Town Hall

The Town Hall, built in 1899-1900, was designed by Henry T Hare. It is constructed of red brick with stone dressings and has a hipped slate roof topped by a central cupola, which is crowned with a gold ball and weather vane. The building occupies a prominent central position, situated at the western end of the view along Hunt Street and Market Place. The main facade features a stone pediment with a cornice and a bas-relief heraldic carving within the tympanum. A central Venetian window is set within a stone architrave that breaks through the eaves cornice. Double pilasters of the Ionic order flank the entrance, resting on a stone plinth which also supports War Memorial tablets on either side of the doorway. The doorway is set under a shouldered, round-headed stone arch and approached by a flight of steps. Narrow flanking windows are located in the recessed side walls, on both the basement and upper floor; otherwise, the facade is blank. The side facades are eleven bays wide, with each end advanced under a pediment. A central pediment is also present on the rear elevation. The Town Hall forms a focus for multiple groups of buildings along Market Place, including numbers 5 to 31 (odd), 10, 20 to 36 (even), the barn behind numbers 32 to 34 (even), numbers 50 to 52, 62 to 66 (even), and 35 to 63 (odd), together with the buildings behind number 37.