Towcester Town Hall

After significant population growth during the early 19th century associated with the town's role as a coaching stop on Watling Street,[2] a turnpike road which had been paved by the engineer, Thomas Telford, local businessmen decided to form a company to develop a town hall and corn exchange: the site chosen was a prominent location in the market place which clearly defined its southern boundary.[3]

The foundation stone for the building was laid by the Earl of Pomfret, who lived at Easton Neston house, on 8 September 1865.[1] It was designed by Thomas Heygate Vernon in the Italianate style, built by John Wheeler with ashlar masonry and was completed in 1866.[4][5] It was constructed using Bath stone, with contrasting bands of Duston stone.[6] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing onto Chantry Lane; the central bay, which slightly projected forward, featured a round headed doorway flanked by pilasters and brackets supporting a stone parapet; there were two small rounded headed sash windows separated by a colonette and flanked by pilasters on the first floor and a carved pediment above.[1] The outer bays featured two large round headed sash windows separated by pilasters on the ground floor and three small rounded headed windows separated by colonettes on the first floor.[1] The design was modified at a late stage to include a clock tower at roof level with a zinc-clad belfry, (the addition of a clock having been made possible through subscription donations from 'the ladies of Towcester and the neighbourhood').[6] The clock was made by Moore & Sons of Clerkenwell,[7] but (as was not unusual at the time) appears to have been credited to a local clockmaker: Arthur Garrett of Towcester (whose name is visible just below the face of the clock). Internally, the principal room was the public hall;[1] there was also a working men's reading room, a working men's coffee room and several offices, as well as a shop and a private residence.[6]

On 29 March 1880 the clock tower and part of the surrounding roof were destroyed by a fire;[8] following rebuilding a new clock and bell were provided by Gillett, Bland & Co.[9]

After further growth and improved connections following the opening of Towcester railway station in April 1866,[10] the area was designated a rural district in 1894.[11] The building continued to serve as the headquarters of the local rural district council for much of the 20th century[12] and remained the local seat of government after the enlarged South Northamptonshire Council was formed in 1974.[13][14]

After South Northamptonshire Council decided to relocate to modern and more substantial promises nearby, the town hall became the responsibility of the parish council in 1983.[15] The parish council was superseded by Towcester Town Council which established offices in the town hall and subsequently used the building as its meeting place.[16] Although the committee room on the ground floor was leased out to estate agents, Bartram & Co. in January 2018,[17] the public hall has continued to be used for concerts and community events.[18]