Old Town Hall
The public house in 2013
LocationHigh Street, Wombwell
Coordinates53°31′19″N 1°23′51″W / 53.5220°N 1.3975°W / 53.5220; -1.3975
Builtc. 1900
ArchitectJohn Robinson
Architectural style(s)Renaissance style
Old Town Hall, Wombwell is located in South Yorkshire
Old Town Hall, Wombwell
Shown in South Yorkshire

The Old Town Hall is a former municipal building in the High Street, Wombwell, South Yorkshire, England. The structure, which is currently used as a public house, is a locally listed building.[1]

History

Following significant population growth, largely associated with the coal mining industry, the Wombwell Local Board was formed in 1865.[2] After the local board was superseded by Wombwell Urban District Council in 1894, the new council quickly set about commissioning a town hall. [1] The site they selected was on the corner of the High Street and Station Road.[3] The foundation stone for the new building was laid by Kate Mitchell, the wife of a mining engineer living at Bolton Hall,[4] on the day of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria, 22 June 1897.[1]

The building was designed by municipal architect, John Robinson, in the Renaissance style, built in rubble masonry and was completed around 1900. The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage of three bays facing onto the High Street. The central bay contained a segmental headed doorway with a hood mould and a keystone with a pedimented plaque inscribed with the words "offices" above the doorway. There were pairs of bi-partite segmental headed windows on the first floor and at attic level, flanked by full height pilasters and surmounted by a moulded pediment with finials. The outer bays were fenestrated by tri-partite segmental headed windows on both floors and surmounted by a balustraded parapet, with a mansard roof behind. At the corner with Station Road, there was a canted bay with a segmentally headed windows on two floors and a three-stage tower above: the tower contained a clock in the first stage and louvres in the upper stages all surmounted by a square spire and a weather vane.[5]

A memorial plaque to commemorate the lives of local service personnel who had died in the Second Boer War was attached to the north-west side of the building in around 1902.[6][7][8] The building served as a recruiting station for young men joining the 13th (1st Barnsley Pals) and 14th (2nd Barnsley Pals) battalions of the York and Lancaster Regiment at the start of the First World War.[9]

The building continued to serve as the town hall for much of the 20th century, but ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlarged Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council was formed in 1974.[10] It subsequently continued to be used for the delivery of local services until it became surplus to the council's requirements in the early 21st century. In 2011, it was purchased by a local business owner, Steve Harris, who converted it into a public house, with flats above. The public house opened the following year, the occasion being marked by the brewing of Old Town Hall ale at the Acorn Brewery.[11] A toilet block at the south end of the structure was demolished in 2013.[12]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Wombwell - Council Offices". South Yorkshire Local Heritage List. South Yorkshire Archaeology Service. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
  2. ↑ "Leaping to Jump's defence". Hemingfield Colliery. Retrieved 25 December 2023.
  3. ↑ Jones, Melvyn (2017). South Yorkshire Mining Villages. Pen & Sword Books. ISBN 9781473880795.
  4. ↑ "Joseph Mitchell". Institution of Civil Engineers. p. 325. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
  5. ↑ "Town Hall, Wombwell, Yorkshire". JB Archive. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
  6. ↑ Historic England. "Memorial Plaque attached to the north west side of former town hall at junction with High Street (1151176)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
  7. ↑ "Wombwell, Old Town Hall, Wombwell Boer War". Barnsley War Memorials. 22 January 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
  8. ↑ "Wombwell Boer War Memorial". Roll of Honour. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
  9. ↑ Cooksey, Jon (2008). Barnsley Pals. Pen and Sword Books. p. 38. ISBN 978-1844157075.
  10. ↑ Local Government Act 1972. 1972 c.70. The Stationery Office Ltd. 1997. ISBN 0-10-547072-4.
  11. ↑ "Town Hall To Open As Bar And Restaurant". We Are Barnsley. 4 December 2012. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
  12. ↑ "Toilet really is built like a brick sh*those". Barnsley Chronicle. 2 March 2013. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
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