Saltash Guildhall

The first municipal building in Saltash was a small medieval guildhall with a bell turret on the north west corner of Alexandra Square.[2] A lock up for petty criminals was established behind the first building in 1818.[3] After becoming dilapidated in the mid 19th century, it was ultimately demolished in 1894.[4]

The second municipal building was a 16th century market house located about 50 yards (46 m) to the east of the original building.[2] It was reconstructed in the neoclassical style in brick and masonry between 1775 and 1780.[2] The market house was originally arcaded on the ground floor, so that markets could be held, with an assembly hall, known as the Long Room, on the first floor.[2] A series of Doric order columns supported the first floor structure.[2] Saltash had a very small electorate and a dominant patron (the Buller family), which meant it was recognised by the UK Parliament as a rotten borough: the right of the borough to elect members of parliament was removed by the Reform Act 1832.[5] In 1841, borough officials decided to relocate from the original guildhall to the Long Room in the market house which then became the new headquarters of the borough.[2] The borough council, which continued to meet in the new guildhall, was reformed under the Municipal Corporations Act 1883.[6][7]

The west end of the ground floor was enclosed to create a soup kitchen in 1888, the east end of the ground floor was partitioned off to create a fire station in 1903, and the central section was enclosed in 1910.[2] The design at that time involved an asymmetrical main frontage facing onto Fore Street; on the ground floor, there was a round headed doorway with a canopy in the third bay from the right and round headed sash windows in most of the other bays.[1] Meanwhile, on the first floor there were five round headed sash windows.[1] At the west end, on the ground floor, there was another round headed doorway with a canopy, on the first floor there were two round headed sash windows and, at roof level, there was a central panel containing the borough coat of arms surmounted by a small pediment with a carving in the tympanum.[1] Internally, the principal room was the council chamber.[8]

The doctor and suffragette, Mabel L. Ramsay, gave a speech to an audience in the guildhall in September 1910 explaining how infant mortality was significantly better in countries such as New Zealand where woman already had voting rights.[9] A major programme of refurbishment works, which involved the renovation of the north wall and the roof, was completed in 1925.[10]

The guildhall continued to serve as the headquarters of the borough council for much of the 20th century[11] but ceased to be the local seat of government after the enlarged Caradon District Council was formed in 1974.[12] The guildhall subsequently accommodated the offices and meeting place of Saltash Town Council as well as the local tourist information office.[13] With financial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund, further restoration work was carried out in 1998.[14] The Duchess of Gloucester inaugurated the Saltash Blue Plaque Trail at the guildhall in September 2016.[15]