Town Hall And Clock Tower

The Town Hall and Clock Tower, located on the north side of Fore Street in Grampound, is a building of probable early 18th-century origin, with alterations made in the 19th and 20th centuries, including a rebuild of the clock tower around 1982. The building is constructed of mixed slatestone rubble with granite quoins, and has a slate roof with ridge tiles and gable ends. The clock tower, situated at the left end, is slate-hung and features a lead cupola.

The town hall itself originally comprised a single rectangular ground floor room, with a chamber above, and two doorways at the front. It was formerly heated by a rear lateral stack. The plan included a clock tower over the left end.

From the front, the building appears symmetrical over two storeys, built into the slope of the land which declines to the left. The ground floor features plank doors on the right and left, each with two granite steps leading up to the left, and two 20th-century 2-light casement windows with toplights, set beneath timber lintels. The first floor is similarly characterized by two 20th-century 2-light casement windows with toplights, each with a small gable above. The right gable end has a small 20th-century 2-light window at ground floor, and a larger 20th-century 2-light casement with toplights at first floor. The left gable end retains a segmental stone arch over a single blocked window opening at ground floor, with 20th-century single-light windows to either side at first floor. A central stone plaque commemorates the erection of the clock tower in 1894, with a lower stone plaque serving as a 1914-18 war memorial. At the rear, a blocked window is visible at upper level to the right, and a single-storey lean-to porch with a 20th-century door is situated on the left.

Inside, the ground floor room has painted rubble walls. A doorway at the rear connects to the lean-to porch, which is accessed via a plank door with strap hinges and is believed to have formerly served as the town lock-up. A straight staircase, likely from the 19th century, leads to the upper floor. The first floor room features a particularly fine early 18th-century plaster ceiling with a central elliptical rosette and a continuous moulded cornice where it meets the sloping side. The room also includes 19th-century dado panelling and a chimneypiece on the rear wall, complete with an overmantel with fielded panels. The clock within the tower is by J. Smith and Sons, Midland Steam Clock Works, Derby, dating from 1894. Wall cases house two sets of carved and painted wooden arms: the Royal Arms, and the arms of Grampound, bearing the inscription “Mayr. P.W. 1724”. The Town Hall occupies a prominent position on Fore Street and serves as an important reminder of Grampound's historical significance as a parliamentary borough until 1831.