March Town Hall is a municipal building in the Market Square in

March, Cambridgeshire March is a Fenland market town and civil parish in the Isle of Ely area of Cambridgeshire, England. It was the county town of the Isle of Ely which was a separate administrative county from 1889 to 1965. The administrative centre of Fenland D ...

, England. The building, which was the headquarters of March Urban District Council, 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 on the site was a market hall which was completed in 1831. It was arcaded on the ground floor so markets could be held with a meeting room on the first floor: the meeting room was initially used by the local school and then as the town surveyor's office. Following significant population growth, largely associated with March's increasing importance as a market town, the area became an urban district in 1895. In this context the new civic leaders decided to purchase the old market hall, as well as the rights to hold markets, from 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 ...

, Sir Algernon Francis Peyton, 6th Baronet, and to replace the old market hall with a new building on the same site. The new building was designed by W. T. Unwin in the

Renaissance style Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of ancient Greek and Roman thought a ...

, built in red brick with stone dressings at a cost of £3,000 and was completed in 1900. It was originally described as a "Corn Exchange, offices etc". The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage with eight bays facing onto the Market Square. A high tower was erected in the bay to the right of the centre: it featured an arched doorway with a paired-

pilaster In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wal ...

surround in the first stage, a narrow round-headed window in the second stage, a French door and a

balcony A balcony (from it, balcone, "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. Types The traditional Maltese balcony ...

in the third stage, a clock in the fourth stage and, above that, there was a spire surmounted by a bell turret and a statue of

Britannia Britannia () is the national personification of Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used in classical antiquity, the Latin ''Britannia'' was the name variously applied to the British Isles, Great ...

. The left-hand section of four bays originally featured small sash windows on the ground floor and paired

ogee An ogee ( ) is the name given to objects, elements, and curves—often seen in architecture and building trades—that have been variously described as serpentine-, extended S-, or sigmoid-shaped. Ogees consist of a "double curve", the combinat ...

-headed windows on the first floor, while the right-hand section of three bays featured small sash windows on the ground floor and single ogee-headed windows on the first floor. The clock, which was designed and manufactured by Sainsbury Brothers, was paid for by

public subscription Subscription refers to the process of investors signing up and committing to invest in a financial instrument, before the actual closing of the purchase. The term comes from the Latin word ''subscribere''. Historical Praenumeration An early form ...

and installed to celebrate the Diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria. The bells were recovered from the old market hall. Internally, the corn exchange was on the ground floor and the municipal offices were on the first floor. The ground floor was also converted to municipal use in 1912. The town hall continued to serve as the headquarters of March Urban District Council for much of the 20th century but ceased being the local seat of government when the enlarged

Fenland District Council Fenland may mean: * Fenland, or the Fens, an area of low-lying land in eastern England ** Fenland District, a local authority district in Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England, forming part of the Fens ** Fenland Airfield, an airfield near Spalding, ...

was formed in 1974. The building was subsequently acquired by the

Lord Chancellor's Department The Lord Chancellor's Department was a United Kingdom government department answerable to the Lord Chancellor with jurisdiction over England and Wales. Created in 1885 as the Lord Chancellor's Office with a small staff to assist the Lord Chancel ...

and was used a

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 Cou ...

until court hearings were transferred to

Wisbech Wisbech ( ) is a market town, inland port and civil parish in the Fenland district in Cambridgeshire, England. In 2011 it had a population of 31,573. The town lies in the far north-east of Cambridgeshire, bordering Norfolk and only 5 miles ...

in 1998. The building was acquired and refurbished by the March Civic Trust, with funding from a former mayor, Peter Skoulding, in 2005. The left-hand section of four bays were converted for retail use at that time. After Britannia's shield and arm broke off in November 2010, the statue was restored in summer 2011.

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1900 City and town halls in Cambridgeshire March, Cambridgeshire Grade I listed buildings in Cambridgeshire