Blackburn Town Hall is a municipal building in King William Street,

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

, England. The town hall, which is the headquarters of

Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council is the local authority of Blackburn with Darwen in Lancashire. It is a unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performin ...

, is a Grade II

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 foundation stone for the building was laid by Joseph Feilden of

Witton Park Witton Park is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated to the west of Bishop Auckland. In 2001 it had a population of 384. Famous people born in Witton Park * Brigadier General Roland Boys Bradford VC—youngest ever Brigadier G ...

, Lancashire on 28 October 1852.Abram (1877), p. 377 The building, which was designed by James Patterson in the

Italianate style The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...

and built by Richard Hacking and William Stones, was officially opened by William Hoole, the mayor, on 30 October 1856. The design for the front of the building involved

Corinthian order The Corinthian order (Greek: Κορινθιακός ρυθμός, Latin: ''Ordo Corinthius'') is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order ...

columns on first floor. It originally housed a police station with 18 cells, a large assembly room, and a council chamber. The town hall became the headquarters of the Municipal Borough of Blackburn on its completion, and the headquarters of Blackburn County Borough in 1889.

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Que ...

and Queen Mary visited the town hall in July 1913 and

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

, accompanied by the

Duke of Edinburgh Duke of Edinburgh, named after the city of Edinburgh in Scotland, was a substantive title that has been created three times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not produc ...

, visited the building in April 1955. A tower block annexe was constructed in 1969: the two buildings were connected by an elevated, enclosed footbridge. The tower block was high and the top was above sea-level when built. The complex went on to be the headquarters of Lancashire borough of Blackburn in 1974 before becoming the headquarters of the new unitary authority,

, in 1998. A paving stone was laid outside the town hall in August 2017 to commemorate the life of Company Quartermaster-Sergeant William Grimbaldeston from Blackburn who was awarded the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Additional paving stones were laid outside the town hall in April 2018 to commemorate the lives of Lieutenant-Commander

Percy Dean Percy Thompson Dean, VC (20 July 1877 – 20 March 1939) was a British businessman, politician, sailor, and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwe ...

and Second-Lieutenant

John Schofield John McAllister Schofield (September 29, 1831 – March 4, 1906) was an American soldier who held major commands during the American Civil War. He was appointed U.S. Secretary of War (1868–1869) under President Andrew Johnson and later served ...

both of whom achieved the same distinction. A fourth paving stone was laid outside the town hall in June 2019 to commemorate the life of Private James Pitts who had achieved the distinction in the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

. In May 2019, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council announced plans to refurbish the third and fourth floors of the 19th century listed building which remains the main offices of the council.

References

Sources

* * * {{Cite book, author=Duckworth, Alan, title=Blackburn: Town and City memories, publisher=The Francis Frith Collection, year=2005, isbn=1-85937-986-9 City and town halls in Lancashire Grade II listed buildings in Lancashire Government buildings completed in 1856