The Old Town Hall was a former municipal facility at the corner of King Street and Rodney Street in

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

, England. The building, which was demolished in September 2013, had been designated 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 ...

in 1990.

History

The first town hall in Wigan, located at the western side of the Market Place, was commissioned by the

James Barry, 4th Earl of Barrymore James Barry, 4th Earl of Barrymore (1667 – 5 January 1748) was an Irish soldier and Jacobite politician. Early life The son of Richard Barry, 2nd Earl of Barrymore and his wife Dorothy (née Ferrar), Barry succeeded his half-brother Lau ...

and Sir Robert Bradshaigh, the town's representatives in

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. It was designed in the

neoclassical style Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The pr ...

with arcading on the ground floor to allow markets to be held and completed in 1720. The older building remained in use until its demolition in 1882. The building now referred to as the "old town hall" was the second of three seats of local government in Wigan; it was built on a plot at the corner of King Street and Rodney Street in

, between 1866 and 1867. Designed by local architects Nuttall & Cook, the two-storey

Italianate style The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...

structure was built largely of brick in

Flemish bond Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and Mortar (masonry), mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called ''Course (architecture), courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall. Bricks ...

, except for its

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

ground floor and some sandstone dressings; the roof was of slate. It cost £12,000 to build, the equivalent of about £ in . The design included large round-headed windows with

pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

s between them on the ground floor and square-headed sashed windows with

architrave In classical architecture, an architrave (; from it, architrave "chief beam", also called an epistyle; from Greek ἐπίστυλον ''epistylon'' "door frame") is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can ...

s on the first floor; there was a cast-iron

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). Whe ...

above that decorated with urns on

pedestal A pedestal (from French ''piédestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'' 'foot of a stall') or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In ci ...

s. The new building was originally used as the borough courts until civic leaders move their offices into the building in 1882.

King George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of Ind ...

and Queen Elizabeth visited the town hall on 20 May 1938 just before the start of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. In order to meet the expanding accommodation needs of

County Borough of Wigan The County Borough of Wigan was, from 1889 to 1974, a local government district centred on Wigan in the northwest of England. It was alternatively known as Wigan County Borough. The district was created by the Local Government Act 1888, with i ...

, some departments moved into a new civic centre which was opened by the Leader of the council, Alderman Ernest Ball, on 22 April 1970. The old town hall continued to be the headquarters of the council until the county borough was abolished by the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

in 1974. It then served as the headquarters of the

Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council The Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council is the local authority for the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan in the United Kingdom. It consists of 75 Councillors with one-third being elected every three years in four. The borough is separated into 25 war ...

until 1990, when the council moved its staff to the new Town Hall, formerly the home of the Wigan Mining and Technical College. The old Town Hall subsequently remained vacant, and fell into a state of disrepair. Part of the rear of the building was demolished, leaving the remainder insecure. A planning application to redevelop the site as office accommodation and 133 residential units was submitted in 2007. After this proposal did not proceed, the building was completely demolished in September 2013.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* * {{Buildings and structures in Wigan Borough Grade II listed buildings in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan City and town halls in Greater Manchester Former seats of local government Government buildings completed in 1867 1867 establishments in England Demolished buildings and structures in England Buildings and structures demolished in 2013

History

See also

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography