Yelde Hall

The Yelde Hall is a public facility in the Market Place, in Chippenham, Wiltshire, England. The building, which was the meeting place of Chippenham Borough Council, is a Grade I listed building.[1]

The Yelde Hall
The Yelde Hall
LocationMarket Place, Chippenham
Coordinates51.45804°N 2.11387°W / 51.45804; -2.11387
Built1450
Architectural style(s)Medieval style
Listed Building – Grade I
Official nameThe Yelde Hall and the Council Chamber
Designated25 April 1950
Reference no.1267996
Yelde Hall is located in Wiltshire
Yelde Hall
Shown in Wiltshire

History
Town arms from 1776, on the Yelde Hall

The hall was built in around 1450.[2] The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage facing onto the Market Place with the right hand section projected forward; the right hand section, which consisted of two bays, featured a short flight of steps leading up to a doorway in the left bay with a horizontal window above the doorway and two small gables above that.[1] The left hand gable contained a carving of the town arms with the inscription "JS 1776": the initials refer to John Scott who was the bailiff at that time.[2] The right hand gable at one time contained a clock which was taken down in 1851.[2]

The building was originally used as a jail (in the cellar),[3] as a courtroom (on the ground floor) and as a council chamber (upstairs).[1] The Chippenham Savings Bank operated an office in the building on Saturday mornings from 1822.[2]

Following the relocation of the town council and burgess to Chippenham Town Hall in 1834,[4][5] the building became the drill hall for the Chippenham Volunteer Rifle Corps in 1846.[2] The unit evolved to become B Company, 2nd Volunteer Battalion, The Wiltshire Regiment in 1881 and B Company, 4th Battalion, the Duke of Edinburgh's Wiltshire Regiment in 1908.[6][7] The regiment vacated the building when it relocated to the Little Ivy in 1911.[2] However, the building was also used as the headquarters of the Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry at this time,[6][8] and continued to be a yeomanry drill hall until the yeomanry moved its headquarters to Trowbridge in 1920.[8]

The Fire Brigade used the east end of the building from 1870 and then almost the whole building from 1911 to 1945.[2] After some restoration work in the 1950s, the building served as the Chippenham Museum from October 1963 until it relocated to the Market Place in 1999.[2]

Following a refurbishment, the building then became the North Wiltshire Tourist Information Centre in March 2003[9] although that concern relocated to a unit adjacent to the town hall in February 2012.[10] It underwent a further refurbishment in March 2012 and then re-opened to the public as an extension of the Chippenham Museum and Heritage Centre in April 2012.[11]

See also

References
  1. Historic England. "The Yelde Hall and the Council Chamber (1267996)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  2. "History of the Yelde Hall". Chippenham Council. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  3. "Chippenham's Medieval Hall". Prison History. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
  4. "The many lives of Chippenham Town Hall" (PDF). Wiltshire Life. 1 April 2019. p. 29. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
  5. "Chippenham Timeline". Wiltshire Council.
  6. "Chippenham". The Drill Hall Project. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  7. "2nd Wiltshire Rifle Volunteer Corps". Regiments.org. Archived from the original on 7 November 2007. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  8. "The Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry (Prince of Wales's Own)". Archived from the original on 23 October 2007. Retrieved 8 March 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  9. Chippenham Town Council (1989). Emma King (ed.). The Town Guide of Chippenham, Wiltshire. London: EJ Burrow.
  10. "Chippenham tourist centre to relocate". Gazette and Herald. 9 January 2012. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
  11. "Historic Chippenham hall to re-open". Gazette and Herald. 28 March 2012. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
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