The Guildhall

The Guildhall, Barnstaple

This Guildhall was built in 1826 by Thomas Lee. The side wall facing Butchers' Row was added probably in 1855 by R.D. Gould. The building has solid rendered walls, though portions exposed internally in 1991 revealed that the front wall is of red brick and the right side wall (probably a pre-1826 party wall) is of stone rubble. The roof is slated, with a rendered chimney bearing a moulded cornice on the right gable-end.

The ground storey features an open central area which originally led to a butchers' market at the rear; this market was later replaced by the Market (a separate listed building) in 1855. To the right is the mayor's parlour, created in 1922 from the former charge-room and cell, and to the left is a shop. The second storey contains a courtroom to the left (which rises through the third storey) and a council chamber to the right, with jurors' rooms above. A stair projection to the rear left provides access to public seating. The main staircase, positioned behind the mayor's parlour, has an 1855 entrance from Butchers' Row. A house originally abutted this side.

The building presents two storeys with a disguised third storey at the right-hand end. The front elevation to High Street has five bays. The ground storey features horizontal channelling with round-arched openings, the centre one wider than the rest. The centre arch and the arch to its left have iron gates with spearhead uprights, while the others have small-paned glazing.

The upper storey's bays are flanked and separated by fluted Ionic pilasters supporting an entablature which breaks forward over the three narrower centre bays and is crowned with a triangular pediment. The middle and end bays have windows with 8-paned sashes, adjusted at the right-hand end to accommodate two floors, with moulded architraves, friezes and cornices. The two bays flanking the centre have semicircular round-headed niches with continued moulded cills and a sunk oblong panel beneath each window.

The Butchers' Row elevation displays a similar four-bay design with an overall triangular pediment. It has no windows except for a blind one in the centre of the upper storey. A round-arched doorway occupies the centre of the ground storey. A semicircular window appears in the pediment. On the roof sits an octagonal bell-turret with round-arched openings in each face, topped by a domed leaded roof with an ornate weather-vane. The turret contains a bell dated 1714 from the old butchers' market. At the street corner, the bottom quoin is a block of polished granite inscribed "CENTRE OF BARUM TURNPIKE MILEAGE 1879".

The blind window facing Butchers' Row contains an octagonal clock face originally on the Northgate (c.1760-1842), later on the Bluecoat School (1842-1971), and moved here in 1982. To the left of the doorway below is the mayor's iron poor box dated 1895, with a frame and door bearing elaborate scrollwork.

Interior

The open part of the ground storey is divided by an arcade of three round arches with plain imposts, with two similar arches at the rear. A further arch opens into the rear stair, secured by an iron gate with spearhead uprights.

The entrance lobby from Butchers' Row features late 17th-century-style panelling of 1922 with single-rib Jacobean plaster ceiling and a pendant brought from an unnamed demolished building in The Strand. A stone staircase leads to the upper floor.

The courtroom has a dado of small rectangular panels with a matching justices' bench at the south end. Similar side-benches and two square mobile boxes on rollers accommodate the accused and witnesses. Above the side benches are short galleries for ladies and the grand jury with access from the third storey above the council chamber, supported by quatrefoil-section iron columns and railed with turned wood balusters. At the north end, tiered seating serves the public, fronted by a similar wood railing with decorated iron cresting. In front of the bench stands a large table (probably an enlargement of the original) for the clerk and lawyers. The coved ceiling contains three large rectangular panels with enriched frames; a patterned chandelier boss occupies the centre panel, with patterned ventilator grilles in the other two.

The council chamber is fitted with Jacobean panelling and enriched pilasters, with a carved overmantel dated 1617 bearing the initials of Pentecost and Elizabeth Dodderidge. This overmantel was removed to a Marist Convent in Barnstaple when Cross Street was demolished in 1910 and was brought here in 1949. Behind the panelling is a 19th-century papier-mâché dado, with a 19th-century moulded cornice above.