The Old Town Hall is a historic building in Wine Street in Devizes, a town in Wiltshire, in England. The structure, which was completed in 1752 and has seen various commercial uses since it was superseded by a new town hall in 1808, is a Grade II* listed building.

History

The building was commissioned as a cheese hall for the town. The site selected was on the corner of Wine Street and St John's Street, just to the south of the town's Market Place. Work on the building started in 1750. It was designed by an architect named Lawrence in the neoclassical style, built in ashlar stone and was completed in 1752. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with four bays facing onto Wine Street; on the ground floor, which was rusticated, there were four round-headed openings. These were originally open, but by the mid-19th century had been filled in with windows and doors. On the first floor, there were four sash windows flanked by

Ionic order The Ionic order is one of the three canonic orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric and the Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan (a plainer Doric), and the rich variant of Corinthian called the composite or ...

columns, as well as two corner piers supporting an

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

and a pediment with a clock flanked by carved figures of

Cupid In classical mythology, Cupid (Latin Cupīdō , meaning "passionate desire") is the god of desire, lust, erotic love, attraction and affection. He is often portrayed as the son of the love goddess Venus (mythology), Venus and the god of war Mar ...

in the tympanum. The building was largely used as a market hall, with the ground floor hosting the town's cheese market. Between 1785 and 1787 the room on the first floor served as an

arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

for the

Royal Wiltshire Militia The Royal Wiltshire Militia was a militia regiment in Great Britain and the later United Kingdom from 1758 to 1881, when it was amalgamated into The Duke of Edinburgh's (Wiltshire Regiment). The regiment was organised in late 1758, as the Wiltsh ...

, while at other times it served as the mess hall of the Devizes Loyal Volunteers, and also as a

Sunday school A Sunday school is an educational institution, usually (but not always) Christian in character. Other religions including Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism have also organised Sunday schools in their temples and mosques, particularly in the West. Su ...

. While the current

Devizes Town Hall Devizes Town Hall is a municipal building in St John's Street in Devizes, Wiltshire, England. The structure, which is the meeting place of Devizes Town Council, is a Grade II* listed building. History Earlier municipal buildings The first m ...

was under construction, between 1806 and 1808, the room on the first floor was briefly used as a venue for council meetings. It was then let out for commercial use in 1809 and sold in 1825. In 1836, the building was acquired by a firm of wine merchants, Messrs Cunnington, which used the basement and the vaults below for storage of wines and spirits. From 1848, the room on the first floor served as the museum, library and reading rooms of the town's literary and scientific institution. The building accommodated the expanded firm of wine merchants, Cunnington, Williams & Sons, until the mid-20th century. The building was

Grade II* listed 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 ...

in 1954. For much of the second half of the 20th century, the ground floor of the building was occupied by a branch of

Cheltenham & Gloucester Cheltenham & Gloucester plc (C&G) was a mortgage and savings provider in the United Kingdom, a subsidiary of Lloyds Banking Group. C&G specialised in mortgage loan, mortgages and savings products. Previously, C&G was a building society, the Chelt ...

; it was re-branded as a branch of TSB Bank in 2013. After TSB Bank closed its branch in Wine Street in April 2021, the ground floor became the home of a ladies' fashion shop, Hen House, in autumn 2022. Meanwhile, the first floor served as the auction rooms of Henry Aldridge and Son, before becoming the Wine Street Gallery in the mid-1990s: the gallery continued to display the work of local artists until April 2009.

References

{{Reflist Georgian architecture in Wiltshire Government buildings completed in 1752 City and town halls in Wiltshire Devizes Grade II* listed buildings in Wiltshire

History

See also

References