Neath Town Hall

Neath Town Hall
Native name Neuadd y Dref Castell-nedd (Welsh)
Neath Town Hall
Location	Church Place, Neath
Coordinates	51.6640°N 3.8047°W / 51.6640; -3.8047
Built	1821
Architect	W. Bowen
Architectural style(s)	Neoclassical style
Listed Building – Grade II
Official name	Old Town Hall
Designated	16 August 1970
Reference no.	11778
Shown in Neath Port Talbot

Neath Town Hall (Welsh: Neuadd y Dref Castell-nedd) is a municipal building in Church Place, Neath, South Wales. The town hall, which was the headquarters of Neath Borough Council, is a Grade II listed building.^[1]

History

The first town hall in Neath, which was designed with arcading on the ground floor to allow markets to be held and with an assembly room on the first floor, was erected in Old Market Street (originally known as the High Street) in the 14th century.^[2] It was restored in the first half of the 16th century and benefitted from its own lock-up for petty criminals.^[2]

In the early 19th century, civic leaders decided that the town needed a more substantial building.^[3] The foundation stone for the new building was laid on 22 June 1820.^[4] It was designed by W. Bowen of Swansea in the neoclassical style, built of brick with a stucco coating at a cost of £2,250 and was completed in 1821.^[5] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with seven bays facing onto Church Place with the end bays projected forward as pavilions; the central section of five bays featured four Doric order columns supporting an entablature and a cornice, while the end bays contained sash windows with triangular pediments above. Behind the columns in the central section was a stone staircase leading up to the main entrance on the first floor, and, at the back of the entrance block, there was a taller two-storey rear block. Internally, the principal rooms were the corn market on the ground floor of the rear block and the council chamber, grand jury room and courtroom on the first floor.^[1]

In 1830, the local church minister chose the town hall as his venue to advocate petitioning the UK Parliament for the abolition of slavery^[5] and, in 1848, Joseph Tregelles Price, the Quaker ironmaster of Neath Abbey Ironworks, who was also a prominent philanthropist, chose the town hall as his venue to advocate petitioning the UK Parliament for "the maintenance of peace" in the context of the diplomatic crisis which ultimately led to the Crimean War.^[6]

The town became a municipal borough with the town hall as its headquarters in 1835.^[7] However, by the 1880s it was becoming too small for the council's needs and civic leaders decided that Gwyn Hall in Orchard Street should become the local seat of government after it was completed in 1888.^[8][9] The ground floor of the rear block was subsequently used as a fire station before being enclosed for retail use.^[5] The building was requisitioned for use as a base for two British Red Cross detachments as well as for use as a temporary home for Belgian refugees during the First World War.^[5] The 21st century saw the town hall becoming an approved venue for marriages and civil partnership ceremonies.^[10]

Works of art in the town hall include a painting by Percy Gleaves depicting David Lloyd George receiving the Freedom of the Borough of Neath in 1920.^[11]

References

1. Cadw. "Old Town Hall (11778)". National Historic Assets of Wales. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
2. "Gaols and Lock-Ups in Neath". Prison History. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
3. "Neath Town Hall". Archives Hub. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
4. "Planning application: Neath Town Hall" (PDF). Neath Port Talbot Council. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
5. "Neath Town Hall". History Points. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
6. Allen, Richard C. "An Indefatigable Philanthropist: Joseph Tregelles Price (1784–1854) of Neath, Wales" (PDF). Newcastle University. p. 228. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
7. "Neath MB". Vision of Britain. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
8. "The History of the Gwyn Hall". Celtic Leisure. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
9. "How(-el) should we deal with statue?". Wales Online. 9 August 2007. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
10. "Neath Town Hall". Neath Town Council. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
11. Gleaves, Percy. "Lloyd George Receiving the Freedom of the Borough of Neath, c.1920". Art UK. Retrieved 14 March 2021.