Penrith Town Hall is a municipal building in Corney Square,

Penrith, Cumbria Penrith (, , ) is a market town and civil parish in the county of Cumbria, England, about south of Carlisle. It is less than outside the Lake District National Park, in between the Rivers Petteril and Eamont and just north of the River ...

, England. The structure, which is the headquarters of

Eden District Council Eden may refer to: *Garden of Eden, the "garden of God" described in the Book of Genesis Places and jurisdictions Canada * Eden, Ontario * Eden High School Middle East * Eden, Lebanon, a city and former bishopric * Camp Eden, Iraq Oc ...

, 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 current building has its origins in a pair of identical, late 18th century,

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 ...

houses; the left hand building was once occupied by a local clinician, Dr Livingstone, and the right hand house was once occupied by the former East Indiaman commander, John Wordsworth, who was a cousin of the poet,

William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication '' Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's ' ...

. Following significant population growth, largely associated with the status of Penrith as a market town, the area became an urban district in 1895. The new civic leaders decided to acquire the two buildings and to combine them into a single municipal structure. The

Scottish-American Scottish Americans or Scots Americans (Scottish Gaelic: ''Ameireaganaich Albannach''; sco, Scots-American) are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in Scotland. Scottish Americans are closely related to Scotch-Irish Americans, d ...

industrialist and philanthropist,

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...

, made a contribution of £1,200 towards the cost of the construction to support the inclusion of a public library. Progress was temporarily delayed when it was thought, incorrectly, that the houses had been designed by

Robert Adam Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his ...

: nevertheless, following the intervention of Canon

Hardwicke Rawnsley Hardwicke Drummond Rawnsley (29 September 1851 – 28 May 1920) was an Anglican priest, poet, local politician and conservationist. He became nationally and internationally known as one of the three founders of the National Trust for Places of H ...

, much of the interiors of the two houses was retained. The new structure was designed by the district surveyor, J. J. Knewstub, in the Renaissance Revival style, built in red sandstone from

Lazonby Lazonby is a village and civil parish in the Lower Eden Valley of Cumbria; it is located about north north-east of Penrith and 24 miles (38 km) south of the Scottish Borders. The total population of the ward of Lazonby, which also includ ...

with buff sandstone dressings from

Stanton Moor Stanton Moor is a small upland area in the Derbyshire Peak District of central northern England, lying between Matlock and Bakewell near the villages of Birchover and Stanton-in-Peak. It is known for its megaliths – particularly the Nine La ...

and was completed in 1906. The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage with six bays facing onto Corney Square. The second bay on the left, which slightly projected forward, featured a pair of round headed windows on the ground floor flanked by Corinthian order

pilaster In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wal ...

s supporting an entablature and a balustrade; there were two round headed windows on the first floor separated by a Corinthian order column and flanked by Corinthian order pilasters supporting a modillioned cornice and, at roof level, there was a blind dormer containing a panel bearing the

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

of the town. The fourth bay on the left, which was also elaborate and also slightly projected forward, featured a short flight of steps leading up to a doorway with a fanlight flanked by pairs of Corinthian order columns and, beyond that, Corinthian order pilasters supporting an entablature inscribed with the words "Town Hall" and a balustrade; there were two round headed windows on the first floor flanked by columns and pilasters supporting a modillioned cornice and, at roof level, there was a dormer window with a broken

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedim ...

and a pair of

urn An urn is a vase, often with a cover, with a typically narrowed neck above a rounded body and a footed pedestal. Describing a vessel as an "urn", as opposed to a vase or other terms, generally reflects its use rather than any particular shape or ...

s. The other bays contained three-light windows on both floors. Internally, the principal room was the council chamber on the first floor. The new public library was established in a wing on the northwest side of the town hall at the same time that the main building opened, and the Penrith Museum, which had been founded in 1894, also moved into the town hall at that time. On 8 June 1920, the town hall was the venue for the coroner's inquiry into the death of the soldier,

Percy Toplis Francis Percy Toplis (22 August 1896 – 6 June 1920) was a British criminal and imposter active during and after the First World War. Before the war he was imprisoned for attempted rape. During the war he served as a private in the Royal ...

, who was alleged to have taken part in the

Étaples mutiny The Étaples mutiny was a series of mutinies in September 1917 by British Army and British Imperial soldiers at a training camp in the coastal port of Étaples in Northern France during World War I. Background Before the war, Étaples, sou ...

and who later became known as '' the Monocled Mutineer''; the verdict of the jury was that his death in a gunfight with police was

justifiable homicide The concept of justifiable homicide in criminal law is a defense to culpable homicide (criminal or negligent homicide). Generally, there is a burden of production of exculpatory evidence in the legal defense of justification. In most countri ...

. During 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 opposi ...

staff in the town hall administered the accommodation arrangements for the many thousands of people evacuated from the south east to Cumberland and

Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...

and a civil defence reporting centre was also established in the basement. The town hall continued to serve as the headquarters of the urban district council for much of the 20th century and remained the local seat of government after the enlarged

which was formed in 1974. The museum moved out of the town hall to the Robinson's School Building in Middlegate in July 1985 and the public library moved out of the town hall to facilities previously occupied by the Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in St Andrew's Churchyard in 1992. The registrar's office also moved out of the town hall to the library, which then became an approved venue for weddings and civil partnership ceremonies, in 2015. After considering, in January 2018, a plan to erect a modern extension on a car park at the rear of the site, the council decided instead, in March 2021, to appoint consultants to develop an alternative proposal involving the redevelopment of the town hall as a creative asset. However, in May 2021 the council also decided to grant the building community asset status, so giving the community the right to acquire the building if it ever came to be offered for sale.

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1906 City and town halls in Cumbria Penrith, Cumbria Grade II listed buildings in Cumbria

History

See also

References