Town Hall

A 2-storey 5-bay town hall and former market, of which the lower storey is coursed rubble, the upper storey roughcast over a painted freestone sill band. The slate roof is on dentilled eaves. The lower storey has 5 round arches with dressed voussoirs and freestone impost band. The R-hand arch is a through passage to Wall Street. The middle 3 arches are infilled with C20 shop fronts, which have half-glazed doors, small-pane shop windows over rock-faced 'stallrisers', and broad radial-glazed overlights. The L-hand arch has iron gates and recessed entrance to the upper storey. The upper-storey windows have rusticated architraves with triple keystones, to 24-pane hornless sash windows. Below the L-hand window is a bronze plaque of 1816. The L gable end, of scribed roughcast, has a dentilled cornice to a former pediment, obscured when the Bulkeley Hotel was added in 1829.

A parallel 4-bay rear wing is on the E side of the passage to Wall Street, of scribed roughcast painted white. It has 24-pane hornless sash windows in the upper storey and 1-storey projection below. To its L the arch to Wall Street has an added escape door upper R.

The entrance is through the L-hand arch, leading to an open-well stairway (the stairwell now infilled by a lift shaft), with square wooden newel, cast iron balusters with Ionic capitals, and boarded wainscot. In the principal first-floor room panelled doors are within shallow but wide and high arched recesses. The door frames have guilloche moulding. The same moulding is used for window surrounds and sill band.