Carmarthen Guildhall ( cy, Neuadd y Dref Caerfyrddin) is a municipal structure in Guildhall Square, Carmarthen, Wales. The guildhall, which was the headquarters of Carmarthen 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 building was commissioned to replace a 16th-century guildhall which, by 1765, had become very dilapidated and had to be demolished in 1766. Some £4,000 towards the cost of the new building was donated by the future local

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...

. The foundation stone for the new building was laid on 10 April 1767: it was designed by Sir Robert Taylor in the neoclassical style, built in

rubble masonry Rubble stone is rough, uneven building stone not laid in regular courses. It may fill the core of a wall which is faced with unit masonry such as brick or ashlar. Analogously, some medieval cathedral walls are outer shells of ashlar with an inn ...

and completed in 1777. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing onto Guildhall Square; it was originally arcaded on the ground floor, so that markets could be held, with assembly rooms on the first floor. The ground floor was rusticated 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 u ...

columns supporting an

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

and a

balustrade A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its con ...

, while the first floor featured three large arched recesses containing Venetian windows surmounted by stone

voussoir A voussoir () is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, which is used in building an arch or vault. Although each unit in an arch or vault is a voussoir, two units are of distinct functional importance: the keystone and the springer. The ...

s with blind panels above. A double curving flight of steps to the assembly hall was added in 1811, an extension to the rear incorporating jury rooms and offices was completed in 1829 and a large

portico 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 ...

, replacing the flight of steps, was added to a design by W. H. Lindsey in 1862. A projecting clock

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope * Mi ...

and 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 ...

in the shape of a

cockerel The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domestication, domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey junglefowl, grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster ...

were also added in 1862. Internally, the principal rooms were the courtroom and the grand jury room on the first floor and the office of the magistrates' clerk on the ground floor. Following his decision to vote against the

First Reform Bill The Representation of the People Act 1832 (also known as the 1832 Reform Act, Great Reform Act or First Reform Act) was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom (indexed as 2 & 3 Will. IV c. 45) that introduced major changes to the electo ...

, the local Member of Parliament, John Jones, was attacked and injured in rioting at the guildhall on 29 April 1831 during a

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

; polling in the constituency had to be postponed until August 1831 when Jones was successfully re-elected. Several important trials took place in the courtroom. Two of the leaders of the Rebecca Riots,

John Jones (Shoni Sguborfawr) Shoni Sguborfawr or Sioni Ysgubor Fawr (''Johnny ''of'' Big Barn'') (1811–1858) was a notorious Welsh criminal, most notable for his part in the Rebecca Riots and his subsequent attempts to blackmail fellow rioters. Early history Shoni was chris ...

and

David Davies (Dai'r Cantwr) David Davies, also known as Dai'r Cantwr (''David the singer'') (c. 1812–1874), was a Welsh poet and lay-preacher. He was convicted and sentenced to transportation to Australia for his actions during the Rebecca Riots. Early life Davies was bo ...

, were convicted in the courtroom in December 1843 and sentenced to be

transported ''Transported'' is an Australian convict melodrama film directed by W. J. Lincoln. It is considered a lost film. Plot In England, Jessie Grey is about to marry Leonard Lincoln but the evil Harold Hawk tries to force her to marry him and she wou ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The trial of the

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

, Harold Greenwood, for the murder of his wife, Mabel, took place at the guildhall in November 1920: Greenwood's defence barrister,

Sir Edward Marshall Hall Sir Edward Marshall Hall, (16 September 1858 – 24 February 1927) was an English barrister who had a formidable reputation as an orator. He successfully defended many people accused of notorious murders and became known as "The Great Defende ...

, was able to demonstrate that

arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As and atomic number 33. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in combination with sulfur and metals, but also as a pure elemental crystal. Arsenic is a metalloid. It has various allotropes, but ...

may not have been the cause of death after all and Harold Greenwood was acquitted. A war memorial, designed by E. V. Collier and W. D. Jenkins and intended to commemorate the lives of service personnel who had died 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 ...

, was unveiled outside the guildhall by Major-General

Henry Mackinnon General Sir William Henry Mackinnon, (15 December 1852 – 17 March 1929) was a British Army General during World War I. Military career Educated at Rose Hill School and then Harrow School, Henry Mackinnon was commissioned into the Grenadier ...

on 27 April 1906. The building was the main location for undertaking public business for the borough and remained as such until the borough officers and their departments moved to the municipal buildings in John Street in the first half of the 20th century. The guildhall was also the venue in July 1966 for the acceptance speech given by

Gwynfor Evans Gwynfor Richard Evans (1 September 1912 – 21 April 2005) was a Welsh politician, lawyer and author. He was President of the Welsh political party Plaid Cymru for thirty-six years and was the first Member of Parliament to represent it at Westmi ...

, the first politician elected to represent Plaid Cymru at

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...

. After HM Courts and Tribunals Service decided to cease using the building as a courthouse,

Carmarthenshire County Council Carmarthenshire County Council ( cy, Cyngor Sir Gaerfyrddin) is the local authority for the county of Carmarthenshire, Wales. It provides a range of services including education, planning, transport, social services and public safety. The counc ...

took ownership of the building in summer 2016. Scenes from the television series, '' Keeping Faith'', were filmed in the building in October 2017, and a programme of refurbishment works, which involved the conversion of the ground floor into a restaurant and cafe, was carried out at a cost of £1 million and completed in 2019. Works of art in the guildhall include a portrait by Martin Archer Shee of General

Sir Thomas Picton Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Picton (24 August 175818 June 1815) was a British Army officer who fought in the Napoleonic Wars. According to the historian Alessandro Barbero, Picton was "respected for his courage and feared for his irascible ...

. Following revelations about Picton's links to slavery, Carmarthenshire County Council agreed to install an appropriate information plaque alongside the portrait. There are also portraits by

Thomas Brigstocke Thomas Brigstocke (1809 – 11 March 1881) was a Welsh portrait painter. He studied art in London, and then spent eight years in Italy before returning to England. In the 1840s he visited Egypt, where he painted portraits of Mohammed Ali Pasha and ...

of General Sir William Nott and of the local Members of Parliament, John Jones of Ystrad and David Morris.

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1777 City and town halls in Wales Buildings and structures in Carmarthen Grade I listed buildings in Carmarthenshire

History

See also

References