Witney Town Hall

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Witney Town Hall
Witney Town Hall Geograph-3599022-by-Betty-Longbottom.jpg
Witney Town Hall
LocationMarket Square, Witney
Coordinates 51°47′02″N1°29′07″W / 51.7839°N 1.4853°W / 51.7839; -1.4853
Built1786
Architect Sir William Chambers
Architectural style(s) Neoclassical style
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official nameTown Hall
Designated14 May 1952
Reference no.1213347
Oxfordshire UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Shown in Oxfordshire

Witney Town Hall is a municipal structure in Spring Lane in Market Square, Witney, Oxfordshire, England. The town hall, which is the headquarters of Witney Town Council, is a Grade II* listed building. [1]

Contents

History

The first town hall in Witney was built in the Market Square in 1514. [2] The borough courts held hearings in the building from the mid-16th century and it was used for social events by the 17th century. [2] It was arcaded on the ground floor to allow markets to be held and an assembly room with was established on the first floor. [2] A village lock-up for holding petty criminals was installed in the arcaded area in the early 18th century and a horse-drawn fire engine was installed in the same area in the mid-18th century. [2]

Civic leaders decided to replace the town hall in the early 1780s. The new building was designed in the neoclassical style, probably by Sir William Chambers, [3] built in ashlar stone extracted from a quarry at Black Bourton by masons, James Gulliver and William Harris, and was completed in 1786. [2] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing onto the Market Square: the bays were divided by Tuscan order columns supporting the first floor structure and the meeting room on the first floor featured a large bay window facing onto Langdale Gate. [4]

The town hall became the main meeting place for vestry meetings in the late 18th century. [2] However, after the area was advanced to the status of urban district in 1895, [5] the new civic leaders decided to hold their meetings in the Corn Exchange, rather than the town hall. [2] [lower-alpha 1] Once the local borough courts ceased operating in 1925, the town hall fell vacant. [2] Ownership of the building passed to a body known as the Town Hall Charity in 1929, [4] [8] and, following the change of ownership, alterations, which involved filling in the left hand arcade, were carried out to a design by Thomas Rayson in 1930. [2] The work also included installation of public toilets on the ground floor, the fitting of a new staircase and the removal of the bay window on the first floor. [2]

Following the local government re-organisation in 1974, [9] which saw the abolition of Witney Urban District Council, the new parish level body, Witney Town Council, chose to refurbish the town hall at a cost of £15,000 and made the building its main meeting place. [2] [10] These works also saw the removal of the public toilets on the ground floor and the creation of a town clerk's office. [11]

Notes

  1. ↑ Witney Urban District Council relocated from the Corn Exchange to a large Victorian era property at 26 Church Green in 1936. [6] [7]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Historic England. "Town Hall (1213347)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 25 April 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Baggs, A. P.; Chance, Eleanor; Colvin, Christina; Cooper, Nicholas; Crossley, Alan; Day, Christopher; Selwyn, Nesta; Williamson, Elizabeth; Yates, Margaret (2004). "'Witney borough: Introduction, Architecture and Buildings', in A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 14, Bampton Hundred (Part Two), ed. Simon Townley". London: British History Online. pp. 33–68. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
  3. ↑ Jenkins, Stanley (2012). Witney Through Time. Amberley Publishing. ISBN   978-1445609492.
  4. 1 2 "Witney Town Hall" (PDF). Witney Town Council. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
  5. ↑ "Witney UD". Vision of Britain. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
  6. ↑ Baggs, A. P.; Chance, Eleanor; Colvin, Christina; Cooper, Nicholas; Crossley, Alan; Day, Christopher; Selwyn, Nesta; Williamson, Elizabeth; Yates, Margaret (2004). "'Witney borough: Local Government, in A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 14, Bampton Hundred (Part Two), ed. Simon Townley". London: British History Online. pp. 111–130. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
  7. ↑ "No. 38920". The London Gazette . 23 May 1950. p. 2577.
  8. ↑ "The Town Hall Charity". Charity Commission. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
  9. ↑ Local Government Act 1972. 1972 c.70. The Stationery Office Ltd. 1997. ISBN   0-10-547072-4.
  10. ↑ "Witney Town Council leader Dean Temple facing no confidence vote". Oxford Mail. 25 October 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
  11. ↑ "Witney Town Council". West Oxfordshire District Council. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
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