Dursley Town Hall, also known as Dursley Market Hall, is a municipal building in the Market Place,

Dursley Dursley is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in southern Gloucestershire, England, almost equidistant from the cities of Bristol and Gloucester. It is under the northeast flank of Stinchcombe#Stinchcombe Hill, Stinchco ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

, England. The structure, which is mainly used for markets and community events, 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 right to hold markets in Dursley was granted by

King Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disag ...

to the

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 ...

, Nickolas Wykes, in November 1528. For many centuries the market took the form of a series of stalls erected in the Market Place until the 1730s when the then lord of the manor, Thomas Estcourt, decided to erect a combined market hall and town hall. 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 with a

roughcast Roughcast or pebbledash is a coarse plaster surface used on outside walls that consists of lime and sometimes cement mixed with sand, small gravel and often pebbles or shells. The materials are mixed into a slurry and are then thrown at the wor ...

surface and stone dressings and was completed in 1738. It was arcaded on the ground floor, so that markets could be held, with an assembly hall for civic meetings on the first floor. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto the south side of the Market Place: on the first floor there was an elaborate

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 ...

of the Estcourt family in a central position flanked by a pair of

sash window A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned window (architecture), paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double gla ...

s and, in the outer bays, a pair of blind windows. At roof level there were two

dormer A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable space ...

windows and an

octagon In geometry, an octagon (from the Greek ὀκτάγωνον ''oktágōnon'', "eight angles") is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, whi ...

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 a square base and 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

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 ...

above. On the east elevation there were two sash windows and, between them, a

niche Niche may refer to: Science *Developmental niche, a concept for understanding the cultural context of child development *Ecological niche, a term describing the relational position of an organism's species *Niche differentiation, in ecology, the ...

containing a statue of Queen Anne who had contributed £500 towards the restoration of the tower of the Church of St James the Great in Dursley. There was originally an external staircase to the assembly room with a lock-up for petty criminals underneath. Internally, the principal room was the assembly room which was capable of accommodating 80 people. In 1840, the local solicitor and benefactor, Henry Vizard, purchased both the building and the right to hold markets from the then lord of the manor, Thomas Grimston Bucknall Estcourt and then, in December 1841, assigned them to seven trustees appointed on behalf of the town. The market ceased to levy charges on the stall holders in December 1849. The external staircase was demolished and replaced by an internal staircase in a partitioned off area on the ground floor in 1863. The building continued to serve as the meeting place of the

court leet The court leet was a historical court baron (a type of manorial court) of England and Wales and Ireland that exercised the "view of frankpledge" and its attendant police jurisdiction, which was normally restricted to the hundred courts. Etym ...

for most of the 19th century but ceased to have any official civic function after Dursley Rural District Council was established with its own council offices in 1894. An extensive programme of restoration works costing some £7,000 was completed in 1966. Ownership of the building, which had previously been vested in trustees, was transferred to Dursley Town Council in January 1996. Despite the change of ownership, the building continued to be used primarily for community events. Works of art in the town hall include a portrait by an unknown artist of the benefactor, Henry Vizard.

Notes

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1738 City and town halls in Gloucestershire Dursley Grade II* listed buildings in Gloucestershire

History

See also

Notes

References