Old Town Hall, Newport

Old Town Hall, Newport
Old Town Hall, Newport
Location	St Mary Street, Newport
Coordinates	52°46′08″N2°22′42″W / 52.7689°N 2.3783°W / 52.7689; -2.3783
Built	1860
Architect	John Cobb Jr.
Architectural style(s)	Italianate style
Listed Building – Grade II
Official name	Former Town Hall
Designated	29 June 1978
Reference no.	1367292
Shown in Shropshire

The Old Town Hall is a municipal building in St Mary Street, Newport, Shropshire, England. The structure, which is now divided into a series of shop units on the ground floor and used as a children's play area on the first floor, is a Grade II listed building. ^[1]

History

The first municipal building in Newport was an ancient buttercross which was erected to the southeast of St Nicholas Church. Following a great fire, it was rebuilt at the expense of Thomas Talbot, a younger son of John Talbot, 10th Earl of Shrewsbury, in 1665. ^[2] It was a simple structure designed in the neoclassical style with ten columns supporting a frieze and a roof which was pedimented at both ends. ^[3] After it was found to be in a dilapidated condition, the old buttercross was demolished in 1860. ^{[4] [5]}

In 1858, an act of parliament was passed which allowed the Newport Market Company "to provide a market house and market place and other buildings for public accommodation". The site selected for the new building was further to the southeast along the High Street, close to the junction with Stafford Street. ^[6] The new building was designed by a local architect, John Cobb Jr. of Chetwyn End, in the Italianate style, built in brick with a stucco finish and was completed in 1860. ^[7]

The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of six bays facing onto the High Street with the end bays slightly projected forward as pavilions. The central section of four bays originally contained two round headed doors on the ground floor. On the first floor, the central section was fenestrated by round headed windows with architraves. At roof level there was a modillioned cornice, a balustraded parapet and a central clock supported by elaborately carved scrolls and garlands. The outer bays contained doorways on the ground floor and square headed sash windows with cornices on the first floor, all surmounted by modillioned pediments. Internally, the principal rooms were a courtroom on the ground floor and a ballroom on the first floor. Behind the town hall, there was a nine-bay covered market hall, ^[8] a corn exchange, some magistrates' offices and a mechanics' institute. ^[9]

The borough council was abolished under the Municipal Corporations Act 1883. ^[10] However, the town hall continued to be used by the local masonic lodge for their meetings. ^[11] The use of the corn exchange declined significantly in the wake of the Great Depression of British Agriculture in the late 19th century. ^[12] The corn market was re-purposed as a cinema from 1913: branded as "The Picture House", it operated until 1962. ^{[13] [14]}

After the area became an urban district in 1894, ^[15] Newport Urban District Council used the building for official business, ^[16] but that use ceased when the council moved to council offices at Chetwynd End in the 1960s. ^[17] The courtroom was converted for retail use but, after a period of use as a function room, the ballroom fell into disuse in the 1990s. An extensive programme of refurbishment works to restore the ballroom at a cost of £120,000 was completed in January 2018. ^[18] It initially re-opened as a dual-purpose fitness studio and function space, ^{[19] [20]} but, from May 2023, it became a children's play area. ^[21]

References

1. Historic England. "Former Town Hall (1367292)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 21 August 2023.
2. Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Natural History Society. Vol. 7. 1883. p. 372.
3. "Landmark birthday looms on the horizon for a town's ancient cross". 25 February 2021. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
4. "Archaeologists probe 'market hall' find in Newport". BBC News. 28 September 2010. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
5. "Newport market history brought to life". Shropshire Star. 29 October 2010. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
6. Tables and Indexes. Vol. 48. House of Lords. 1858.
7. Newman, John (2006). Shropshire (Buildings of England Series). Yale University Press. p. 444. ISBN   978-0300120837.
8. "Newport Scoping Study" (PDF). Victoria County History Shropshire. p. 52. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
9. "Public Buildings in the Provinces". The Builder. 26 February 1859. p. 157.
10. Municipal Corporations Act 1883 (46 & 46 Vict. Ch. 18) (PDF). 1883. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
11. The Freemason's Chronicle. Vol. 43–44. 1896. p. 117.
12. Fletcher, T. W. (1973). 'The Great Depression of English Agriculture 1873-1896' in British Agriculture 1875-1914. London: Methuen. p. 31. ISBN   978-1136581182.
13. Blue plaque on the Stafford Street side of the town hall.
14. "Picture House". Cinema Treasures. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
15. "Newport UD". Vision of Britain. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
16. "No. 30668". The London Gazette . 3 May 1918. p. 5382.
17. "No. 44769". The London Gazette . 17 January 1969. p. 688.
18. "£120,000 to renovate Newport's historic market hall". Shropshire Star. 5 October 2017. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
19. "Newport Ballroom is waltzing back to life". Shropshire Star. 9 January 2018. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
20. "Commercial Development". On The Market. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
21. "Tiny Town aims to make a big impression in Newport". Telford and Wrekin Co-operative Council. 16 May 2023. Retrieved 21 August 2023.