Town Hall

ST7128 8/174

WINCANTON CP MARKET PLACE (South side) Town Hall

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GV II

Town Hall, now Wincanton Day Centre. 1878. By W. J. Willcox of Bath. Red brick with ashlar stone dressings; hipped plain clay tile roof. A C19 parody of Nathaniel Ireson. East facade of 2 storeys, 3 bays, with clock tower on North East corner. Plinth and rusticated stone base, band course, console bracketted cornice; to bay 1 two small semi-circular openings with doorways and fanlights; to bays 2 and 3 wider arched openings with Gibbsian surrounds and triple keystones; above plain sash windows with rusticated architraves and quintruple keystones. Tower to match, with dentilled string course over ground floor doorway, narrow sash window with architrave and triple keystone above, then the tower plinth with panel stating 'rebuilt anno domini 1878', with simple window under a clockface; steep tiled roof and weathervane. Short North return of tower to match. The first town hall wrecked by a mob in 1767 and replaced in 1769 (the year Nathaniel Ireson died); this second was destroyed by fire in 1877, and in this rebuilding the road was widened by 2.5 metres; an open market in the undercroft was enclosed in 1893, after a Market Hall had been built. Of great visual importance in heart of town. (Sweetman G, History of Wincanton, c1904).

Listing NGR: ST7129528610