Old Town Hall, Loughor

The Old Town Hall
Native name Hen Neuadd y Dref Casllwchwr
The building in 2016
Location	Castle street, Loughor
Coordinates	51°39′47″N4°04′32″W / 51.6631°N 4.0755°W / 51.6631; -4.0755
Built	1868
Architect	Henry Davies
Architectural style(s)	Neoclassical style
Listed Building – Grade II
Official name	Old Town Hall
Designated	3 July 1976
Reference no.	11196
Shown in Swansea

The Old Town Hall (Welsh : Hen Neuadd y Dref Casllwchwr) is a former municipal building in Castle Street in Loughor, a town in Swansea, Wales. The structure, which used to be the neeting place of the local borough council, is a Grade II listed building. ^[1]

History

Until the mid-19th century, there was no venue for public meetings in the town: meetings of the ancient borough council, which consisted of a portreeve, 12 aldermen and several burgesses, were held in rooms in local inns. ^[2] The borough council therefore decided to commission a dedicated town hall and to finance it by public subscription. The site the borough leaders selected was opposite Loughor Castle. ^[3] The new building was designed by Henry Davies of Llanelli in the neoclassical style, built in rubble masonry at a cost of £300 and was completed in 1868. ^{[4] [5]}

The original design involved a symmetrical main frontage of two bays facing onto Castle Street. It was fenestrated with casement windows with window sills, voussoirs and keystones on the ground floor and with sash windows in the same style on the first floor. At the west end there was an external staircase leading up to a first-floor porch, formed by a pair of cast iron columns supporting an entablature, and there was a small Diocletian window in the gable above. Internally, there were prison cells and police accommodation on the ground floor, which was accessed through a doorway underneath the external staircase, and there was an assembly room, which was also used for the assizes, on the first floor. ^[1]

In the late 19th century, the building was extended by one extra bay, slightly set back from the original structure, to the east in the same style. ^[1] The borough council was abolished under the Municipal Corporations Act 1883. ^[6] Its assets, including the building, were transferred to a specially-formed entity, the Loughor Town Trust, in 1890. ^[7]

The building was subsequently used as a community events venue and the Loughor Community Association held its meetings in the town hall until 1935 when the Loughor Community Hall in Woodlands Road was completed. ^[8] The assembly room on the first floor was subsequently converted for residential use and remained in that use until 2011. After the Loughor Town Trust was unable to secure a new resident, the whole building was then vacated and boarded up. ^[9] In 2017, the Loughor Town Trust confirmed that it was seeking funding to restore the building, and was considering options including residential, community and business uses. ^{[10] [11]}

References

1. Cadw. "Old Town Hall (11196)". National Historic Assets of Wales . Retrieved 25 May 2024.
2. Report of the Commissioners required to inquire into Municipal Corporations nor subject to the Municipal Corporations Act. George Edward Eyre and William Spottiswoode. 1880. p. 733.
3. "Ordnance Survey Map". 1900. Retrieved 25 May 2024.
4. Vine, J. R. Somers (1884). The Municipal corporations companion, diary, directory, and year book of statistics. p. 364.
5. The National Encyclopaedia. Vol. 6. 1879. p. 793.
6. Municipal Corporations Act 1883 (46 & 46 Vict. Ch. 18) (PDF). 1883. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
7. "Borough of Loughor Records". Archives Hub. Retrieved 25 May 2024.
8. Williams, Bertie Clifford. "The History of the Loughor Welfare Hall". Loughor Welfare Association. Retrieved 25 May 2024.
9. "This town hall has its own prison cell and here's why". Wales Online. 27 July 2017. Retrieved 25 May 2024.
10. "Vandals have twice smashed up a 150-year-old building people are desperately trying to restore". Wales Online. 5 July 2017. Retrieved 25 May 2024.
11. "City of Culture 2021: Swansea Bid". Hansard. 5 December 2017. Retrieved 25 May 2024.