Clun Town Hall is a municipal building in The Square in

Clun Clun ( cy, Colunwy) is a town in south west Shropshire, England, and the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The 2011 census recorded 680 people living in the town.Combined populations for the two output areas covering the tow ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

, England. The building, which is now used as a museum, 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 building

The first municipal building in the town was a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

courthouse adjoining

Clun Castle Clun Castle is a medieval ruined castle in Clun, Shropshire, England. Clun Castle was established by the Norman lord Robert de Say after the Norman invasion of England and went on to become an important Marcher lord castle in the 12th century, ...

which dated back to the early 16th century. In the 1770s, the new

lord of the manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...

, Edward Clive, 2nd Lord Clive, decided to replace the structure, which contained both the manorial court and the borough court, amidst some criticism, not least because the manorial court had been left to deteriorate by successive lords of the manor while the borough court had been well maintained by the borough council. The new building was designed in the

neoclassical style Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassicism, 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 pr ...

, built in

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

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 was completed in 1780. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing onto The Square; there were three round headed openings with

architrave In classical architecture, an architrave (; from it, architrave "chief beam", also called an epistyle; from Greek ἐπίστυλον ''epistylon'' "door frame") is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can ...

s and

keystones A keystone (or capstone) is the wedge-shaped stone at the apex of a masonry arch or typically round-shaped one at the apex of a vault. In both cases it is the final piece placed during construction and locks all the stones into position, allo ...

on the ground floor. The central bay, which slightly projected forward, featured a

Diocletian window Diocletian windows, also called thermal windows, are large semicircular windows characteristic of the enormous public baths (''thermae'') of Ancient Rome. They have been revived on a limited basis by some classical revivalist architects in more m ...

on the first floor, while the outer bays were fenestrated by

casement window A casement window is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges at the side. They are used singly or in pairs within a common frame, in which case they are hinged on the outside. Casement windows are often held open using a cas ...

s on that floor. Originally, the central bay was surmounted by a gable containing a carved stone panel bearing the

Powis Powis may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Alfred Powis, Canadian businessperson * Carl Powis (1928–1999), American baseball player * Geoff Powis (1945–2001), Canadian ice hockey player * Lynn Powis (born 1949), Canadian former ice hockey player * ...

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

and the date of completion, MDCCLXXX (1780). At roof level, there was a wooden

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, from ...

with clock faces, an

ogee An ogee ( ) is the name given to objects, elements, and curves—often seen in architecture and building trades—that have been variously described as serpentine-, extended S-, or sigmoid-shaped. Ogees consist of a "double curve", the combinatio ...

-shaped dome, a

finial A finial (from '' la, finis'', end) or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature. In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a d ...

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 ...

. Internally, the principal rooms were the market hall on the ground floor and an assembly room on the first floor. A lock up for petty criminals was also established on the ground floor. In the late-19th century, the gable in the central bay was demolished and the stone panel was transferred to the wall on the western side. At about the same time, the openings in the outer bays on the ground floor were infilled with windows and fitted with iron bars. The borough council, which had met in the town hall, was abolished under the

Municipal Corporations Act 1883 A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

. Following the implementation of the

Local Government Act 1894 The Local Government Act 1894 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The Act followed the reforms carried out at county level un ...

, which established elected parish councils in rural areas, the assembly room became the meeting place of Clun Parish Council. After the markets moved from Clun to other towns in the 1920s,

George Herbert, 4th Earl of Powis George Charles Herbert, 4th Earl of Powis GCStJ DL JP (24 June 1862 – 9 November 1952), known as George Herbert until 1891, was a British peer. Early life Herbert was born at Number 26, Bruton Street, Mayfair, London, and baptised at St Geor ...

presented the town hall to the parish in 1928 and the former market hall on the ground floor was converted into a museum in 1932. The assembly room continued to be used for magistrates' court hearings until 1949. A major programme of restoration works, carried out with funding from

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

, which included the creation of a new main entrance on the western side of the building, was completed in the 1990s.

The museum

The museum, established in 1932 on the ground floor of the town hall, doubled its floor area when it expanded onto the first floor in 2004. It contains a collection of some 6,000 ancient tools many of which were found on a local hillside,

Caer Caradoc Caer Caradoc ( cy, Caer Caradog, the fort of Caradog) is a hill in the English county of Shropshire. It overlooks the town of Church Stretton and the village of All Stretton and offers panoramic views to the north towards the Wrekin, east t ...

, and date back to the

mesolithic The Mesolithic (Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymous ...

period. There are also artefacts relating to the former borough of Clun, including two

ceremonial mace A ceremonial mace is a highly ornamented staff of metal or wood, carried before a sovereign or other high officials in civic ceremonies by a mace-bearer, intended to represent the official's authority. The mace, as used today, derives from the or ...

s which date back to the

Elizabethan era The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1780 City and town halls in Shropshire Clun Grade II* listed buildings in Shropshire Museums established in 1932 Museums in Shropshire

History

The building

The museum

See also

References