The first building on the site was a saxon moot hall which was destroyed during the English Civil War; this was replaced by a later building in 1656 which was demolished to make way for the current structure.[2][3] The current structure, now known as the "old town hall", was designed by Bernard Hartley of Pontefract[4] in the Classical style as a municipal building with market room and gaol on the ground floor and assembly room (now known as the "Nelson Room") on the first floor; it was completed in 1785.[1]
The assembly rooms were built to the east of the old town hall in 1882.[10] The old Town Hall remained the meeting place of the civic leaders and magistrates until they moved into the assembly rooms in the early 20th century.[11][12]
Architectural style
Exterior
The building is constructed of sandstone ashlar, with a pitched Welsh-slate roof. There are three storeys with a lower two-storey gaol to the rear. The elevation facing onto the marketplace has three bays, the middle one having been altered in the twentieth century by the installation of a glass front. The first floor elevation is decorated with six large Tuscan orderpilasters: the windows are twelve-pane sashes, with a wrought iron balcony in the centre, while the second floor windows have smaller six-pane windows. There is a flagpole on the front, and a small wooden central clocktower above with a lead cupola above with weathervane.[1]
Interior
The Nelson Room, which is situated on the first floor has a large white-marble fireplace with a sleeping lion centrepiece.[1] There is a magistrates' bench with coat of arms above.[1] At the opposite end is the full-size plaster cast of John Edward Carew's bronze relief of The Death of Nelson.[1][13] The Hartley Suite, named after the architect of the building, is located on the ground floor.[14]
