Milford Haven Town Hall ( cy, Neuadd y Dref Aberdaugleddau) is a municipal structure in Hamilton Terrace,

Milford Haven Milford Haven ( cy, Aberdaugleddau, meaning "mouth of the two Rivers Cleddau") is both a town and a community in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is situated on the north side of the Milford Haven Waterway, an estuary forming a natural harbour that has ...

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The count ...

, Wales. It is the meeting place of Milford Haven Town Council.

History

The Milford Improvement Act 1857 ( 20 & 21 Vict. c. 74) appointed improvement commissioners to govern the growing port town. Under the Local Government Act 1894 the improvement commissioners' district was reconstituted as the Milford Haven Urban District, with an elected council. Initially, council leaders established accommodation for council officers and their departments in Charles Street. In the early 1930s, civic leaders decided to procure a more substantial structure: the site they chose on the south side of Hamilton Terrace was occupied by allotment gardens. The new building was designed in the Neo-Georgian style, was built in brown brick with stone facings and was officially opened by the former Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, on 31 August 1939. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with eleven bays facing onto Hamilton Terrace; the central section of three bays, which slightly projected forward, featured a doorway on the ground floor with a stone surround. There was a cast iron balcony with a French door flanked by two tall windows on the first floor and a

modillion A modillion is an ornate bracket, more horizontal in shape and less imposing than a corbel. They are often seen underneath a cornice which it helps to support. Modillions are more elaborate than dentils (literally translated as small teeth). All ...

ed pediment above with a clock in the tympanum. The outer sections were fenestrated with square headed

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 on both floors and featured a modillioned

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

at roof level. There was also a central turret on the roof. Internally, the principal rooms were the council chamber and the mayor's parlour. When it first opened, the town hall also included facilities for the local fire engine. A drinking fountain, which had been cast by the

Saracen Foundry The Saracen Foundry, Possilpark, Glasgow c.1890 The Saracen Foundry was the better-known name for the Possilpark, Glasgow–based foundry company W MacFarlane & Co. Ltd, founded and owned by Walter MacFarlane. MacFarlane's was the most importa ...

in the form of a

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design. In mod ...

and inscribed with the words "erected in the sixtieth year of H.M. Queen Victoria's Reign 1897" as part of celebrations for the

Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria was officially celebrated on 22 June 1897 to mark the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession on 20 June 1837. Queen Victoria was the first British monarch ever to celebrate a Diamond ...

, was relocated from Charles Street to the front of the town hall shortly after it opened. The building continued to serve as the headquarters of the urban district council for much of the 20th century, but ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlarged Preseli Pembrokeshire District Council was formed in 1974. However, it subsequently became the offices and meeting place of Milford Haven Town Council. In the early 21st century it became an approved venue for weddings and civil partnership ceremonies and the first wedding took place in June 2010. Pembrokeshire County Council declared the building as surplus to requirements in December 2019, and marketed it for sale in early 2020; the planning authority subsequently approved change of use to offices on condition that the town council be allowed to remain in the building under its new ownership.

References

{{Government buildings in Wales Government buildings completed in 1939 City and town halls in Wales Buildings and structures in Milford Haven