Blackpool Town Hall

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Blackpool Town Hall
Blackpool Town Hall - DSC07226.JPG
Blackpool Town Hall
LocationTalbot Square, Blackpool
Coordinates 53°49′07″N3°03′17″W / 53.8185°N 3.0546°W / 53.8185; -3.0546
Area Borough of Blackpool
Built1900
Architect Potts, Son and Hennings
Architectural style(s) Jacobean style
Listed Building – Grade II
Designated11 January 1974
Reference no.1205893
Lancashire UK location map.svg
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Shown in Lancashire
Location map United Kingdom Blackpool.svg
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Location in Blackpool

Blackpool Town Hall is a municipal building in Talbot Square, Blackpool, England. The town hall is the headquarters of Blackpool Council, which is the main governing body for the wider Borough of Blackpool. It is a Grade II listed building. [1]

History

The Council Chamber. Blackpool Town Hall Chambers.jpg
The Council Chamber.

The building was commissioned to replace an 18th-century town hall located just to the south of the current structure close to the old St John's Market. [2] The new building, which was designed by Potts, Son and Hennings in the Jacobean style, was built on Talbot Square and completed in 1900. [1] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with seven bays facing onto the Talbot Square with the outer bays curving round to the sides; the central bay featured a five-stage square clock tower with the ground floor forming a portico with Tuscan order pilasters and first floor forming a portico with Ionic order columns with a segmental pediment and a balustrade above. [1] The ship's bell from HMS Foudroyant, which was wrecked on Blackpool Sands in 1897, was recovered and placed in the town hall, when it opened. [3] The murals in the council chamber, which were painted by J. R. Brown in 1901, were intended to portray, firstly, the marriage of King Henry VII (of Lancaster) to Princess Elizabeth (of York) in 1486, [4] secondly, the surrender of the Jacobite rebels at Battle of Preston in 1715, [5] and thirdly, the last charge of King Richard III at Bosworth Field in 1485. [6] [7]

The town hall became the headquarters of Blackpool County Borough in 1904 and, after a major fire in the 1930s, it was rebuilt and extended to the south to create a new building, designed by John Charles Robinson. [8] Following the completion of the works, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth visited the building in May 1938. [9] The main frontage of the town hall was damaged by a bomb, planted by the Irish Republican Army, in August 1939. [10] Four stained glass windows in the council chamber, representing education, light industry, agriculture & sport, and recreation, which had suffered damage in the fire, were replaced in the 1940s. [8]

The Princess Royal made a visit to the town hall in 1958 [11] and a weather vane in the shape of the galleon Golden Hind , which had been deemed unsafe, was removed from the roof of the building in February 1965. [12]

The building became the headquarters of Lancashire borough of Blackpool in 1974 before becoming the headquarters of the new unitary authority, Blackpool Council, in 1998. [13] A stained-glass window, which had been set into the ceiling in the council chamber, was restored in August 2019. [14]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Historic England. "Town Hall, Blackpool (1205893)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  2. ↑ Moore, Nick. "The History of Blackpool and the Fylde of Lancashire" (PDF). Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  3. ↑ "Bloomfield Road Football Ground – Blackpool". Lancashire Folk. 28 April 2016. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  4. ↑ Brown, J. R. (1901). "Joining of the Houses of Lancaster and York in 1486". Art UK. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  5. ↑ Brown, J. R. (1901). "Surrender of the Rebel Stuart Forces at Preston in 1715". Art UK. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  6. ↑ Brown, J. R. (1901). "Final Horse Charge of Richard III at Bosworth Field". Art UK. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  7. ↑ "Blackpool Town Hall: history". Blackpool Council. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  8. 1 2 "Blackpool Heritage Buildings". Blackpool Grand. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  9. ↑ "Royal visits through the years". Blackpool Gazette. 26 February 2019. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  10. ↑ "19 dramatic scenes of IRA bombings in Blackpool when firebombs struck the town centre in 1939 and 1991". The Gazette. 22 November 2023. Retrieved 8 December 2023.
  11. ↑ "Right royal occasions across the Fylde over the last century". Blackpool Gazette. 7 March 2019. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  12. ↑ "Montgomery High School: Looking back at Blackpool school life in the 80s". Blackpool Gazette. 28 May 2019. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  13. ↑ "The Lancashire (Boroughs of Blackburn and Blackpool) (Structural Change) Order 1996". Legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  14. ↑ "'Sad' town hall is a 'bad advert for Blackpool'". Lancashire Live. 13 February 2020. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
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