Town Hall, Townfoot

The Town Hall, dated 1855 and built between 1854 and 1857, is an imposing two-storey and garret building in a Scottish-Baronial style. It occupies a prominent corner site in the heart of the village. The exterior is constructed of squared and snecked whinstone rubble with pale sandstone ashlar dressings. A coped ashlar basecourse runs along the base, and a discontinuous roll-moulded eaves course is visible. The corners are quoined, and the windows have tabbed and roll-moulded margins. The gables are topped with square-cap finials.

The principal west elevation features a three-bay entrance flanked by slightly advanced crow-stepped gabled outer bays with stepped drip-moulds and finials. A recessed, segmental-arched entrance porch, complete with a balustrade, is centrally positioned and contains a two-leaf timber panelled door flanked by windows within an arcade. Above the door is a carved date panel and an elaborate monogram. A heavily machicolated parapet is topped with five 'canon' waterspouts and a shouldered gablet with a fleur-de-lys finial. One gable has two bartizans; a two-stage circular turret corbelled out above the ground floor on the left, and a corbelled octagon at the second stage. To the right, a round turret is corbelled out at the first floor, topped with a conical roof and ball finial. The left gable is curved at ground level and corbelled out to form a broad square at the first floor.

The north and south elevations are gabled and three-bayed, each with a segmental-arched window at the first floor and a single garret window above. The rear (east) elevation has a gabled outshot to the right with a former corbelled chimney stack and a later lean-to entrance addition. A single-storey slated outshot adjoins to the left. A late 20th-century brick-built lift addition, with a monopitch and lean-to roof, is situated behind the hall but is not visible from the road. A castellated corner wall returns along the south elevation.

Inside, a square stairwell is located to the right of the entrance bay, featuring decorative cast-iron balusters and a hardwood handrail. The main hall on the first floor has giant corbels ornamented with moulded foliage supporting an arched A-frame timber ceiling. A massive two-leaf timber door separates two rooms at ground floor level on the right. A reading room is located on the ground floor to the left.

The windows are timber sash and case, with 6, 8, and 12 panes of glazing. The roof is covered with grey slate laid in diminishing courses. Cast-iron rainwater goods with hoppers are present, and the building has rainwater hoppers.