Chadderton Town Hall
Chadderton Town Hall
LocationMiddleton Road, Chadderton
Coordinates53°32′40″N 2°08′15″W / 53.5445°N 2.1374°W / 53.5445; -2.1374
Built1913
ArchitectTaylor & Simister
Architectural style(s)Edwardian Baroque style
Listed Building – Grade II
Official nameChadderton Town Hall and associated walls and walled garden, Middleton Road, Chadderton
Designated16 July 2013
Reference no.1404904
Chadderton Town Hall is located in Greater Manchester
Chadderton Town Hall
Shown in Greater Manchester

Chadderton Town Hall is a municipal building on Middleton Road, Chadderton, Greater Manchester, England. The town hall, which was the headquarters of Chadderton Urban District Council, is a grade II listed building.[1]

History

After a local board of health was established in Chadderton in 1873 and the Chadderton Lyceum then got into financial difficulties the following year, the board of health acquired the Lyceum's premises at the corner of Middleton Road and Melbourne Street and converted the building into Chadderton's first town hall.[2][lower-alpha 1] A young boy was killed, the main hall damaged and the offices on the floor below destroyed when a gas lantern exploded in the town hall in February 1884.[3][4] The town became an urban district in 1894 and, in the early 20th century, the new civic leaders decided to vacate the old town hall and procure a purpose-built facility: the site selected between Victoria Street and Garforth Street had been occupied by a terrace of four private properties.[5]

The foundation stone for the new building was laid by Councillor Ernest Kempsey on 30 March 1912.[6] It was designed by Taylor & Simister of Oldham in the Edwardian Baroque style, built with red brick and stone dressings, and was officially opened by the chairman of the council, Herbert Wolstencroft, in 1913.[1][7] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with seven bays facing onto Middleton Road; the central bay, which slightly projected forward, featured a semi-circular stone porch with Ionic order columns with an entablature and a balcony above.[1] There was a tall stained glass, round-headed window with a stone surround on the first floor and there were sash windows in the other bays both on the ground floor and the first floor.[1] There was a large dome and clock lantern at roof level.[1] Internally, the principal rooms were the ballroom, which featured a barrel vaulted ceiling, and the council chamber.[1] The design had been intended to provide "a broad and strong treatment of the English Renaissance"[8] and it was complemented with extensive landscaping: the town hall has been described by the council as having "charming gardens".[9]

A war memorial, sculpted by Albert Toft to commemorate the lives of local service personnel who had died in the First World War and featuring a figure of a soldier holding a rifle in his right hand, was unveiled in front of the building by Councillor Ernest Kempsey on 8 October 1921.[10]

The building continued to serve as the headquarters of Chadderton Urban District Council for much of the 20th century but ceased to be local seat of government when the enlarged Oldham Council was formed in 1974.[11] It became the register office for the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham in 2007[12][13] and subsequently served as a licensed venue for marriages and civil partnership ceremonies.[13]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The Lyceum Building had been designed in the neoclassical style and built in 1868.[2] After the council left the building in 1913, it went on to become a printing facility, then briefly a café, and finally a glass merchants' offices before being demolished in March 1975.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Historic England. "Chadderton Town Hall and associated walls and walled garden, Middleton Road, Chadderton (1404904)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 "Chadderton Lyceum". Chadderton Historical Society. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  3. ↑ Crookes, William; Simpson, George Wharton (29 February 1884). "A Lantern Catastrophe". The Photographic News. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  4. ↑ Notes on the Limelight. 1 June 1884. p. 65. Retrieved 18 January 2021. {{cite book}}: |newspaper= ignored (help)
  5. ↑ "Ordnance Survey Map". 1893. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  6. ↑ "Nostalgia night to go down in history". Oldham Evening Chronicle. 19 November 2013. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  7. ↑ Hartwell, Clare; Hyde, Matthew; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2004). Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East. The Buildings of England. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. p. 189. ISBN 0-300-10583-5.
  8. ↑ Lawson, Michael; Johnson, Mark (1990), Looking Back at Chadderton, Oldham Leisure Services, p. 31, ISBN 0-902809-23-7
  9. ↑ Oldham Council, Chadderton Town Hall, oldham.gov.uk, archived from the original on 29 June 2008, retrieved 20 December 2008
  10. ↑ Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (16 June 2003), Chadderton War Memorial, archived from the original on 12 November 2014, retrieved 12 November 2014
  11. ↑ Local Government Act 1972. 1972 c.70. The Stationery Office Ltd. 1997. ISBN 0-10-547072-4.
  12. ↑ Greer, Stuart (4 July 2007), "Wedding bells ring out again", Oldham Advertiser, M.E.N. Media, archived from the original on 22 September 2012, retrieved 20 December 2008
  13. 1 2 Oldham Council, Births, Marriages and Deaths, oldham.gov.uk, archived from the original on 19 November 2008, retrieved 20 December 2008
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