded ceiling cornice may survive above the existing ceiling. Three octagonal lanterns have lost their original glazing, and their cornices are later replacements. The balcony has a cast-iron balustrade, and panelled double doors are located below. A doorway with panelled double doors and a moulded architrave with a cornice and panel, set within an eaved architrave, is found at the opposite end.

The site previously housed assembly rooms in Market Street, which were replaced in 1839. These rooms were destroyed by fire in 1848 and subsequently rebuilt as the present structure around 1849.