County Hall ( cy, Neuadd y Sir Caernarfon) is a former municipal facility at Castle Ditch in

Caernarfon Caernarfon (; ) is a royal town, community and port in Gwynedd, Wales, with a population of 9,852 (with Caeathro). It lies along the A487 road, on the eastern shore of the Menai Strait, opposite the Isle of Anglesey. The city of Bangor is ...

, Wales. The County Hall, which was the headquarters of Caernarfonshire County Council from 1889 to 1974, 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 structure was commissioned to replace an earlier courthouse which had its origins in the

justiciar Justiciar is the English form of the medieval Latin term ''justiciarius'' or ''justitiarius'' ("man of justice", i.e. judge). During the Middle Ages in England, the Chief Justiciar (later known simply as the Justiciar) was roughly equivalent ...

's courthouse which was built in the south west corner of the town in around 1296. The remains of this earlier structure, which was located within the town walls, were preserved within the foundations of the new building. The new building, which was designed by John Thomas, the county surveyor, in the

Neo-classical 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 style ...

opened as Caernarvonshire Shire Hall in 1863. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of seven bays facing onto Castle Ditch; the central section of three bays 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 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 ...

with

Doric order The Doric order was one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of col ...

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 ...

inscribed "Victoria Reg County Hall AD MDCCCLXIII" ("Queen Victoria County Hall AD 1863") with

triglyph Triglyph is an architectural term for the vertically channeled tablets of the Doric frieze in classical architecture, so called because of the angular channels in them. The rectangular recessed spaces between the triglyphs on a Doric frieze are ...

s 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 pedimen ...

. A figure of blind justice, carved by Robert Evans, was erected at the apex of the pediment. Internally, the principal room was the full-height council chamber which has a

scallop Scallop () is a common name that encompasses various species of marine bivalve mollusks in the taxonomic family Pectinidae, the scallops. However, the common name "scallop" is also sometimes applied to species in other closely related families ...

-shaped plaster ceiling at one end of the room. The building was originally used as a facility for dispensing justice, but following the implementation of the

Local Government Act 1888 Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States * Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...

, which established county councils in every county, it also became the meeting place of Caernarvonshire County Council. A memorial to the County of Carnarvon Boer War Volunteers 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 in the building on 2 July 1904. Following its closure in 1921, the former County Gaol, located to the north of the County Hall was converted to create additional facilities for the county council. After the county council was abolished in 1974, the old County Hall then became the home of the Crown Court and Magistrates' Court. The council chamber was converted to serve as the Crown Court at that time. After the courts moved to new premises on Llanberis Road in 2009, the old County Hall was acquired by a developer, Aaron Hill, who converted part of the building into an eight bedroom home, before putting it up for sale in September 2016. It was acquired by a musician, Moira Hartley, in February 2018; after securing planning consent in October 2018, she carried out an extensive restoration to the building and converted it into a concert hall and restaurant. The Crown Court became the concert hall while the magistrates' court and the witness room were both converted into dining facilities. Works of art in County Hall included a bust of

Thomas Bulkeley, 7th Viscount Bulkeley Thomas James Bulkeley, 7th Viscount Bulkeley, later Warren-Bulkeley, (12 December 1752 – 3 June 1822) was a Welsh aristocrat and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1774 to 1784 when he was raised to the peerage. Life Thomas Jame ...

and a

bas relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

Edward Douglas-Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn Edward Gordon Douglas-Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn (20 June 1800 – 31 March 1886), was a Scottish landowner in Wales, and a Conservative Party politician. He played a major part in the development of the Welsh slate industry. Life Born Edwa ...

, both of whom served as

Lord Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire This is a list of people who served as Lord Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire. Since 1778, all Lord Lieutenants have also been Custos Rotulorum of Caernarvonshire. The post was abolished on 31 March 1974 and replaced with that of Lord Lieutenant of Gwy ...

References

{{reflist County halls in Wales Grade I listed buildings in Gwynedd Government buildings completed in 1863