Saffron Walden Town Hall is a municipal building in the Market Place,

Saffron Walden Saffron Walden is a market town in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England, north of Bishop's Stortford, south of Cambridge and north of London. It retains a rural appearance and some buildings of the medieval period. The population was 15, ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, England. The structure, which was the headquarters of Saffron Walden Borough 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 current building was commissioned to replace a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

town hall in the Market Place: several

tenement A tenement is a type of building shared by multiple dwellings, typically with flats or apartments on each floor and with shared entrance stairway access. They are common on the British Isles, particularly in Scotland. In the medieval Old Town, i ...

buildings were demolished at the same time so that there would be more room for holding markets. The foundation stone for the new building was laid by the mayor, William Mapletoft, in 1761. 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 ...

, built in red brick and was completed in 1763. The design of the original building involved a symmetrical main frontage with seven bays facing onto the Market Place; the central section of three bays, which slightly projected forward and was rusticated on the ground floor, featured three arched openings, each with a

wrought-iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a wood-like "grain" t ...

grill; on the first floor there was a tall round headed

sash window A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned window (architecture), paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double gla ...

flanked by two conventional sash windows with blind panels above and, at roof level, there was a

modillion A modillion is an ornate bracket, more horizontal in shape and less imposing than a corbel. They are often seen underneath a cornice which it helps to support. Modillions are more elaborate than dentils (literally translated as small teeth). All ...

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

, a

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 ...

and a central

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope * Mi ...

. Internally, the principal room was the courtroom and there was also a lock-up for petty criminals. The courtroom was converted to serve as a council chamber in 1836 and new lock-up facilities were created at the back of the town hall in 1840. Following significant population growth, largely associated with Saffron Walden's status as a market town, the area became a

municipal borough Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002. Broadly similar structures existed in S ...

with the town hall as its headquarters in the 1840s. In October 1877, a local businessman,

George Stacey Gibson George Stacey Gibson FLS (20 July 1818 – 11 April 1883), was a British banker, botanist and philanthropist. Early life George Stacey Gibson was born in Saffron Walden, Essex on 20 July 1818, the only child of Wyatt George Gibson (1790–1862) ...

, offered to pay for the remodelling of the town hall. The work involved a large new

porch A porch (from Old French ''porche'', from Latin ''porticus'' "colonnade", from ''porta'' "passage") is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance of a building. A porch is placed in front of the facade of a building it commands, and form ...

Tudor style Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...

which was officially opened by the mayor, Joseph Bell, who accepted the keys from Gibson, on 1 October 1879. The design of the porch, which was timber-framed on the upper floors, involved a three-opening

loggia In architecture, a loggia ( , usually , ) is a covered exterior gallery or corridor, usually on an upper level, but sometimes on the ground level of a building. The outer wall is open to the elements, usually supported by a series of columns ...

on the ground floor and a prominent

bay window A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room. Types Bay window is a generic term for all protruding window constructions, regardless of whether they are curved or angular, or r ...

on the first floor flanked by

bracket A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. Typically deployed in symmetric pairs, an individual bracket may be identified as a 'left' or 'r ...

s supporting a

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 pedimen ...

containing a smaller window and a

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

in the tympanum. Following the remodelling, the principal rooms were the council chamber and the assembly room.

Pevsner Pevsner or Pevzner is a Jewish surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Aihud Pevsner (1925–2018), American physicist * Antoine Pevsner (1886–1962), Russian sculptor, brother of Naum Gabo * David Pevsner, American actor, singer, dan ...

liked the design which he described as "ostentatious" but worthy of "an honourable mention". The initial stages of the trial of Major

Oliver Smedley Major William Oliver Smedley (19 February 1911 – 16 November 1989) was an English businessman involved in classical liberal politics and pirate radio.''The Times'' (18 November 1989), p. 12. Early life Smedley was born in Godstone, Surrey, on ...

for the alleged manslaughter of the

band manager A talent manager (also known as an artist manager, band manager or music manager) is an individual who guides the professional career of artists in the entertainment industry. The responsibility of the talent manager is to oversee the day-to-day ...

Reginald Calvert Pearce Reginald Hartley CalvertNational Probate Calendar, 1966 (1928 – 21 June 1966) was an English artist manager, born in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England. He was the manager of The Fortunes, Pinkerton's Assorted Colours, Screaming Lor ...

, took place in the town hall in July 1966; Smedley was founded to have acted in self-defence and was acquitted. The town hall continued to serve as the headquarters of the borough council for much of the 20th century but ceased to be the local seat of government after the enlarged

Uttlesford District Council Uttlesford is a local government district in Essex, England. Its council is based in the market town of Saffron Walden. At the 2011 Census, the population of the district was 79,443. Other notable settlements include Great Dunmow, Elmdon, Stebb ...

was formed at the council offices in Debden Road in 1974. The

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...

programme ''

Any Questions? ''Any Questions?'' is a British topical discussion programme "in which a panel of personalities from the worlds of politics, media, and elsewhere are posed questions by the audience". It is typically broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Fridays at 8 p ...

'' was broadcast from the town hall in May 2011. As a cost saving measure, Saffron Walden Town Council relocated its staff, who had previously been based in offices in Emson Close, into the town hall in October 2020. Works of art in the town hall include portraits by

Daniël Mijtens Daniël Mijtens ( 1590 – 1647/48), known in England as Daniel Mytens the Elder, was a Dutch Golden Age portrait painter belonging to a family of Flemish painters who spent the central years of his career working in England. Biography ...

of King Charles I and of Queen Henrietta and a portrait by

Henry Scott Tuke Henry Scott Tuke (12 June 1858 – 13 March 1929), was an English visual artist; primarily a painter, but also a photographer. His most notable work was in the Impressionist style, and he is best known for his paintings of nude boys and young ...

of the benefactor of the town hall, George Stacey Gibson.

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1763 City and town halls in Essex Saffron Walden Grade II listed buildings in Essex