Old Shire Hall, Cardigan

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Old Shire Hall, Cardigan
Native name
Hen Neuadd y Sir Aberteifi (Welsh)
Cardigan Shire Hall.jpg
The building in 2018
LocationHigh Street, Cardigan
Coordinates 52°04′56″N4°39′41″W / 52.0821°N 4.6615°W / 52.0821; -4.6615
Built1764
Architectural style(s) Neoclassical style
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official nameOld Shire Hall
Designated16 June 1961
Reference no.10488
Ceredigion UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Shown in Ceredigion

The Old Shire Hall (Welsh : Hen Neuadd y Sir Aberteifi) is a former judicial building in the High Street in Cardigan, Ceredigion, Wales. The structure, which is now used as a British Red Cross shop, is a Grade II* listed building. [1]

Contents

History

The building was commissioned as a courthouse for the county of Cardiganshire, to replace the inadequate judicial facilities in Cardigan Castle. [2] The site the justices selected, on the west side of the High Street, had been occupied by the Church of the Holy Trinity. [3]

The shire hall was designed in the neoclassical style, built in rubble masonry with an ashlar stone frontage and was completed in 1764. [4] The design involved a narrow main frontage facing onto the High Street with long side elevations stretching back behind the main frontage. It featured a two-storey arch formed by two piers with imposts supporting a series of voussoirs and a raised keystone. Above the arch, there was a band which was surmounted by two rectangular attic windows in a recess. At roof level, there was a frieze, a cornice and a parapet, and there was originally also a small bell turret. Internally, there was a corn exchange on the ground floor and a courtroom on the first floor. [1]

The courtroom was used twice year for the quarter sessions, which were also held once a year at Aberystwyth Town Hall and at the Lampeter Town Hall. [5] [6] [7] The building was enlarged to create a room for the grand jury in 1829. [8]

The courtroom ceased to be used for judicial purposes once Cardigan Guildhall was completed in 1860, [2] and the use of the ground floor as a corn exchange declined significantly in the wake of the Great depression of British agriculture in the late 19th century. [9] The building was therefore sold for commercial use: it served as a garage and motor repair shop, operated by S. T. Jones, from 1926 to 1947, [10] and then served as a furniture shop operated by a firm of drapers, David Jones Watts. [11] It was later used as a warehouse and then as a bookshop, known as Bookend. [12] Since 2015, it has served as a charity shop for the British Red Cross. [13] [14]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 Cadw. "Old Shire Hall (10488)". National Historic Assets of Wales. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
  2. 1 2 "Cardigan Trail". Visit Cardigan. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
  3. ↑ Lloyd, Thomas; Orbach, Julian; Scourfield, Robert (2006). Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion (Buildings of Wales Series). Yale University Press. p. 445. ISBN   978-0-300-10179-9.
  4. ↑ "Cardigan". Dyfed Archaeology. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
  5. ↑ "Early improvements". Aberystwyth Town Council. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
  6. ↑ "Lampeter Town Hall History". Welsh Quilts. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
  7. ↑ Fourteenth report of inspectors of prisons. UK Parliament. 1849. p. 70.
  8. ↑ Lewis, Samuel (1849). "'Cardigan - Carew', in A Topographical Dictionary of Wales". London: British History Online. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
  9. ↑ Fletcher, T. W. (1973). 'The Great Depression of English Agriculture 1873-1896' in British Agriculture 1875-1914. London: Methuen. p. 31. ISBN   978-1-136-58118-2.
  10. ↑ Davies, Donald (1991). Those Were the Days: A History of Cardigan, The Locality and its People. The Cardigan and Tivy-Side Advertiser. ISBN   978-0-9517607-0-3.
  11. ↑ "Complete bedroom suites available for £46.13.3 at Shire Hall". 18 March 1949. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
  12. ↑ ""Bookend", Shire Hall High Street, Cardigan, SA43 1HQ" . Retrieved 22 August 2024.
  13. ↑ "Red Cross charity shop in Cardigan". British Red Cross. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
  14. ↑ "'Concern' as tenth charity shop opens in Cardigan". Tivy-side Advertiser. 25 August 2015. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
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