Town Hall

The building is a town hall dating from the Renaissance period, incorporating European influences. It was designed to house both council offices and a county court. The symmetrical entrance front rises two storeys with attics, and includes a basement; it is constructed of red brick with orange terracotta dressings on a rusticated Pennant sandstone basement. The roof is steep, covered in slate, and originally featured a painted clock turret topped with a cupola, which has since been removed.

The seven-bay façade has advanced outer and central bays, each topped with shaped pedimented gables and linked by arcaded balustrading that extends into the parapets of the full-height canted bay windows of the outer gables. Full-height pilasters rise through the balustrades, along with continuous sill bands and string courses, all enriched with decorated capitals, spandrels, brackets, and cartouche panels. A central round-arched entrance, approached by steps with curved balustrades and pedestals supporting ironwork lamp-brackets, is accessed via ironwork double gates. Flanking the entrance are elongated brackets supporting pedestals surmounted by heraldic lions, and a cantilevered balcony over the door opens from a Shaw-style window on the first floor. The outer gables feature full-height canted bays with mullioned and transomed windows, arranged in three tiers, with stained glass to the principal chambers on the first floor. Between the gables and the entrance bay are round-arched ground-floor windows that create an arcaded effect, with narrow two-light mullioned and transomed windows above.

The long right-hand return elevation features similar detailing, including a corbelled bay window over an arched doorway and a bowed turret with a pyramidal roof. The elevation to New Castle Street steps uphill with comparable detailing, and projects forward at the entrance to the County Court, dated 1896. The rear, on Tramroad Side North, has a tall gable-end with a curved angle.

The building was planned around a long internal courtyard, with the council offices occupying the front block and the court and council chamber housed in the rear range. A perimeter corridor connected all areas. The main front block contains a central entrance hall leading to a spacious stair hall at the rear, both richly decorated with faience and glazed tiles. An exceptionally fine imperial staircase has ironwork balustrading incorporating cartouches and lamp pedestals at its base; it is illuminated by a stained-glass window overlooking the internal courtyard. Interior details include arched and pedimented door heads, panelled dados, and low relief friezes. The main chamber on the first floor has a curved ceiling divided by ribs springing from corbels and featuring central pendants. The Mayor’s parlour is centrally located, with leaded lights in the doorway to the balcony.

The rear range originally housed the court room and council chamber at first floor, but its original layout was damaged in later alterations. However, unusual cast-iron roof trusses with decorated spandrels remain, along with the cells beneath the court room.