Malton Town Hall

Malton Town Hall
The east-facing entrance block
Location	Market Place, Malton
Coordinates	54°08′09″N0°47′56″W / 54.1358°N 0.7988°W / 54.1358; -0.7988
Built	1749
Architectural style(s)	Neoclassical style
Listed Building – Grade II
Official name	Malton Museum
Designated	29 September 1951
Reference no.	1282440
Shown in North Yorkshire

Malton Town Hall is a municipal building in the Market Place, Malton, North Yorkshire, England. The structure, which is used as a restaurant, is a grade II listed building. ^[1]

History

The west-facing butter market

The first building on the site was an early market cross dating back to the 16th century. ^[2] The current building was commissioned by Thomas Watson-Wentworth, 1st Marquess of Rockingham, whose seat was at Wentworth Woodhouse, as a butter market for the town. It was designed in the neoclassical style, built in stone and completed in 1749. ^[3] The design involved a rectangular structure which was arcaded on the ground floor, so that markets could be held, with a council chamber on the first floor. ^[2]

The building was extensively refaced in an unsympathetic style in the mid-19th century, and then extended to the north and to the east in the late 19th century. The design of the new east-facing entrance block, which was castellated, involved a symmetrical main frontage of five bays. The central section of three bays, which was slightly projected forward, featured a doorway with a rectangular fanlight, flanked by two small bi-partite widows. The bays in the central section were flanked by pilasters and by large brackets supporting a wrought iron balcony. On the first floor there was a French door flanked by two casement windows. The outer bays were fenestrated by sash windows on both floors. ^[4]

Petty session hearings were typically held in the building on a fortnightly basis and county court hearings were held once a month. ^[5] Following significant population growth, largely associated with the status of Malton as a market town, the area became an urban district in 1894. ^{[6] [7]} The town hall then served as the meeting place of the new district council for much of the 20th century, ^[8] but ceased to be the local seat of government when Ryedale District Council was formed at the council offices in Norton-on-Derwent in 1974. ^[9] The Malton Museum relocated from the Milton Rooms to the town hall in 1982. However, when their lease came to an end in 2012, the trustees of the museum decided to move to Subscription Rooms. ^[10]

The town hall then remained vacant for five years, after which it was extensively refurbished to a design by Folium Architects. The work, which cost £380,000, involved the removal of the in-filling in the arches and the installation of glazing instead. ^{[11] [12] [13]} The building then re-opened as a restaurant, known as the Stew and Oyster, in 2019. ^{[14] [15] [16]} It came under new management, as The Pizza on The Square, in 2023. ^[17]

References

1. Historic England. "Malton Museum (1282440)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 1 August 2023.
2. "Malton Old Town Hall" (PDF). Malton Buildings Group. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
3. Jones, Melvyn; Jones, Joan; Cooper, Stephen (2021). Wentworth Woodhouse: The House, the Estate and the Family. Pen and Sword Books. ISBN   978-1526783028.
4. Stone, John (2005). Around Malton (Pocket Images). The History Press. p. 15. ISBN   978-1845881184.
5. Sheahan, James Joseph; Whellan, T. (1857). History and Topography of the City of York, the East Riding of Yorkshire, and a Portion of the West Riding. John Green. p. 654.
6. "Malton UD". Vision of Britain. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
7. Page, William (1914). "'Parishes: New Malton', in A History of the County of York North Riding". London: British History Online. pp. 529–537. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
8. "No. 44948". The London Gazette . 3 October 1969. p. 10154.
9. "No. 47313". The London Gazette . 1 September 1977. p. 11213.
10. "History of Malton Museum". Malton Museum. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
11. "Old Town Hall, Malton". Folium Architects. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
12. "Malton Town Hall in £380k restoration to make the town 'Yorkshire's Food Capital'". Bdaily. 17 August 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
13. "Businesses are offered iconic town hall". Northern Echo. 15 August 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
14. "Stew & Oyster reveals plan for former Malton town hall". The Gazette and Herald. 22 February 2017. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
15. "Stew and Oyster restaurant plan for former Malton Town Hall". York Press. 9 August 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
16. "Stew & Oyster to open in former Malton town hall". The Gazette and Herald. 30 January 2019. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
17. "Pizza on the Square, Malton - a look inside the restaurant". The Gazette and Herald. 23 February 2023. Retrieved 2 August 2023.