Burnley Town Hall is a municipal building in Manchester Road,

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

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

Burnley Borough Council Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

, 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

In the mid 19th century local council meetings were held in the old fire station on Manchester Road until the council bought the public hall in Elizabeth Street in 1868. The council continued to seek sites to erect a new facility not least because the public hall in Elizabeth Street had not been the council's first choice of building. The site selected for the new building was a just to the southwest of the Mechanics' Institute which had been built in 1855. The foundation stone for the new building was laid by John Baron, the mayor, in 1885. It was designed by Henry Holtom and George Arthur Fox from

Dewsbury Dewsbury is a minster and market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, east of Hudder ...

in the

Renaissance style Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of Ancient Greece, ancient Greek and ...

and was officially opened on 27 October 1888. The design of the centre section of the front elevation of the building involved Ionic columns of polished granite with sandstone

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

s. The height to the top of the dome is . When it opened, the building incorporated a new police station with 30 prison cells and a magistrates' court. The clock for town hall was designed by Lord Grimthorpe in the same style as the mechanism for the clock of the

Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parli ...

and made by

Potts of Leeds Potts of Leeds was a major British manufacturer of public clocks, based in Leeds, Yorkshire, England. History William Potts was born in December 1809 and was apprenticed to Samuel Thompson, a Darlington clockmaker. In 1833, at the age of 24, ...

. The large bell of the clock weighs 25 cwt and the four smaller bells weigh over 32 cwt. The interior decoration included a mosaic pavement with tiles made by

Craven Dunnill Craven Dunnill & Co. Ltd. (formerly Hargreaves & Craven, then Hargreaves, Craven Dunnill & Co.) was formed on 9 February 1872, by Yorkshire businessman Henry Powell Dunnill (1821–95), at Jackfield, Shropshire, England. The firm was to become on ...

bearing the town's coat of arms.

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 town hall and waved to the crowd from the town hall balcony in February 1955. The town hall became the headquarters of Burnley County Borough on completion and remained the local seat of government on the formation of the enlarged

Borough of Burnley The Borough of Burnley () is a local government district with the borough status in Lancashire, England. It has an area of and a population of (), and is named after its largest town, Burnley. Other notable settlements include Padiham, Hap ...

in 1974. The

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

visited the town hall for a meeting with the civic dignitaries in February 2008. In May 2016

Burnley F.C. Burnley Football Club () is an English association football club based in Burnley, Lancashire, that competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football, following relegation from the 2021–22 Premier League. Founded on 18 ...

were presented with the

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...

trophy outside the town hall after security risks at The Valley prevented the trophy from reaching south London on the final day of the competition. Essential repairs to the roof and external faces of the building were carried out in 2019.

References

{{Borough of Burnley buildings Buildings and structures in Burnley City and town halls in Lancashire Grade II listed buildings in Lancashire Government buildings completed in 1888 Local government in Burnley Government buildings with domes

History

See also

References