Town Hall And Public Library

Town Hall and Public Library

This building combines two distinct phases of construction: the rear part of the Town Hall dates from 1850, designed by architect RD Gould of Barnstaple with builder EM White of Bideford, while the front part and library were added in 1905 by architect Alfred Dunn of Birmingham.

The structure is built of red brick with limestone detailing, rising from squared stone rubble and ashlar bases; the less prominent parts of the rear elevation incorporate coursed stone rubble. The roof is slate, with the 1850 section distinguished by crested buff ridge-tiles. On the original east gable-end of this section stands a stone chimney with three octagonal shafts topped with crenellated finials.

The plan is roughly L-shaped. Gould's Town Hall faces Bridge Street and contains the court room on its upper floor. Dunn's addition faces New Road and contains the council chamber and mayor's room on the upper floor. The present entrance lies under Gould's building, leading to the 1905 main staircase at the rear. The library occupies the south end of the New Road frontage. The building is two storeys tall except for the single-storeyed library.

Both sections are designed in early Tudor style with close visual harmony. Gould's building is four windows wide, with simple paired Tudor-arched windows on the ground storey. The upper storey features taller mullioned-and-transomed windows with traceried heads, crowned by a battlemented parapet. All windows contain patterned leaded glazing. Between the windows in both storeys are buttresses with offsets, finished with diagonally-set crenellated pinnacles rising above the parapet.

On the splayed corner with Church Walk stands an octagonal stone bell-turret with two tiers of trefoil-headed openings and a battlemented parapet. Below it is an old stone coat-of-arms, probably relocated from another building, flanked by a lion and unicorn.

The main elevation to Church Walk features a four-light mullioned-and-transomed window in the same style as those facing Bridge Street, but with four lozenges in place of a transom, each containing a quatrefoil and shield. To the right is a two-storeyed oriel window with Tudor-arched lights. The ground storey has a segmental-headed doorway marked "MAGISTRATES ROOM" in gold letters. On the south gable-end is a small stone tablet carved with architect's compasses and set-square bearing the initials R G.

Dunn's extension continues Gould's design with two further bays, though the windows feature square lead lights instead. Two rainwater-heads are dated 1905. The splayed corner with New Road has a turret similar to Gould's but topped with a crocketed dome rather than a parapet. At first-floor level, a corbelled stone balcony with open trefoil-headed panels opens from the council chamber, inscribed with "ALFRED DUNN, A.R.I.B.A., ARCHITECT, BIRMINGHAM" and "H. GLOVER & SON, BUILDERS, BIDEFORD".

The gable-end to New Road displays a five-light canted mullioned-and-transomed oriel in Gould's style with cinquefoil-headed panels below and quatrefoil panels above. Flanking it are two segmental-headed windows, each of two mullioned-and-transomed lights with cinquefoiled heads. To the left stands a four-storeyed entrance-tower, now serving only the library, with massive battered buttresses and a tall battlemented parapet. On top is an octagonal turret with patterned leaded base, the upper part featuring open trefoil-headed arches and an ogee leaded roof. Four flying buttresses with crocketed pinnacles are set diagonally to the tower.

The library is designed after the manner of a medieval hall, with three mullioned double-transomed windows of three Tudor-arched lights each. The middle window is flanked by buttresses matching Gould's, and above it, under a segmental-headed parapet, is a stone tablet inscribed "FREE LIBRARY". At the left-hand end is a gabled projection containing a canted bay window matching the other three. On its parapet is a shield carved with the date 1905.

Interior

Gould's Courtroom features a panelled rostrum at the west end flanked by enclosed stair turrets. The left turret contains a wooden open-well stair with thin chamfered balusters and newels. The turrets are linked above the rostrum by an open gallery with patterned iron railing. The other three sides of the room have open galleries set on octagonal iron columns with fluting on the upper parts; the wooden rails feature turned balusters and newels. Fixed wooden benches, possibly original, stand under the rear gallery and within the galleries themselves. The ceiling is cambered and panelled with moulded beams and flower-bosses.

Dunn's Council Chamber is panelled with a ceiling similar to that in the Courtroom; it retains original furniture including a bell dated 1751 from the Old Bridge Hall. The main staircase is probably of concrete construction, with an open-well featuring iron balusters alternately thin and square or turned, and scrolled newels. The library has an open timber roof.