Kingsbridge Town Hall is a municipal building in Fore Street,

Kingsbridge Kingsbridge is a market town and tourist hub in the South Hams district of Devon, England, with a population of 6,116 at the 2011 census. Two electoral wards bear the name of ''Kingsbridge'' (East & North). Their combined population at the ab ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

, England. The town hall, which is currently used as a cinema, 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 town hall was built and financed by a specially formed company known as the Kingsbridge Private Rooms Company. It was designed in the

neoclassical 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 sty ...

, built in ashlar stone and was completed in 1850. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage facing onto Fore Street; the building was arcaded on the ground floor, so that butter and poultry could be sold, with an assembly room on the first floor. There were three round headed openings on the ground floor, a canted oriel window on the first floor and an obtuse angled

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 pedim ...

at roof level. Internally, as well as the public rooms, the facilities included offices for the local

constabulary Constabulary may have several definitions: *A civil, non-paramilitary (police) force consisting of police officers called constables. This is the usual definition in the United Kingdom, in which all county police forces once bore the title (and som ...

and a lock-up for petty criminals. By the 1860s the town hall was being used as a drill hall by the 26th (Kingsbridge) Devonshire Rifle Volunteer Corps; it was also being used as a courthouse for

petty session Courts of petty session, established from around the 1730s, were local courts consisting of magistrates, held for each petty sessional division (usually based on the county divisions known as hundreds) in England, Wales, and Ireland. The sessio ...

and county court hearings and science classes were being held in the building. A clock turret in the shape of a cube with three circular faces and a finial was placed on the roof of the building in 1875. Local tradition has it that the clock was not given a western face so that the labourers in the Kingsbridge Union Workhouse would not be able to count the minutes until the end of their shift; a more likely explanation is simply that the western side of the clock was used for maintenance access. Following significant population growth, largely associated with the status of Kingsbridge as a market town, the area became an urban district in 1894. The council acquired the building from the original shareholders allowing the company to be wound up in the early 20th century. Soldiers from the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion, the

King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster) The King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army. It served under various titles and fought in many wars and conflicts, including both the First and the Second World Wars, from 1680 to 1959. In 1959, the r ...

, based at

Saltash Saltash (Cornish: Essa) is a town and civil parish in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It had a population of 16,184 in 2011 census. Saltash faces the city of Plymouth over the River Tamar and is popularly known as "the Gateway to Corn ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, were entertained to a concert in the town hall in December 1914 during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The town hall ceased to be the meeting place of the local council when it moved to Quay House in the 1950s. The building was converted for use as a theatre in 1980 and then fitted out for use as a cinema in 1997: it then operated as a community cinema under the Reel Cinema brand from May 2000, and after being acquired by

Merlin Entertainments Merlin Entertainments Limited is a British entertainment company based at Poole in Dorset, England. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until November 2019, when it was acquired by a consortium that includes Kirkbi A/S (the investme ...

, was re-branded as the Kings Cinema in July 2015.

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1850 City and town halls in Devon Kingsbridge Grade II listed buildings in Devon