The Guildhall

The Guildhall

A two-storey, three-bay classical town hall, primarily dating to the early 19th century, with significant extensions and internal remodelling. The building is constructed of rubblestone, originally stuccoed, with a hipped slate roof. The roof features a later 19th-century clock turret with an open pedimental gable.

The front elevation is the principal architectural feature. The first floor displays three giant arched recesses with stone voussoirs, beneath which are three sunk panels—the central panel bearing traces of a clock dated 1848. Within each arch sits a fine ashlar Palladian window with Ionic columns. The glazing dates to the later 19th or early 20th century and incorporates marginal glazing bars, with stucco remaining in place between windows and arch soffits. Above the windows runs an ashlar blind balustrade divided by piers. The ground floor consists of ashlar walling with an entablature and cornice spanning paired Tuscan columns and pilasters set against rusticated walls. A projecting central portico, dating to 1860–2, features four pairs of Tuscan columns, a cornice, and a balustrade. The portico is aligned with the sidelights of the centre window above and the inner sidelights of the outer windows. Columns and pilaster responds flank the centre entrance recess, which contains heavy cast-iron gates and side grilles, with matching columns and responds continuing into the interior, where early 20th-century glazed doors are installed. The portico soffit is composed of very large, slightly panelled stone slabs. A fine 18th-century lead fluted rainwater head stands on each side of the façade, each with a downpipe supported by five lead brackets with embossed heads. Two marble war memorial plaques to the Carmarthenshire Royal Engineers are mounted within the portico.

The side walls feature large first-floor blind stuccoed arched panels with rectangular stuccoed panels above. The ashlar ground floor matches the façade treatment, with three windows framed by paired columns in rusticated walls, with a column and pilaster at each outer end framing a narrow windowless bay.

The rear north-east wing, facing Hall Street, dates to 1827–9. It is four storeys in height, rendered in stucco, and three bays wide, rising to the same eaves level as the front but with different modillions. Small-paned sash windows characterise the elevation: square-paned on the top floor and 12-pane on the main floors. The ground floor contains arched recesses linked by an impost band, with two arched windows and an arched door to the right. The door has a moulded frame, a fanlight with radiating tracery, and a six-panel door with four fielded panels. Two basement windows sit beneath grilles. Curved railings are set in the angle between sections. A lead rainwater head with five embossed lead brackets serves the downpipe.

The south-east rear wing probably dates to 1898. It is three storeys with two bays and features later 19th-century cambered-headed sash windows with marginal glazing bars to the upper floors. The ground floor is faced with stucco imitating ashlar and has channelled pilasters framing recesses with round-headed sash windows, also fitted with marginal glazing bars. The building continues recessed behind the Plume of Feathers to an asymmetrical end gable.

The rear of the main hall includes a centre curved stair tower with arched windows. A gable to the right forms the rear of the 1827 north-east wing, and an awkward join above the stair tower suggests alterations at this point.

The interior underwent major remodelling in 1908–9. The original building presumably comprised only the front hall and rooms on each side, which would have formed part of an open market. Two doors on each side lead from the hall, then two marble steps ascend to an inner hall (presumably an early 19th-century addition). A plain curved-ended stair tower rises to the rear right, with similar hall paving. Two doors open to the right, and a circa 1908 screen to the left leads to a secondary stair in a hall running northward. The main stair is cantilevered stone with mid-19th-century shaped balusters, also seen on a gallery crossing the stair hall at second-floor level. The ceiling is flat with an altered roof lantern. The secondary stair consists of a single flight of cantilevered stone with a wrought-iron balustrade and bulbous newel. A further service stair to the east has circa 1908 turned balusters. The first-floor main landing features stick balusters, as does the stair to the second floor; a closed-string stair leads to the attic.

The first-floor courtroom dates to 1908–9 and has two double-doors with bevelled glass and framed oval top panes. The courtroom is panelled to the impost level of Venetian windows, with plaster panels above, a deep frieze with festoons, cornice, deep cove, and Greek-key ceiling border. A large arched recess on the south wall rises behind the magistrates' bench, which has a three-bay panelled front and low balustrading above panels on each side. Raked upholstered benches flank a centre table, with curving benches extending to a panelled square dock. Raked seating at the north end sits behind the dock. Arched recesses appear in the north wall and also in the east side wall, which features a balcony on scrolled consoles with a panelled and balustered front. A special staircase leads directly from the cells to the dock.

In the 1827 rear wing is a former Grand Jury room designed by David Morgan, which was not accessible at the time of survey. The furniture in this room is of special interest and was also designed by David Morgan, as are the pictures in the courtroom.