Leicester Town Hall stands in the

city centre A city centre is the commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely equivalent terms exist in other languages, such as "" in Fren ...

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

, England, in a square which contains a fountain. The building, which contains a Bike Park, is the main office of the City of Leicester. 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

Before the town hall was built, the

Guildhall A guildhall, also known as a "guild hall" or "guild house", is a historical building originally used for tax collecting by municipalities or merchants in Great Britain and the Low Countries. These buildings commonly become town halls and in som ...

acted as the meeting place of the city council. After the civic leaders decided the guildhall was too small they selected the old cattle market as the site for the new building. The foundation stone for the new building was laid on 3 August 1874. The new building was designed by Francis Hames in the Queen Anne style and was opened by the Mayor, Alderman William Barfoot, on 7 August 1876. The design, which made extensive use of Ketton stone, included a clock tower with cupola which is high. The building was extended in 1910 and again in 1924. A German bomb crashed through the town hall roof and fell through several floors to the basement without exploding on the night of 19/20 November 1940 during

the Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

. The town hall was the headquarters of the

county borough County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent t ...

of Leicester until 1974 when, following local government reform, it became the meeting place of

Leicester City Council Leicester City Council is a unitary authority responsible for local government in the city of Leicester, England. It consists of 54 councillors, representing 22 wards in the city, overseen by a directly elected mayor. It is currently control ...

. Important works of art in the town hall include a painting by Charles James Adams depicting "The Ferry" and a painting by

John Fulleylove John Fulleylove (18 Aug 1845 – 22 May 1908) was an English landscape artist and illustrator. Life Born in Leicester, he originally trained as an architect with local firm "Shenton and Baker", before becoming an artist in watercolours and oil ...

depicting the "Interior of the Mosque of Omar, Jerusalem".

Town Hall Square

Leicester Town Council accepted on 29 October 1878, "a handsome ornamental fountain to be placed in the centre of the land fronting the Town Hall Buildings" which was a gift to the Borough from

Sir Israel Hart Sir Israel Hart (16 February 1835 – 24 March 1911) was a British merchant and Liberal Party politician. Background In 1875, he married Charlotte Victoria Moses of Bayswater, London. They had one daughter, Vera Charlotte Hart, who married the son ...

, a former Mayor of Leicester. It is constructed of bronze-painted cast iron, Shap granite and

Ross of Mull The Ross of Mull (Scottish Gaelic: ''An Ros Mhuileach'') is the largest peninsula of the Isle of Mull, about long, and makes up the south-western part of the island. It is bounded to the north by Loch Scridain and to the south by the Firth of ...

granite. Francis Hames, the architect of the town hall, also designed the layout of Town Hall Square and the fountain, which was unveiled by Sir Israel Hart on 24 September 1879. It is said to be based on a similar fountain Hames saw in at

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

in Portugal, although this is unlikely, as the Town Hall Square fountain is the earlier work (1879, with the Porto one being accepted in 1885). There are very strong similarities, which suggests that the Val d’Osne foundry copied the Leicester fountain for the Porto installation. Also located in the Town Hall Square is 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 ...

Memorial which was sculpted by Joseph Crosland McClure and unveiled by Field Marshal Lord Grenfell on 1 July 1909.

References

External links

Leicester Town Hall Virtual Tour
{{Authority control History of Leicester Buildings and structures in Leicester Tourist attractions in Leicestershire City and town halls in Leicestershire Queen Anne Revival architecture in the United Kingdom Government buildings completed in 1876

History

Town Hall Square

References

Further reading

External links