Crispin Hall

Crispin Hall is a public hall, library and reading room, dating from 1883. Originally designed by G. J. Skipper for William S. Clark, it is now used as a craft centre and hall. The building is constructed of irregularly coursed and squared rubble with freestone dressings and has double Roman tile roofs. Notable features include a large dormer gable, an arcaded wooden bellcote with a pyramidal lead roof and elaborate weathervane, two zinc ventilating lanterns, and large brick stacks with oversailing courses.

The building is roughly rectangular in plan, built in a Domestic Revival style. It is two storeys and an attic, with a 3:1:2 bay front; the bays to the right project slightly under a front-facing gable. The attic features a 3-light dormer with a transom. The windows are predominantly 2, 3, 5 and 6-light stone-mullioned, the majority with transoms and stopped labels. A single-storey gabled porch centres the front, featuring a 4-centred arch door opening with paired plank doors; a sign on an iron frame identifies the building as “Crispin Hall”.

The return to Leigh Road presents a building of one and two storeys with attics, with a 1:5:1:1 bay arrangement, those to the left and right set under front-facing gables. A projecting stair-turret features an octopartite tile roof with scrolled wrought-iron cresting. Stone-mullioned windows, some with stopped labels, are also present; a set of five bays features tall 3-light windows providing access to the hall, with cambered heads and double transoms. Buttresses with offsets are spaced between the two stages. There are two door openings: one to the right of the projecting turret in a hipped roof porch with a 4-centred arch opening and paired plank doors and elaborate hinges, and another to the left in a projecting gabled porch with a 4-centred arch outer door opening and paired inner plank doors. A stone plaque on the turret displays figures in relief. The building occupies a prominent and important position on the High Street.