Summary
A town hall of 1823 by Richard Carver, with a rear extension of 1865 by C Knowles, built on the site of a former assize hall. The 1950s extension is not of special interest.
Reasons for Designation
Bridgwater Town Hall is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: the buildings have well-realised designs by noted architects;
* Historical interest: the buildings have a strong link with the civic history of Bridgwater as an administrative centre, clearly dating back to the pre-Victorian era with a Hanoverian Coat of Arms in the Charter Hall; the basements were part of the former Assize Hall of 1720;
* Interior: the buildings contain high quality fittings including plasterwork, staircases and a theatre interior in the 1865 range.
History
Bridgwater is an historic market town that has grown around a medieval street pattern formed by burgage plots running off the main thoroughfares. A guildhall was recorded in Fore Street in 1354. The town prospered and grew, although it was heavily damaged during the Civil War. In 1720 a new Assize Hall was built on the north portion of the current town hall site, abutting Clare Street (formerly variously known as Penel Orlieu, Horlocke Street and Back Lane). The Bridgwater Corporation moved to the grand jury room at the Assize Hall in 1822, and the guildhall in Fore Street was probably demolished soon afterwards. A new building, to accommodate a judge's lodgings, and witness and jury rooms, was built adjoining the Assize Hall, along High Street, in 1823 to the designs of Richard Carver, who also designed attached houses to the east, all in the Regency style. This heralded a period of rebuilding in the town, and a number of elegant squares and residential streets were constructed in Bridgwater. In 1823 the Corporation moved into the Carver building, and the complex is shown on a rudimentary town plan of 1835. The Corporation later extended its use of the building when the assizes ceased to be held in the town. In 1865 the former Assize Hall was replaced by a new town hall range designed by Charles Knowles, which became used as a concert hall and theatre by the end of the C19. The 1823 and 1865 town hall buildings, and the outbuildings to the rear of No. 34 High Street (qv.), encroached on the burgage plot of the neighbouring buildings (formerly Nos. 38 and 40 High Street), which were rebuilt by Carver in 1824. No. 34 was also refronted at this time in a similar style, and established a common building line on High Street. In the 1880s part of the town hall was used as a police court and a free library, and is shown on the First Edition Ordnance Survey Map of 1887. In the C20 there were various upgrades to the facilities in the Town Hall, and a Moderne extension was built on the former site of Nos. 38 and 40 High Street.
Details
MATERIALS: the 1823 building is constructed of brick with stone dressings to a stucco façade. The 1865 range is constructed of brick, with lower courses of red Wembdon stone to the rear. Both ranges have slate roofs with brick ridge stacks. The cellars are constructed of brick, red Wembdon sandstone and Lias limestone.
PLAN: the 1823 building is rectangular on plan, with the 1865 range an irregular rectangle built behind at an angle, creating a double depth.
EXTERIOR: the 1823 town hall is in the late-Regency style, and three storeys tall with a symmetrical nine-window range. The five central bays are stepped forward and articulated by pilasters with recessed panels. The two pilasters flanking the centre appear above the cornice and have square panels. The second floor has flat arches to 3/6-pane sash windows; the first floor has moulded archivolts, a continuous impost band and a continuous cill band to semi-circular arched 6/6-pane sashes; the ground floor has flat arches to 6/6-pane sashes, two to the outsides; three to the centre. The ground floor openings are flanked by Tuscan-style porches with elliptical arches inset to the front, and panelled blocks to the centres of the blocking courses and plaques below (the Town Seal to the left, and the Coat of Arms of the former Borough Council of Bridgwater to the right). The cornices to the porches continue as a moulded string-course above the ground floor. The doors are double-panelled in elliptical recesses, and those to left have octagonal panels to the centre and an overlight above. Those to the right are similar with a leaded overlight with the words TOWN HALL incorporated; the lower sash of the window to the right has coloured leaded glass. A box cornice and platband are returned to each side. Centrally, below the cornice is painted BRIDGWATER TOWN HALL.
The rear extension of 1865 is Venetian Gothic in style and has a limestone plinth, rusticated quoins, and moulded kneelers; there is coursed red sandstone rubble to the ground floor below wide banding. There is Flemish-bond brick and bracketed eaves to the first floor. Seven recesses have gauged brick semicircular arches with keystones over moulded stone archivolts, which have a continuous moulded impost band. The central five bays have four-pane semicircular-arched fixed windows and a wide continuous cill band. There are single-storey entrances to each side, the returns of which have steps up to double doors with semicircular overlights.
INTERIOR: the entrance to the right of the 1823 building is panelled below a high dado rail with a foliate frieze. Six-panelled double inner doors have long, glazed panels to the tops, with diagonal glazing bars with hexagonal panes to the centres of the large overlight and side panels, below a coved top to the architrave. The Charter Hall to the right is panelled, with names of former mayors and other local dignitaries. To the centre is an elliptical arch on moulded pilasters. To the left is a framed Hanoverian Royal Arms, of early-C19 date. In the main hall, ornate double doors lead into the Concert Hall (1865 extension), and have a moulded architrave, panelled reveals, and acanthus leaves to the scrolls of two consoles flanking a foliate panel below the dentilled cornice. The open-well, open-string staircase to the left of these doors has oak barley-sugar-twist balusters, fretted ends, panelled below, a wreathed handrail and curtail step and cast-iron newel. The stair leads to the former Council Chamber on the first floor. At the top of the stair, a panelled timber partition has decorative leaded glazing to the upper section. The outer vestibule of the Council Chamber has a numbered umbrella rack fixed to the rear of the partition, and coat hooks for councillors fixed to the walls. The Council Chamber retains a moulded cornice to a very high ceiling, two large foliate plaster ceiling roses and three 6-panel doors in moulded frames. A back stair of 1823 date, has stick balusters, slender wreathed handrails and turned newels, very similar to that in No.34 High Street (qv.). The stairwell has a sash window with coloured leaded glass. Some rooms on the second floor have early-C19 fireplaces. There is a substantial king post roof to this range.
The Concert Hall, to the rear, has a balcony to three sides, in the same style as that in the Wesleyan Chapel, King Street (qv). It has bulging trellis of raspberry canes, fruit and leaves supported by cast-iron columns with acanthus leaf tops. The south-west end of the balcony has been shortened. The ground floor has pine panelling up to a high dado height, two marble fireplaces on the left-hand wall bearing the town crest, and pierced cast-iron skirting panels for the heating system. Above the balcony are five pairs of fluted pilasters to each side and the back, a coved and coffered ceiling with lunettes to the right, and blank semicircular panels to the left. The stage and proscenium arch are of mid-C20 date. Over the Concert Hall there is a king-post truss roof, with a glazed lantern above. Basements below the 1823 and 1865 ranges are extensive and stand on differing levels with a number of rooms and corridors, and some flagstone flooring. They presumably are in part the remnants of earlier buildings on the site, and extend southwards under High Street.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: tall square-section railings with arrow heads enclose the area between the 1823 porches, and to the right. Below the railings, there are basement windows and access to cellars beneath High Street.
