Derby Guildhall is a municipal building in the Market Place,

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

, England. It 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

A moot hall was first established in the Market Place area in 1204. This was replaced by a timber and plaster guildhall in 1500 which, in turn, made way for a stone guildhall which was designed by Richard Jackson in the

Classical style Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the works of the Roman architect V ...

and completed in 1730. A

turret clock A turret clock or tower clock is a clock designed to be mounted high in the wall of a building, usually in a clock tower, in public buildings such as churches, university buildings, and town halls. As a public amenity to enable the community to ...

John Whitehurst John Whitehurst FRS (10 April 1713 – 18 February 1788), born in Cheshire, England, was a clockmaker and scientist, and made significant early contributions to geology. He was an influential member of the Lunar Society. Life and work Whi ...

was installed on the face of the building in the mid-18th century. The next structure, which was designed by

Matthew Habershon Matthew Habershon (1789–1852) was an English architect. Biography Habershon, born in 1789, came of a Yorkshire family. In 1806 he was articled to the architect William Atkinson, with whom he remained for some years as assistant. He was an occa ...

also in the Classical style, was built slightly to the south of the previous structures and was completed in 1828. It featured a large portico incorporating a large archway allowing access to the market hall on the ground floor, four Ionic columns on the first floor of the portico and a pediment above that. After the building was badly damaged by a fire, the interior and part of the structure was rebuilt to a design by Henry Duesbury in 1842. The new design saw the removal of the portico and it being replaced with a tower with a new clock, a

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, fro ...

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 ...

. Two large stones panels, one representing a court room and the other representing a council chamber, designed by the sculptor John Bell, were added to the face of the building.

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...

visited the Guildhall on 21 May 1891 and received a formal address from the mayor, Alfred Haslam, before departing for the site of the proposed

Derbyshire Royal Infirmary The Derbyshire Royal Infirmary was a hospital in Derby that was managed by the Derby Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Following the transfer of community services to the London Road Community Hospital located further south-east along Lo ...

, to lay a foundation stone and to knight the mayor. The guildhall was the scene of the initial stages of the trial of the anti-war campaigner, Alice Wheeldon, in 1917. She was committed for trial at the Old Bailey in London where she was convicted of conspiracy to murder Prime Minister

David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for leading the United Kingdom during ...

and his cabinet colleague

Arthur Henderson Arthur Henderson (13 September 1863 – 20 October 1935) was a British iron moulder and Labour politician. He was the first Labour cabinet minister, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1934 and, uniquely, served three separate terms as Leader of th ...

. A Blue Plaque to commemorate her life was subsequently erected at her home, 12 Pear Tree Road, in Normanton. The guildhall ceased to function as the local of seat of government when the town council moved to the

Council House A council house is a form of British public housing built by local authorities. A council estate is a building complex containing a number of council houses and other amenities like schools and shops. Construction took place mainly from 1919 ...

in 1949, and the vacated guildhall was converted for use as a theatre in 1975. A main feature of theatre's programme has been the annual Christmas

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...

which has been presented by theatre companies such as the "Babbling Vagabonds" since 2000. The viability of such theatre companies was questioned after the theatre closed in January 2019 so that long-term essential building maintenance works could be carried out.

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1828 City and town halls in Derbyshire Grade II listed buildings in Derby