Llandovery Town Hall ( cy, Neuadd y Dref Llanymddyfri) is a municipal building in Market Street,

Llandovery Llandovery (; cy, Llanymddyfri ) is a market town and community in Carmarthenshire, Wales. It lies on the River Tywi and at the junction of the A40 and A483 roads, about north-east of Carmarthen, north of Swansea and west of Brecon. Histo ...

Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire ( cy, Sir Gaerfyrddin; or informally ') is a county in the south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. The county is known as ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. The structure, which is used as the local public library, 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 first municipal building in Llandovery was a town hall which was completed shortly after the grant of a charter to the town by

King Richard III Richard III (2 October 145222 August 1485) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Battl ...

in 1485. After the building was found to be in state of disrepair, a second town hall was erected, using stone from the ruins of

Llandovery Castle Llandovery Castle ( cy, Castell Llanymddyfri) is a late thirteenth-century, Grade II*-listed, castle ruin in the town of Llandovery in Carmarthenshire, Wales. It occupies a knoll overlooking the River Towy and the land surrounding it. The Norman ...

, in around 1535. A third town hall, on another site, was used for municipal purposes until the mid-19th century, but was being used as an ironmonger's warehouse by the early 20th century. The current structure, the fourth municipal building, was designed by

Richard Kyrke Penson Richard Kyrke Penson or R. K. Penson (19 June 1815 – 22 May 1885) was a Welsh architect and artist. Richard Kyrke Penson was a leading Gothic Revival architect. His work, covered the counties of Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, Cardigan, De ...

in the

Italianate style The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...

, built in stone and was completed in 1858. The ground floor was arcaded, so that it could be used as a corn exchange, with an assembly room for the use of the borough council on the first floor. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing southwest onto the Market Square; the ground floor, which was formed of coursed

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 ...

, featured three openings with imposts,

voussoir A voussoir () is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, which is used in building an arch or vault. Although each unit in an arch or vault is a voussoir, two units are of distinct functional importance: the keystone and the springer. The ...

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 ...

, while the first floor, which was rendered, was fenestrated by three

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. There was 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 ...

above with a blind

oculus Oculus (a term from Latin ''oculus'', meaning 'eye'), may refer to the following Architecture * Oculus (architecture), a circular opening in the centre of a dome or in a wall Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Oculus'' (film), a 2013 American ...

in the tympanum. The side elevations stretched back six bays with the last two bays enclosed to form a lock-up for petty criminals. In the second bay from the left on the north side, there was a three-stage tower, with the first stage containing an arched doorway, the second stage containing a narrow round headed window and the third stage containing an oculus; the tower was surmounted by a

bellcote A bellcote, bell-cote or bell-cot is a small framework and shelter for one or more bells. Bellcotes are most common in church architecture but are also seen on institutions such as schools. The bellcote may be carried on brackets projecting from ...

with a

pyramid A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...

-shaped roof 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 room was the council chamber on the first floor of the main structure. The building was restored to a design by the county surveyor, Daniel Phillips, in 1893. It served as the meeting place of Llandovery Borough Council for much of the 20th century but ceased to be local seat of government when the enlarged

Dinefwr Borough Council Dinefwr was one of six local government districts of the county of Dyfed, Wales from 1974 to 1996. It was named after Dinefwr Castle which in the middle ages had been the court of the House of Dinefwr and one of the three principal royal courts o ...

was formed in 1974. The building was also used as a judicial facility throughout much of its life but the county court hearings ceased in the late 1970s, and the

magistrates' court A magistrates' court is a lower court where, in several jurisdictions, all criminal proceedings start. Also some civil matters may be dealt with here, such as family proceedings. Courts * Magistrates' court (England and Wales) * Magistrate's Cour ...

hearings ceased in 2011. An extensive programme of restoration works, which involved the fitting of a disabled lift and improved fire-alarm systems to allow the first floor to be used as a public library, was carried out at a cost of £100,000 and completed in 2003. The town council secured planning consent to start flying a new town flag from the town hall in February 2022.

References

{{Government buildings in Wales Llandovery City and town halls in Wales Grade II listed buildings in Carmarthenshire Government buildings completed in 1858