Pembroke Town Hall ( cy, Neuadd y Dref Penfro) is a municipal building in Main Street,

Pembroke, Pembrokeshire Pembroke ( ; cy, Penfro ) is both a town and a community in Pembrokeshire, Wales, with a population of 7,552. The names of both the town and the county (of which the county town is Haverfordwest) have a common origin; both are derived from the ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. The structure, which is the meeting place of Pembroke 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

Cannon outside Pembroke Town Hall (geograph 3863820)

The first municipal building in the town was a shire hall on the north side of Main Street which dated back at least to the mid-18th century. The theologian, John Wesley, preached in this building in May 1781. After the shire hall became dilapidated, civic leaders decided to erect a new structure on the south side of the street. The new building was designed in the

neoclassical style Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the 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 prevailing sty ...

, built with

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

blocks on the ground floor and ashlar stone with a stucco finish on the first floor and was completed in 1819. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto Main Street. There was a large opening in the central bay and smaller openings in the other bays, all with

keystones A keystone (or capstone) is the wedge-shaped stone at the apex of a masonry arch or typically round-shaped one at the apex of a vault. In both cases it is the final piece placed during construction and locks all the stones into position, allo ...

and

voussoir A voussoir () is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, which is used in building an arch or vault. Although each unit in an arch or vault is a voussoir, two units are of distinct functional importance: the keystone and the springer. The ...

s. On the first floor, there was a narrow sash window with a keystone in the first bay and standard sash windows with keystones in the second, third and fourth bays, while the fifth bay was blind. There was a panel bearing the borough coat of arms between the third and fourth bays. Access to the first floor was by way of an external staircase on the left hand side of the front of the building. Internally, the principal rooms were the corn exchange on the ground floor, and the courtroom and the council chamber on the first floor. Some important events took place in the town all in the 19th century: in July 1827, after launching the

second-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a second-rate was a ship of the line which by the start of the 18th century mounted 90 to 98 guns on three gun decks; earlier 17th-century second rates had fewer gun ...

, , at

Pembroke Dockyard Pembroke Dockyard, originally called Pater Yard, is a former Royal Navy Dockyard in Pembroke Dock, Pembrokeshire, Wales. History It was founded in 1814, although not formally authorized until the Prince Regent signed the necessary Order in Counc ...

, the

Duke of Clarence Duke of Clarence is a substantive title which has been traditionally awarded to junior members of the British Royal Family. All three creations were in the Peerage of England. The title was first granted to Lionel of Antwerp, the second son ...

attended a banquet in the building. Then, in October 1830, a meeting was held in the town hall, at which participants included the Scottish

member of parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

Sir James Mackintosh Sir James Mackintosh FRS FRSE (24 October 1765 – 30 May 1832) was a Scottish jurist, Whig politician and Whig historian. His studies and sympathies embraced many interests. He was trained as a doctor and barrister, and worked also as a jo ...

, to draw up a petition to the

UK Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

to demand the abolition of the slave trade. Then, in September 1880, the suffragette, Helena Downing, visited the town hall and made the case for

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

, especially in the field of employment. A new market hall was erected behind the existing structure to a design by a local architect, Kedjewin Ladd, in 1882, and the external staircase was removed in 1909. When the Royal Yacht, , which had been built at Pembroke Dockyard, was broken up in 1955, Queen Elizabeth II sent a teak cigarette box made from the ship's timber to the borough council as a gift and it was subsequently placed on display in the town hall. The borough of Pembroke covered both the old town of Pembroke itself and the neighbouring settlement of Pembroke Dock. By 1895 Pembroke Borough Council had adopted the practice of holding its meetings alternately at Pembroke Town Hall and at 37 Bush Street in Pembroke Dock (renumbered 71 Bush Street in 1906), the latter being the council's main offices where their staff were based. The council remained based at Bush Street until the early 1970s when it acquired Llanion Park, part of the Llanion Barracks at Pembroke Dock, to serve as its headquarters. By this time, Pembroke Town Hall's civic use was limited to ceremonial puposes, including housing the mayor's parlour. Pembroke Borough Council was abolished in 1974, being replaced by

South Pembrokeshire District Council South Pembrokeshire ( cy, De Sir Benfro) was one of six local government districts of Dyfed, Wales from 1974 to 1996. Creation The district was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, from the following parts of the administra ...

. A new Pembroke Town Council was formed, being a lower tier

community council A community council is a public representative body in Great Britain. In England they may be statutory parish councils by another name, under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, or they may be non-statutory bodies. In ...

, and it adopted Pembroke Town Hall as its meeting place. A series of 28 murals created by George and Jeanne Lewis, depicting the history of Pembroke from 3,000 BC to the start of the 20th century, were installed on the walls of the foyer of the building between February 2006 and July 2009. A local history museum was established in the former courtroom of the town hall in 2013, and subsequently accumulated a collection which included the complete archive of silent films which were once owned by the cinema proprietor, William Haggar, as well as other local artefacts.

References

{{reflist Grade II listed buildings in Pembrokeshire Government buildings completed in 1819 City and town halls in Wales Pembroke, Pembrokeshire