Axbridge Town Hall
Axbridge Town Hall
LocationThe Square, Axbridge
Coordinates51°17′14″N 2°49′01″W / 51.2871°N 2.8170°W / 51.2871; -2.8170
Built1830
Architectural style(s)Neoclassical style
Listed Building – Grade II
Official nameTown Hall
Designated9 February 1961
Reference no.1344886
Axbridge Town Hall is located in Somerset
Axbridge Town Hall
Shown in Somerset

Axbridge Town Hall is a municipal building in The Square in Axbridge, Somerset, England. The building, which is the meeting place of Axbridge Town Council, is a Grade II listed building.[1]

History

The building was commissioned as a guildhall and market hall for the borough of Axbridge.[2] It was designed in the neoclassical style, built in brick with a stucco finish at a cost of £1,800 and was completed in 1830.[1][3] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing onto The Square; the central bay, which slightly projected forward, featured a segmental opening with wrought iron gates behind a portico with iron columns supporting an entablature, a frieze inscribed with the words "Town Hall" and a balcony. There was a sash window on the first floor. The outer bays contained segmental openings with wrought iron bars on the ground floor and sash windows on the first floor. At roof level, there was a cornice and a parapet broken by a central open pediment containing a clock, and there was a small bell on a wrought iron support, mounted on the parapet on the left hand side.[1] Internally, the principal rooms were the main hall on the ground floor and the council chamber and the courtroom on the first floor.[4]

A room was fitted out to store securely the borough's extensive collection of manuscripts which had been accumulated over many centuries.[5][6] An Elizabethan map of the Mendip Hills, showing the location of the lead mines, was hung on one of the walls.[7] In the 19th century, the courtroom was used as the venue for the fortnightly petty session hearings.[8] Following the implementation of the Municipal Corporations Act 1883,[9] the Borough of Axbridge was abolished in 1886 and its assets, including the town hall, were transferred to a new body, the Axbridge Town Trust, in 1889.[10]

Following local government re-organisation in 1974, the town hall became the meeting place of Axbridge Town Council and the courtroom was let out to the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society.[11] The building was dressed up to play the role of a branch of NatWest in a television advert for the bank in 1991.[12] A programme of works, involving the installation of sound absorbent ceiling panels to improve the acoustics of the main hall, was carried out with financial support from National Grid's Community Fund and completed in 2020.[13] The improvements allowed higher quality artists to be attracted to the venue and performers lined up included the American rock guitarist, Greg Douglass, in 2022.[14]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Historic England. "Town Hall (1344886)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  2. ↑ "Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons". UK Parliament. 1834. p. 20.
  3. ↑ Lewis, Samuel (1848). "'Avebury - Aylburton', in A Topographical Dictionary of England". London: British History Online. pp. 116–120. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  4. ↑ "Town Hall". Axbridge Town Hall. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  5. ↑ Fraser, Maxwell (1947). Companion Into Somerset. Methuen. p. 69. The records in Axbridge Town Hall are among the most remarkable and interesting in the county, and are extraordinarily complete, with all the town charters since the time of Henry VI, and numerous earlier manuscripts
  6. ↑ Stokes, James (1996). Records of Early English Drama: Somerset. University of Toronto Press. p. viii. ISBN 0-8020-0459-8.
  7. ↑ "On A Map of Mendip". Somersetshire Archaeological and Natural History Society. 1895. p. 65.
  8. ↑ "Kelly's Directory of Somersetshire with the City of Bristol". 1883. p. 23.
  9. ↑ "Municipal Corporations Act 1883". Legislation.co.uk. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  10. ↑ "Axbridge Town Trust". Axbridge Town Hall. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  11. ↑ "Council Meetings". Axbridge Town Council. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  12. ↑ "NatWest UK Commercial". NatWest. 1991. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  13. ↑ "Funding from National Grid helps tune-up Axbridge Town Hall". National Grid. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  14. ↑ "World-famous Steve Miller Band guitarist to play in Axbridge". Burnham and Highbridge Weekly News. 12 April 2022. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
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