| Shirehall, Shrewsbury | |
|---|---|
 Shirehall | |
  Shirehall Location within Shropshire | |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Modernist style |
| Address | Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Coordinates | 52°42′18″N2°43′53″W / 52.7050°N 2.7315°W |
| Completed | 1966 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | Ralph Crowe |
Shirehall is a municipal facility in Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury, Shropshire. The building, which is the headquarters of Shropshire Council, is just north of Lord Hill's Column.
The building was commissioned to replace the Old Shirehall in Market Square. [1] After deciding in the Old Shirehall was inadequate for their needs, county leaders decided to procure a new building: the site they selected had previously been occupied by a country house known as "Nearwell". [2]
Nearwell was commissioned by a local solicitor, William Wybergh How, in 1868 [3] and became the home of his son, Walsham How, who went on to be the first Bishop of Wakefield: [4] it subsequently remained in the How family until the mid-1940s [5] [6] and then became a hostel for boys studying at Shrewsbury Technical College before being demolished in August 1963. [7]
The foundation stone for the new building was laid by Sir Offley Wakeman, a former chairman of the county council, on 25 July 1964. [8] It was designed by Ralph Crowe, the County Architect, in the Modernist style, built at a cost of £1.8 million and was completed in April 1966. [9] It was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, on 17 March 1967. [10] The design for the six-storey building facing Abbey Foregate involved continuous bands of glazing with concrete panels above and below: it also included an unusual ovoid-shaped council chamber which jutted out to the south-west of the main building. [9] Pevsner described the building as "the major monument to post-war modernism in the county". [9]
A single storey extension, also designed by Crowe, was added to the Shirehall, to accommodate the assizes and the local quarter session hearings, shortly after it opened. [11] [12] Following the implementation of the Courts Act 1971, the former assizes courthouse became the venue for hearings of the newly designated Shrewsbury Crown Court. [13] The magistrates' courts moved to a new courthouse in Preston Street in 1994. [14] [15]
Originally established as the headquarters of Shropshire County Council, the building became the offices of the new unitary authority, Shropshire Council in April 2009. [16] A scheme to refurbish the building at a cost of £24 million was proposed in December 2018. [17] However, in September 2020, the council indicated that it would rather sell the building and move to the town centre. [18] Then in October 2020, following an application for a certificate of immunity from listing requested by the county council, English Heritage decided not to list County Hall as the building did not meet the criteria for listing post-1945 buildings. [19] In May 2021 the Twentieth Century Society placed the site on its Top 10 Buildings at Risk List. [20]
Works of art in the building include a cast iron mural by Rosalind Alexander, located in the entrance hall, depicting Shropshire industries. [21]
The Civic Centre is a municipal building located in the Cultural Quarter area within the city of Southampton, England. It comprises offices occupied by Southampton City Council, the SeaCity Museum, the Guildhall, the Southampton City Art Gallery, and the city library. It was designed by the English architect Ernest Berry Webber in the Classical style in 1929 and constructed over a ten-year period. It was completed in 1939. Pevsner's Hampshire: South describes it as "the most ambitious civic building erected in the provinces in the interwar years". It was designated as a Grade II* listed building in 1980.
A county hall or shire hall is a common name given to a building that houses the seat of local government for a county.
The Guildhall is one of the main office buildings of the City and County of Swansea Council. The Guildhall complex, which includes the City Hall, Brangwyn Hall and the County Law Courts for Swansea, is a Grade I listed building.
Sutton Farm is a suburb on the south-east side of Shrewsbury, in the civil parish of Shrewsbury, in Shropshire, England.
Lord Hill's Column is a monument located outside of Shropshire Council's headquarters, Shirehall, in the town of Shrewsbury, Shropshire. It is a column of the Doric order and measures 133 ft 6 in (40.7 m) in height. It commemorates General Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount Hill, with a 17 ft (5.2 m) tall statue standing on the top of the column. The column is shorter than the 44.5m 'Monument to British Liberty' at Gibside, but the combined height of the column and statue is higher in total. The column was built between 1814 and 1816; its diameter is 2 ft (0.6 m) wider than Nelson's Column, and, not including the pedestal, is 15 ft (4.6 m) higher.
Shrewsbury Sixth Form College is a post-secondary co-educational sixth-form college located in Shrewsbury, the county town of Shropshire, England. The college currently has an enrolment of approximately 1,650 students, generally ranging between the ages of 16 and 19. The curriculum consists of AS, A levels and a small range of BTECs. GCSE English Language and Maths can only be taken alongside an A level programme as resits. The college was ranked as the 17th-best sixth-form college in 2012, has the best A-Level performance of any state-funded institution in Shropshire, and has been awarded 'Beacon Status'. The college's Welsh Bridge campus includes buildings of Grade II-listed status originally built in 1910 to house the Priory Grammar School for Boys.
Belvidere School is a coeducational secondary school located in the Belvidere area of Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. Belvidere draws 11- to 16-year-olds mainly from the surrounding areas of Monkmoor, Belvidere, Underdale, Abbey Foregate and Cherry Orchard. It is sited in grounds bordering open fields down to the River Severn.
Shropshire Council, known between 1980 and 2009 as Shropshire County Council and prior to 1980 as Salop County Council, is the local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Shropshire in the West Midlands region of England. Since 2009 it has been a unitary authority, being a county council which also performs the functions of a district council. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county of Shropshire, which additionally includes Telford and Wrekin.
Shrewsbury is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire, England. It is sited on the River Severn, 33 miles (53 km) northwest of Wolverhampton, 15 miles (24 km) west of Telford, 31 miles (50 km) southeast of Wrexham and 53 miles (85 km) north of Hereford. At the 2021 census, the parish had a population of 76,782. It is the county town of the ceremonial county of Shropshire.
Armagh Courthouse is a judicial facility in Armagh, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The courthouse, which accommodates hearings for the local magistrates' courts and county courts, is a Grade A listed building.
Edward Haycock Sr. was an English architect renowned for his work in the West Midlands and central and southern Wales during the late Georgian and early Victorian periods.
John Hiram Haycock (1759-1830) was an architect who built many notable buildings in Shropshire and Montgomeryshire. He was the son of William Haycock (1725-1802), a carpenter and joiner of Shrewsbury. He was apprenticed to his father and became a freeman of the Shrewsbury Carpenters’ and Bricklayers’ Company in 1796. From about 1814 he worked in partnership with his son Edward Haycock, Sr., and became the Shropshire county surveyor in 1824.
The Moot Hall is a former courthouse at Castle Garth in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. The structure, which overlooks the Tyne Bridge, is a Grade I listed building.
The Shirehall is a building on St Peter's Square, Hereford, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a grade II* listed building.
Reading Crown Court is a judicial facility in Reading, Berkshire. It is a Grade II listed building.
The Shire Hall is a municipal building in Foregate Street in Worcester, England. It is a Grade II* listed building.
Lincoln Crown Court is a judicial facility in Lincoln, England. It is located on the western side of the grounds of Lincoln Castle and is a Grade II* listed building.
The Old Shirehall was a municipal facility in Market Square, Shrewsbury, Shropshire. It was demolished in 1971 to make way for a retail and commercial centre.
Shrewsbury Justice Centre is a Crown Court venue which deals with criminal cases, in Preston Street, Shrewsbury, England.
Swaffham Town Hall is a judicial building in Whitecross Road in Swaffham, a town in Norfolk, in England. The building, which is now in residential use, is a Grade II listed building.