Narberth Town Hall

Narberth Town Hall
Native name Neuadd y Dref Arberth (Welsh)
Narberth Town Hall
Location	High Street, Narberth
Coordinates	51°47′54″N4°44′36″W / 51.7982°N 4.7434°W / 51.7982; -4.7434
Built	1833
Architect	William Owen
Architectural style(s)	Neoclassical style
Listed Building – Grade II
Official name	Town Hall
Designated	17 May 1988
Reference no.	6481
Shown in Pembrokeshire

Narberth Town Hall (Welsh : Neuadd y Dref Arberth) is a municipal building in the High Street, Narberth, Pembrokeshire, Wales. The structure, which is currently used as a shop, is a Grade II listed building. ^[1]

History

The building was commissioned as a combined lock-up and courthouse. ^[2] The site that the civic officials selected was occupied by a water tank from where the local people collected their water. ^[3] It was designed in the neoclassical style, built in rubble masonry using stone from a quarry at Robeston Wathen and was completed in around 1833. ^{[4] [5]}

The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing north up the High Street; it featured two flights of steps, on either side of the central bay, providing access to a round-headed doorway on the first floor. The building was remodelled to a design by the county surveyor, William Owen, with slightly projecting voussoirs, in 1845. ^[3] Internally, the principal rooms were the lock-up on the ground floor and the courtroom on the first floor. ^[2]

During the Rebecca Riots, in which rioting farmers and agricultural workers, often dressed as women, undertook protests, an attack on a new workhouse in the town took place ^{[6] [7]} and the rioters were subsequently incarcerated in the lock-up in 1839. ^{[3] [8]}

By the mid-19th century the building had become dilapidated and the magistrates vacated the courtroom on the first floor. The room was instead used as a mechanics' institute with a library and a reading room. ^[3] A tower, with a clock designed and manufactured by J. W. Benson of Ludgate Hill and a pyramid-shaped roof surmounted by a bellcote, was added in 1881. ^[3] Following significant population growth, largely associated with the status of Narberth as a market town, the area became an urban district in 1902. ^[9] The new council adopted the mechanics' institute as its regular meeting place. ^[10]

Visiting speakers at the mechanics institute included the suffragette, Emmeline Pankhurst, who addressed a crowd from the steps of the building in 1908. ^[11] A second floor was added to the building to a design by George Thomas of Templeton in memory of a former president of the mechanics institute, Robert Ward, in 1912. ^[4]

As the responsibilities of the urban district council increased, it became necessary to establish offices for the council officers and their departments at Bank House in St James Street. ^[12] The building continued to serve as a meeting place and town hall for Narberth Urban District Council for much of the 20th century but ceased to be local seat of government when the enlarged South Pembrokeshire District Council was formed in 1974. ^[13] Following an extensive programme of refurbishment works, carried out to a design by Wyn Jones of Haverfordwest, the building was re-opened in summer 1992, initially as a tourist information centre ^[14] and later as a clothing shop. ^[3]

References

1. Cadw. "Town Hall (6481)". National Historic Assets of Wales. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
2. Lewis, Samuel (1845). A topographical dictionary of Wales. Vol. 2. S. Lewis & Co.
3. "Heritage". Golden Sheaf Gallery. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
4. "Narberth: Sense of Place". South Pembrokeshire Action for Rural Communities. 2002. p. 4.
5. Lloyd, Thomas; Orbach, Julian; Scourfield, Robert; Scourfield, Richard; Hughes, Stephen (2004). Pembrokeshire (Buildings of Wales). Yale University Press. p. 304. ISBN   978-0-300-10178-2.
6. "The Rebecca Riots". BBC. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
7. Bloom, C. (2010). Violent London 2000 Years of Riots, Rebels and Revolts. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 195. ISBN   978-0-230-28947-5.
8. "Narberth Lock-up". Prison history.org. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
9. Annual Report of the Local Government Board. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office. 1902. p. 296. Retrieved 2 August 2022. The County of Pembroke (Narberth) Confirmation Order 1902
10. "Narberth Urban District Council". The Pembrokeshire Herald and General Advertiser. 12 September 1902. hdl:10107/3063173 . Retrieved 18 May 2022.
11. "Span Arts to mark centenary with 'Wonder Women' at Narberth Carnival". Tenby Today. 7 March 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
12. "No. 41566". The London Gazette . 5 December 1958. p. 7446.
13. Local Government Act 1972. 1972 c.70. The Stationery Office Ltd. 1997. ISBN   0-10-547072-4.
14. "South Pembrokeshire Action for Rural Communities: Community Regeneration The Why, Who, How and What" (PDF). Senedd. p. 14. Retrieved 18 May 2022.