Berwick Town Hall is a municipal facility in Marygate,

Berwick-upon-Tweed Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census reco ...

, England. The town hall, which was the headquarters of Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Council, is a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

History

The current building was commissioned to replace an earlier

tolbooth A tolbooth or town house was the main municipal building of a Scottish burgh, from medieval times until the 19th century. The tolbooth usually provided a council meeting chamber, a court house and a jail. The tolbooth was one of three esse ...

which dated back to the late 13th century. The tolbooth was rebuilt in the late 16th century, and again in 1669. Lancelot Errington, a master mariner noted for his capture of Lindisfarne during the

Jacobite rising of 1715 The Jacobite rising of 1715 ( gd, Bliadhna Sheumais ; or 'the Fifteen') was the attempt by James Edward Stuart (the Old Pretender) to regain the thrones of England, Ireland and Scotland for the exiled Stuarts. At Braemar, Aberdeenshire ...

, was arrested and held at the tolbooth along with his nephew in October 1715, but they managed to tunnel out of the building, escape and were subsequently pardoned. The tolbooth was demolished in 1750 in order the facilitate the construction of the eastern end of the current building. The construction of the new building, which was undertaken by local builder, Joseph Dodds, began at the western end in 1754. It was designed by Samuel and John Worrell in the

neoclassical style Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing sty ...

and, after the eastern end had been completed, it opened as Berwick Town Hall in 1760. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage facing west along Marygate; it featured a

tetrastyle A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

portico, approached by a flight of steps, with

Tuscan order The Tuscan order (Latin ''Ordo Tuscanicus'' or ''Ordo Tuscanus'', with the meaning of Etruscan order) is one of the two classical orders developed by the Romans, the other being the composite order. It is influenced by the Doric order, but with ...

columns supporting a

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

with the inscription "Finished MDCCLIV William Temple Esq, Mayor" and a

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedim ...

above containing the borough

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

; Pevsner described the monumental portico as "Vanbrughian". A belfry and clock tower with a

weather vane A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , m ...

, designed in a similar design to

St Martin-in-the-Fields St Martin-in-the-Fields is a Church of England parish church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. It is dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. There has been a church on the site since at least the mediev ...

, towered above the portico. In 1754 the bells of the old tollbooth were recast into a new

ring Ring may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell :(hence) to initiate a telephone connection Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...

of eight by Thomas Lister and Thomas Rach of London, and installed in the tower along with a new clock (which chimed the quarters on three of the bells). Internally, the principal room was the assembly hall on the first floor: it featured a

Venetian window A Venetian window (also known as a Serlian window) is a large tripartite window which is a key element in Palladian architecture. Although Sebastiano Serlio (1475–1554) did not invent it, the window features largely in the work of the Italian ar ...

at the east end and was used, among other things, for the

Court of quarter sessions The courts of quarter sessions or quarter sessions were local courts traditionally held at four set times each year in the Kingdom of England from 1388 (extending also to Wales following the Laws in Wales Act 1535). They were also established in ...

. There was also a separate Council Chamber, committee room and offices provided on the same floor. Prison cells were established on the top floor. The basement storey was largely taken up by shops, and in the open space under the east end of the hall a weekly egg and butter market was held. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

the proposed demolition of the town hall was considered by the borough council, but after a campaign by the architect,

Sir Albert Richardson Sir Albert Edward Richardson (London, 19 May 1880 – 3 February 1964) was a leading English architect, teacher and writer about architecture during the first half of the 20th century. He was Professor of Architecture at University College Lond ...

, opposing the proposal, it was extensively refurbished instead. As part of the refurbishment a new clock was provided by Charles Potts in 1947, which sounds the

Westminster Quarters The Westminster Quarters, from its use at the Palace of Westminster, is a melody used by a set of four quarter bells to mark each quarter-hour. It is also known as the Westminster Chimes, Cambridge Quarters or Cambridge Chimes from its place of ...

on the bells. Queen Elizabeth II, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, toured the restored building with Richardson on 10 July 1956. The town hall served as the meeting place of Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Council until it was abolished in April 2009 and subsequently became the meeting place of Berwick-upon-Tweed Town Council. Works of art in the town hall include a portrait of Robert Home, who served as town clerk in the mid 19th century, by the former President of the Royal Scottish Academy,

Daniel Macnee Sir Daniel Macnee FRSE PRSA LLD (4 June 1806, Fintry, Stirlingshire – 17 January 1882, Edinburgh), was a Scottish portrait painter who served as president of the Royal Scottish Academy (1876). Life He was born at Fintry in Stirlingshir ...

Bells

The tower above the building has a ring of eight bells and a

curfew bell The curfew bell was a bell rung in the evening in Medieval England as the curfew signal for everyone to go to bed.Wood/Peshall, p. 177 A bell was rung usually around eight o'clock in the evening which meant for them to cover their fires — dead ...

. Lester and Pack of the

Whitechapel Bell Foundry The Whitechapel Bell Foundry was a business in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. At the time of the closure of its Whitechapel premises, it was the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain. The bell foundry primarily made church bells ...

cast the tenor, third, fourth and treble bells in 1754 and the fifth and sixth bells in 1759. Charles Carr of Smethwick cast the second and curfew bells in 1894. Mears and Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast the seventh bell in 1901.

References

{{reflist Grade I listed buildings in Northumberland Government buildings completed in 1760 City and town halls in Northumberland Berwick-upon-Tweed