Stockton-on-Tees Town Hall is a municipal building in the High Street in

Stockton-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees, often simply referred to as Stockton, is a market town in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham, England. It is on the northern banks of the River Tees, part of the Teesside built-up area. The town had an estimated ...

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

, England. The building, which is the meeting place of

Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council is the local authority of the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It provides a full range of local government servi ...

, is a Grade II* listed building.

History

The first structure on the site, traditionally referred to a town house, was completed in around 1100 and rebuilt in the late 15th century. A purpose-built

tolbooth A tolbooth or town house was the main municipal building of a Scottish burgh, from medieval times until the 19th century. The tolbooth usually provided a council meeting chamber, a court house and a jail. The tolbooth was one of three essen ...

was erected just south of the original building in the late 17th century: it was arcaded on the ground floor to allow markets to be held and there was a lock up in the building to accommodate prisoners, as well as a meeting room on the first floor and adjoining accommodation to allow visitors to stay. The building was owned by the

Bishops of Durham The Bishop of Durham is the Anglican bishop responsible for the Diocese of Durham in the Province of York. The diocese is one of the oldest in England and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords. Paul Butler has been the Bishop of Durham ...

who collected rents from use of the market stalls and the rooms above. The current structure, which was designed in the

Georgian style Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British monarchs of the House of Hano ...

, was completed in 1735. The old tolbooth was demolished in 1744 to allow the new building to be extended. The design for the new building involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing the market square; the left hand bay featured a round headed doorway flanked by engaged

Doric order The Doric order was one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of col ...

columns with the borough

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 ...

placed above the doorway. The side elevations displayed

Venetian window A Venetian window (also known as a Serlian window) is a large tripartite window which is a key element in Palladian architecture. Although Sebastiano Serlio (1475–1554) did not invent it, the window features largely in the work of the Italian a ...

s and the north elevation featured a doorway in the central bay and five round headed casement windows on the first floor. At roof level there was a short

clock tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure which house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another buildi ...

with a belfry surrounded 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 supporting a small balcony. A

piazza A town square (or square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true geometric square, used for community gatherings. ...

was created to the north of the building and a market cross designed by John Shout was erected there in 1768. At a meeting in the town hall in 1810, the recorder of Stockton, Leonard Raisbeck, used the opportunity to advocate the need for a

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

to connect the borough with the more central parts of the country. The lock-up became redundant after a police station, complete with cells, was completed in West Row in 1851. The building was refurbished in the 1880s and the piazza was covered over with an iron canopy in 1890. Stockton-on-Tees Municipal Borough Council acquired the building from the Bishops of Durham in 1939 in order to secure continued access to their meeting place and then hosted a visit by

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

, accompanied by the

Duke of Edinburgh Duke of Edinburgh, named after the city of Edinburgh in Scotland, was a substantive title that has been created three times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not produc ...

, on 4 June 1956. Municipal buildings, which were commissioned to provide additional office space for council officers and their departments, were built nearby, in Church Road, and completed in 1961. The town hall ceased to be local seat of government when the short-lived

County Borough of Teesside Teesside was, from 1968 to 1974, a local government district in northern England. It comprised a conurbation that spanned both sides of the River Tees from which it took its name. Teesside had the status of a county borough and was independent ...

was formed in 1967: however, its main role as a civic meeting place was restored when

was formed in 1974. An extensive programme of refurbishment works was completed in 2011.

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1735 City and town halls in County Durham Grade II* listed buildings in County Durham Buildings and structures in Stockton-on-Tees