The County Hall

The County Hall is a large, rectangular building dating from the Renaissance period, constructed of limestone rubble with limestone and sandstone dressings. It features a slate roof with gabled ends, topped with slatted louvres and a squat chimney. The symmetrical front elevation has a corbel-course creating a thin pediment at the top. A central entrance is defined by a rusticated, round-arched surround with a projecting keystone, flanked by a broad stringcourse that extends around the sides and rear. To the right of the entrance is a late 19th-century limestone wall fountain, with a semi-circular basin and a finialled, gabled back-stone. Above the entrance is a large Venetian window with a plain surround and 20th-century glazing, with evidence of earlier, blocked windows on either side. A circular clockface sits within a moulded oculus in the centre of the corbel-course, with a relieving arch above. The gable is topped by an aedicular bellcote with a moulded pediment, a round-arched bell opening, a surmounting stone dome, and a decorative weathervane.

The north side of the building faces Vale Street. This gable end is taller than the front and contains a basement, accessed via an entrance on the left side of the north elevation. The raised ground floor features a five-bay arcade, currently glazed with concrete lintels supported on original Tuscan sandstone columns. Originally, there were six open bays; the leftmost bay was subsequently blocked and now contains a two-light window with a plain raised architrave. A tall, sloping buttress divides the bays centrally. To the left of this window is a similar three-light window, followed by three further three-light windows to the first floor, the leftmost of which is also Venetian in style.

The south side has a lower, two-storied addition to the western portion, with a flat roof and rounded front corner. A modern, rubble-faced lift shaft rises upward from this addition, extending to the roofline.

Inside, the hall has been heavily modernised, although a row of seven original Tuscan sandstone columns remains from the ground floor, which was formerly partly open.