County Hall, Coleraine
County Hall, Coleraine
County Hall, Coleraine is located in Northern Ireland
County Hall, Coleraine
County Hall, Coleraine
Location within Northern Ireland
General information
Architectural styleModern style
Town or cityColeraine, County Londonderry
CountryNorthern Ireland
Coordinates55°08′06″N 6°40′36″W / 55.1350°N 6.6768°W / 55.1350; -6.6768
Completed1970
Design and construction
Architect(s)Smyth, Cowser and Partners

County Hall is a municipal facility in Coleraine, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It served as the headquarters of Londonderry County Council from 1960 to 1973.

History

During the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, meetings of Londonderry County Council were held at the Coleraine Courthouse.[1][2] In the 1960s, county leaders decided that the courthouse was too cramped to accommodate the county council in the context of the county council's increasing administrative responsibilities, especially while the courthouse was still acting as a facility for dispensing justice, and therefore chose to acquire the site of a former manor house in the grounds of Coleraine Castle.[3]

The new building, which was designed by Smyth, Cowser and Partners in the modern style, was opened on 6 July 1970.[4][5] The design for the seven-storey building involved continuous bands of glazing with concrete panelling above and below.[6] In February 1972, it was the venue for the hearings of the Widgery Inquiry, chaired by Lord Widgery, into "the events on Sunday, 30 January 1972 which led to loss of life in connection with the procession in Londonderry on that day".[7][8]

After the county council was abolished in 1973, the building became the regional office of several government departments.[9][10] The local district of the Northern Health and Social Services Board was located in County Hall but relocated to the former nurses' home on the Route Hospital site in Ballymoney in 1991.[11][12] Approximately 160 civil servants were still employed by the Northern Ireland Assembly in the building as at 1 January 2014.[13] However, in March 2014, about 300 jobs associated with Northern Ireland's Driver and Vehicle Agency were transferred from County Hall to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in Swansea.[14][15]

References

  1. ↑ "The late Lieutenant Colonel Lenox-Conyngham". Belfast Newsletter. 23 October 1916. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  2. ↑ "Telephone Directory - Belfast - Dublin - Cork". 1913. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  3. ↑ Ordnance Survey Map Historical Fourth Edition (1905-1957). Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland.
  4. ↑ Rowan, Alistair (1979). North West Ulster: The Counties of London Derry, Donegal, Fermanagh and Tyrone. Yale University Press. p. 208. ISBN 978-0300096675.
  5. ↑ "Brochure marking the opening of County Hall, Coleraine". Northern Ireland Community Archive. 6 July 1970. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  6. ↑ "County Hall, Coleraine, offices for the Driving and Vehicle Agency". Alamy. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  7. ↑ Lord Saville of Newdigate. "Report of the Bloody Sunday Inquiry" (PDF). p. 39. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  8. ↑ "Bloody Sunday Tribunal. Lord Widgery leaves Londonderry County Hall". Alamy. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  9. ↑ "Driver & Vehicle Agency - driver licensing". Northern Ireland Direct. 13 October 2015. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  10. ↑ "County Hall" (PDF). Department for Infrastructure. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  11. ↑ Bax, A.; Fairfield, S. (1978). The Macmillan Guide to the United Kingdom 1978-79. Macmillan. ISBN 978-0333199084.
  12. ↑ Blair, Alex (1999). "Robinson Memorial Hospital: Chapter 10" (PDF).
  13. ↑ "Written Answers" (PDF). Northern Ireland Assembly. 11 April 2014. p. 175. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  14. ↑ "DVA jobs: Political anger at Coleraine to Swansea transfer". BBC. 13 March 2014. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  15. ↑ "'Bleak Christmas' lies ahead for DVA workers". Coleraine Times. 21 November 2014. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
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