Evesham Town Hall | |
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![]() Evesham Town Hall | |
Location | Market Place, Evesham |
Coordinates | 52°05′33″N1°56′51″W / 52.0924°N 1.9475°W Coordinates: 52°05′33″N1°56′51″W / 52.0924°N 1.9475°W |
Built | 1586 |
Architect | George Hunt |
Architectural style(s) | Neoclassical style |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
Official name | Town Hall |
Designated | 7 May 1952 |
Reference no. | 1350104 |
Evesham Town Hall is a municipal structure in the Market Place in Evesham, Worcestershire, England. The town hall, which was the headquarters of Evesham Borough Council, is a Grade II listed building. [1]
The first municipal building in Evesham was a medieval guildhall in Bridge Street close to the bridge across the River Avon. [2] After the old guildhall fell into a state of disrepair, civic leaders briefly used the black and white timber-framed Round House (also known as the Booth Hall) in Bridge Street for their meetings until the town hall became available. [2] Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1540s, the remains of Evesham Abbey, and much of the town to the north of the abbey, was acquired by the then Master of the Ordnance in the North, Sir Philip Hoby, in 1546. [3] After Sir Philip Hoby's death in 1558, the abbey site passed to his nephew, Sir Edward Hoby, who decided to commission the town hall as a gift to the town. [3]
The new building was designed in the neoclassical style, was built from rubble masonry recovered the ruins of the abbey and was completed in 1586. [4] It was designed with arcading on the ground floor to allow markets to be held and with an assembly room on the first floor: a village lock-up for holding petty criminals and facilities for grain threshing were installed in the arcaded area at an early stage. [2] A council chamber was installed on the first floor at the expense of two local members of parliament, John Rudge and Sir John Rushout, in 1728. [2] After a programme of repair works was completed in 1834, the town was advanced to the status of municipal borough with the town hall as its headquarters in 1835. [5]
The building was substantially remodelled to a design by George Hunt to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887. [1] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with two bays facing north onto the Market Square; the ground floor consisted of two stone arches while the first floor featured a large oriel window; above the window was a gable containing a trefoil surrounded by the inscriptions "V.R." (Victoria Regina) and "A.D. 1887" and displaying a coat of arms at its centre. [1] A clock tower with a lantern and finial was erected at roof level. [1] Internally, the principal rooms were the main hall and the council chamber. [6] A wind indicator, a barometer and a thermometer were presented the Reverend George Head, the priest in charge of St Mary's Church at Aston Somerville, and installed on the north face of the building in November 1887. [7]
The town hall continued to serve as the headquarters of the borough for much of the 20th century but ceased to be the local seat of government after the enlarged Wychavon District Council was formed in 1974. [8] In April 1995, the building was acquired by Evesham Town Council which arranged the restoration of the clock tower in 1998, the refurbishment of the weather instruments in 2000, and tenancies for the ground floor so that the area could be used as a café bar. [9]
Works of art in the town hall include a series of paintings by the artist, George Willis-Pryce, depicting the Workman Bridge across the River Avon, [10] the ferry to the village of Little Hampton, [11] and the old gateway to the Market Square. [12]
Evesham is a market town and parish in the Wychavon district of Worcestershire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is located roughly equidistant between Worcester, Cheltenham and Stratford-upon-Avon. It lies within the Vale of Evesham, an area comprising the flood plain of the River Avon, which has been renowned for market gardening. The town centre, situated within a meander of the river, is regularly subject to flooding. The 2007 floods were the most severe in recorded history.
Tewkesbury is a medieval market town and civil parish in the north of Gloucestershire, England. The town has significant history in the Wars of the Roses and grew since the building of Tewkesbury Abbey. It stands at the confluence of the River Severn and the River Avon, and thus became an important trading point, which continued as railways and later M5 and M50 motorway connections were established. The town gives its name to the Borough of Tewkesbury, due to the earlier governance by the Abbey, yet the town is the second largest settlement in the Borough. The town lies on border with Worcestershire, identified largely by the Carrant Brook.
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Abbots Morton is a village and civil parish in the English county of Worcestershire. It consists of approximately 70 dwellings and 250 people. It retains 4 mixed working farms within the village boundaries. The village was the country retreat for the Abbots of Evesham Abbey and the moat that surrounded their house is still visible. The village church is dedicated to St Peter and is over 1000 years old.
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Prince Henry's High School, formerly Prince Henry's Grammar School is an upper school with academy status in Evesham, Worcestershire, England. It is a co-educational high school, in which there are about 1,280 students enrolled, aged between 13 and 18. It is situated in the north of Evesham off the A4184, near the junction with the B4624, adjacent to the north of the railway, and serves the town of Evesham and surrounding villages. A 2013 Ofsted report accorded the school a Grade 1 (outstanding)
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George Willis-Pryce (1865-1949) was an English landscape painter who worked in the late 19th century and the early 20th century. Several of his paintings are exhibited in galleries and museums, such as the Wednesbury Museum and Art Gallery and the Bewdley Museum, as well as several local pieces in Evesham Town Hall. The majority of his works are held in private collections.
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