Bridgwater Town Hall And Attached Railings

Bridgwater Town Hall and Attached Railings

This is a substantial civic building comprising two distinct phases of construction: the original town hall of 1823 and a rear extension added in 1865. Both structures, together with their associated railings, form an important group of considerable architectural and historical significance.

The 1823 building is constructed of brick with stone dressings and a stucco façade, whilst the 1865 range uses brick with lower courses of red Wembdon stone to the rear. Both have slate roofs with brick ridge stacks. The cellars are built of brick, red Wembdon sandstone and Lias limestone.

The 1823 town hall is rectangular on plan and rises three storeys, displaying the refined proportions of late-Regency style. It presents a symmetrical façade of nine windows, with the five central bays stepped forward and articulated by pilasters with recessed panels. Two pilasters flanking the centre project above the cornice and carry square panels. The second floor windows are 3/6-pane sashes beneath flat arches. The first floor has semi-circular arched 6/6-pane sashes with moulded archivolts, continuous impost and cill bands. The ground floor contains 6/6-pane sashes under flat arches—two to the outer bays and three to the centre. Flanking the central ground-floor openings are Tuscan-style porches with elliptical arches and panelled blocking courses bearing the Town Seal (left) and the Coat of Arms of the former Borough Council of Bridgwater (right). The porch cornices continue as a moulded string-course above ground level. The double-panelled doors are set in elliptical recesses; those to the left have octagonal centre panels and an overlight above, while those to the right are similar but include a leaded overlight inscribed with the words TOWN HALL, with coloured leaded glass to the lower sash of the adjacent window. A box cornice and platband return to each side, with BRIDGWATER TOWN HALL painted centrally below the cornice.

The 1865 rear extension follows Venetian Gothic style and has a limestone plinth, rusticated quoins and moulded kneelers. The ground floor displays coursed red sandstone rubble with wide banding, whilst the first floor has Flemish-bond brick and bracketed eaves. Seven recesses feature gauged brick semicircular arches with keystones over moulded stone archivolts and a continuous moulded impost band. The central five bays contain four-pane semicircular-arched fixed windows and a wide continuous cill band. Single-storey entrances flank each side, with steps rising to double doors surmounted by semicircular overlights.

The interior begins with the entrance to the right of the 1823 building, which is panelled below a high dado rail with a foliate frieze. Six-panelled double inner doors feature long glazed panels to the tops, with diagonal glazing bars forming hexagonal panes to the centres of the large overlight and side panels, beneath a coved top to the architrave. The Charter Hall to the right is panelled and contains names of former mayors and other local dignitaries, with an elliptical arch on moulded pilasters at its centre. A framed Hanoverian Royal Arms of early-19th-century date hangs to the left.

The main hall is entered through ornate double doors leading to the Concert Hall (1865 extension), which have a moulded architrave, panelled reveals, and acanthus leaves to the scrolls of two consoles flanking a foliate panel below a dentilled cornice. An open-well, open-string staircase to the left of these doors features oak barley-sugar-twist balusters with fretted ends, panelled below, a wreathed handrail, curtail step and cast-iron newel. This stair ascends to the former Council Chamber on the first floor. At its head, a panelled timber partition with decorative leaded glazing to the upper section opens into the Council Chamber's outer vestibule, which retains a numbered umbrella rack and wall-mounted coat hooks for councillors. The Council Chamber itself preserves a moulded cornice beneath a very high ceiling, two large foliate plaster ceiling roses and three six-panel doors in moulded frames. A back stair of 1823 date, with stick balusters, slender wreathed handrails and turned newels (closely comparable to that in No. 34 High Street), serves the upper floors. Its sash window contains coloured leaded glass. Some second-floor rooms retain early-19th-century fireplaces. A substantial king-post roof covers this range.

The Concert Hall to the rear is fitted with a balcony extending to three sides, identical in style to that in the Wesleyan Chapel on King Street. This balcony features bulging trellis of raspberry canes and leaves supported by cast-iron columns with acanthus-leaf capitals; the south-west end has been shortened. The ground floor is lined with pine panelling to a high dado height and contains two marble fireplaces bearing the town crest, together with pierced cast-iron skirting panels serving the heating system. Above the balcony are five pairs of fluted pilasters to each side and back, with a coved and coffered ceiling featuring lunettes to the right and blank semicircular panels to the left. The stage and proscenium arch date from the mid-20th century. A king-post truss roof with glazed lantern crowns the Concert Hall.

The basements below both the 1823 and 1865 ranges are extensive, standing at differing levels with numerous rooms and corridors, some with flagstone flooring. These likely represent in part the remnants of earlier buildings on the site and extend southward beneath High Street.

Tall square-section railings with arrow heads enclose the area between the 1823 porches and to the right. Basement windows and access to cellars beneath High Street are positioned below these railings.