Atherton Town Hall

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Atherton Town Hall
Atherton Town Hall (geograph 2797114).jpg
Atherton Town Hall
LocationBolton Road, Atherton
Coordinates 53°31′33″N2°29′14″W / 53.5258°N 2.4872°W / 53.5258; -2.4872 Coordinates: 53°31′33″N2°29′14″W / 53.5258°N 2.4872°W / 53.5258; -2.4872
Built1900
Architect James Caldwell Prestwich
Architectural style(s) Baroque style
Greater Manchester UK location map 2.svg
Red pog.svg
Shown in Greater Manchester

Atherton Town Hall is a municipal building in Bolton Road, Atherton, Greater Manchester, England. The town hall, which was the headquarters of Atherton Urban District Council, is now in use as a community hub and as a public library.

History

After significant industrial growth in the mid-19th century, largely associated with the coal mining industry, in 1863, a local board of health was formed [1] which established its offices in Bolton Road. [2] Atherton became an urban district in 1894 [3] and, in this context, civic leaders decided to demolish the existing offices and build a new structure on the same site. [4]

Construction started on the new building in 1898. [5] It was designed by James Caldwell Prestwich in the Baroque style, built in red brick with stone dressings and was completed in 1900. [6] [7] The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage with six bays facing onto Bolton Road; the left-hand section of five bays featured round headed windows in the first four bays and a doorway with a richly carved rectangular tympanum flanked by brackets supporting a stone canopy in the fifth bay. There were casement windows on the first floor. The right-hand bay contained a clock tower with an octagonal cupola, [8] containing an hour-striking clock by Potts of Leeds. [9] A Carnegie library, designed by Bradshaw Gass & Hope, was built on a site just to the north of the town hall and was opened by Lord Lilford on 24 May 1905. [10]

The building remained the headquarters of Atherton Urban District Council for much of the 20th century but ceased to be the local seat of government after the enlarged Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council was formed in 1974. [11] An extensive programme of refurbishment works costing £1 million was completed in November 2018. [12] The works included the creation of a community hub where residents could meet with council officers, as well as the conversion of part of the municipal space for library use so that the Carnegie Library could be sold by Wigan Council. [13] [14] [15]

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References

  1. ↑ Greater Manchester Gazetteer, Greater Manchester County Record Office, Places names - A, archived from the original on 18 July 2011, retrieved 8 March 2010
  2. ↑ "Ordnance Survey Map". 1894. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
  3. ↑ "Atherton UD". Vision of Britain. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  4. ↑ "Atherton". Kelly's Directory of Lancashire. 1905. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  5. ↑ "Atherton Council Offices: Bolton New Road Atherton" . Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  6. ↑ "James Caldwell Prestwich". Architects of Greater Manchester. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  7. ↑ "Buildings of Interest". Wigan and Leigh Buildings. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  8. ↑ Pevsner, Nikolaus (1969). South Lancashire, Part 1: The Industrial and Commercial South. Penguin. p. 72. ISBN   978-0300096156.
  9. ↑ Potts, Michael S. (2006). Potts of Leeds: Five Generations of Clockmakers. Ashbourne, Derbyshire: Mayfield Books. p. 155.
  10. ↑ "Atherton Library to go up for auction next week". Leigh Journal. 12 January 2001. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  11. ↑ Local Government Act 1972. 1972 c.70. The Stationery Office Ltd. 1997. ISBN   0-10-547072-4.
  12. ↑ "Atherton Town Hall opens". Borough Wide Community Network. 20 November 2018. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  13. ↑ "Councillor Mark Aldred shelves MP Chris Green's claims about the future of Atherton Library". Leigh Journal. 9 February 2017. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  14. ↑ "Uncertain future for Atherton library building". Leigh Journal. 8 June 2018. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  15. ↑ "Former community library built 116 years ago goes up for auction - it could be yours". Manchester Evening News. 8 January 2021. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
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