Newbury Town Hall is a municipal building in the Market Place in

Newbury, Berkshire Newbury is a market town in the county of Berkshire, England, and is home to the administrative headquarters of West Berkshire Council. The town centre around its large market square retains a rare medieval Cloth Hall, an adjoining half timbere ...

, England. The building, which is the meeting place of Newbury Town 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 site for the first town hall in Newbury had been occupied by several properties belonging to a Mr Thomas Stockwell. Originally referred to as the "town house", it was designed by John Wood of

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

and constructed in the Market Place by a local building firm, Clarkes, and completed in 1742. The building was arcaded on the ground floor so markets could be held and there was a room known as the "great hall" on the first floor. Subsequent acquisitions for use in the great hall included two chandeliers, financed by a donation, in 1770 and two paintings by the Italian artist, Cosino Fioravante, in 1776. In 1825, the UK Parliament passed the Newbury and Speenhamland Improvement Act, which, among other matters, contemplated a new town hall to replace "the ancient building then standing in the Market Place". The foundation stone for the new "municipal buildings" was laid by the mayor, William George Adey, on 30 August 1876.Money, p. 422 The structure was designed by James H. Money in the

Gothic style Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

and officially opened by the

Earl of Carnarvon Earl of Carnarvon is a title that has been created three times in British history. The current holder is George Herbert, 8th Earl of Carnarvon. The town and county in Wales to which the title refers are historically spelled ''Caernarfon,'' havi ...

on 7 May 1878. The new municipal buildings were enhanced by the erection of a

clock tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure which house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another buildi ...

, which was financed by a

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 ...

campaign organised by the mayor, James Benjamin Stone, and completed in 1881. The clock was designed and manufactured by

Potts of Leeds Potts of Leeds was a major British manufacturer of public clocks, based in Leeds, Yorkshire, England. History William Potts was born in December 1809 and was apprenticed to Samuel Thompson, a Darlington clockmaker. In 1833, at the age of 24, ...

. The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto the Market Square; the central section of three bays, which were gabled, featured two-light arched windows on the first floor. The left hand bay featured a tower and the right hand bay featured a doorway on the ground floor with a balcony and a tall four-stage

above. Internally, the principal room was the council chamber at the front of the building on the first floor. The original town house was demolished in 1908 to make way for an extension to the rear, in a similar style to the municipal buildings, which was completed in 1910. 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 acted a recruiting base for potential soldiers for

Kitchener's Army The New Army, often referred to as Kitchener's Army or, disparagingly, as Kitchener's Mob, was an (initially) all-volunteer portion of the British Army formed in the United Kingdom from 1914 onwards following the outbreak of hostilities in the Fi ...

. It continued to serve as the headquarters of the municipal borough of Newbury for much of the 20th century and remained the local seat of government when the enlarged

Newbury District Council West Berkshire Council is the local authority of West Berkshire in Berkshire, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. West Berkshire is divided into 30 wards, electing 52 ...

was formed in 1974. However, it ceased to be the local civic meeting place when the district council moved to the Council Offices in Market street in 1980. A plaque was installed on the town hall to commemorate the visit by

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the granting of a Royal Charter, on 25 October 1996. The building then became the home of Newbury Town Council when it was formed in 1997. Works of art in the town hall included portraits by Allan Ramsay of

King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

and of

Queen Charlotte Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Sophia Charlotte; 19 May 1744 – 17 November 1818) was Queen of Great Britain and of Ireland as the wife of King George III from their marriage on 8 September 1761 until the union of the two kingdoms ...

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1881 City and town halls in Berkshire Grade II listed buildings in Berkshire T