Woodstock Town Hall | |
---|---|
Location | Market Place, Woodstock |
Coordinates | 51°50′51″N1°21′21″W / 51.8475°N 1.3558°W |
Built | 1767 |
Architect | Sir William Chambers |
Architectural style(s) | Neoclassical style |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
Official name | Town Hall |
Designated | 18 October 1949 |
Reference no. | 1203847 |
Woodstock Town Hall is a municipal building in the Market Place in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England. The building, which is used as a community events venue, is a Grade II listed building. [1]
The first municipal building in the town was a medieval guildhall on the south side of Market Street which dated back at least to the 15th century. [2] It was a two-storey building which incorporated a lock-up for petty criminals and which was surmounted by a small tower with a clock and a bell. [2] By 1757, the old guildhall had become very dilapidated and it was demolished. [2] In the early 1760s, the lord of the manor, George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough, approved plans for a new town hall: the site chosen had been occupied by an ancient market cross. [2] The foundation stone for the new building was laid by the duke in March 1766. [2] [3] It was designed by Sir William Chambers in the neoclassical style, built by John Hooper in ashlar stone at a cost of £1,100 and was completed in 1767. [2] [4]
The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing west onto the Market Place. The ground floor, which was rusticated, featured three round headed openings for access to the market hall, while the first floor featured three sash windows with architraves. The front elevation was surmounted by a modillioned pediment. Internally, the principal rooms were the market hall on the ground floor, and the main assembly hall and the council chamber on the first floor. [2] The building also accommodated facilities for the local horse-drawn fire engine and a new lock-up for petty criminals. [2] The pediment was enhanced when the coat of arms of the George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough was installed in the tympanum in 1768. [2]
In the second half of the 19th century the county magistrates held hearings in the building and, in 1861, a drinking fountain was installed on the south elevation of the building at the expense of John Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough in appreciation of the efforts of the people of town in extinguishing a major fire at Blenheim Palace earlier that year. [2] The suffragette, Jane Ronniger, gave a speech advocating votes for women in the town hall in March 1875. [5] The borough council, which met in the town hall, was reformed under the Municipal Corporations Act 1883. [6]
In 1898, the ground floor openings were infilled to a design by George Castle to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria; a doorway flanked by pilasters supporting an open pediment was inserted in the central opening and round headed windows were inserted in the outer openings. [1] These alterations allowed the creation of a mayor's parlour and a library at the front of the building on the ground floor. [1] The town hall continued to serve as the headquarters of the borough council for much of the 20th century but ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlarged West Oxfordshire District Council which was formed in 1974. [7]
In the 1990s, a series of wall hangings were by created by the Woodstock Broderers for the main assembly hall, [8] and, in the 21st century, the building became an approved venue for weddings and civil partnership ceremonies. [9]
Works of art in the town hall include a portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds of George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough, [10] a portrait by an unknown artist of John Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough [11] and a portrait by Tennyson Cole of Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough, [12] as well as a portrait by James Saxon of the Scottish teacher, William Fordyce Mavor. [13]
Duke of Marlborough is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created by Queen Anne in 1702 for John Churchill, 1st Earl of Marlborough (1650–1722), the noted military leader. In historical texts, unqualified use of the title typically refers to the 1st Duke. The name of the dukedom refers to Marlborough in Wiltshire.
Blenheim Palace is a country house in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England. It is the seat of the Dukes of Marlborough and the only non-royal, non-episcopal country house in England to hold the title of palace. The palace, one of England's largest houses, was built between 1705 and 1722, and designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.
John Winston Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough,, styled Earl of Sunderland from 1822 to 1840 and Marquess of Blandford from 1840 to 1857, was a British Conservative cabinet minister, politician, peer, and nobleman. He was the paternal grandfather of Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill.
Woodstock is a market town and civil parish, 8 miles (13 km) north-west of Oxford in West Oxfordshire in the county of Oxfordshire, England. The 2011 Census recorded a parish population of 3,100.
Charles James Spencer-Churchill, 12th Duke of Marlborough, styled Earl of Sunderland until March 1972 and Marquess of Blandford until October 2014, and often known as Jamie Blandford or Jamie Marlborough, is an English peer and the current Duke of Marlborough.
George Spencer-Churchill, 6th Duke of Marlborough, styled Earl of Sunderland until 1817 and Marquess of Blandford between 1817 and 1840, was a British nobleman, politician, and peer. The great-grandfather of Sir Winston Churchill, he served as Lord-Lieutenant of Oxfordshire between 1842 and 1857.
Woodstock, sometimes called New Woodstock, was a parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom named after the town of Woodstock in the county of Oxfordshire.
Frances Anne Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, VA was an English noblewoman, the wife of British peer and statesman John Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough. One of her sons, Lord Randolph Churchill, was the father of Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill. She had a total of 11 children, and her principal home was the monumental Blenheim Palace, which she rejuvenated with her "lavish and exciting entertainments", and transformed into a "social and political focus for the life of the nation". She was invested as a Lady of the Royal Order of Victoria and Albert for her efforts at famine relief in Ireland.
William Fordyce Mavor was a Scottish teacher, priest and compiler of educational books, many of which passed through numerous editions. He also invented a system of shorthand, which he explained in a treatise entitled 'Universal Stenography’, first published in 1779. He is buried in the church at Woodstock, Oxfordshire, where there is a commemorative plaque.
Lily Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough was an American heiress and socialite during the Gilded Age.
Lord Alfred Spencer-Churchill DL JP was a British Conservative politician.
Edla Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, is a British ceramist and aristocrat. She is the second wife of Jamie Spencer-Churchill, 12th Duke of Marlborough.
The Worcester Guildhall is a municipal building in the High Street, Worcester, England. It is a Grade I listed building.
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