Swindon Town Hall is a former municipal building in

Swindon Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon un ...

, England which was built in 1891 to be a centrepiece of New Swindon. It is currently used by Swindon Dance, a national dance agency. It 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 building was commissioned to replace the

old town hall Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Mai ...

in the High Street in the Old Town area of Swindon. By 1890, the New Swindon

Local Board Local boards or local boards of health were local authorities in urban areas of England and Wales from 1848 to 1894. They were formed in response to cholera epidemics and were given powers to control sewers, clean the streets, regulate environmenta ...

had plans to build their new public offices in what is now Regent Circus. This location, halfway between the new Railway Village and the Old Town, was thought by some to be "both psychologically and strategically an excellent position for the new town to establish a landmark building". The site was acquired from Colonel William Vilett Rolleston, owner of the Old Manor House in the Market Square. Following a design competition for which there were 20 entries, the building was designed by

Brightwen Binyon Brightwen Binyon, FRIBA, (30 May 1846 – 21 September 1905) was a British architect. Life He was born at Headley Grange, Victoria Park, Manchester, the son of Edward Binyon (1791–1855), a sugar refiner and tea dealer, and his wife Jane née ...

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

in a Victorian style. The design included a main entrance with a round-headed archway flanked by paired

fluted Fluting may refer to: *Fluting (architecture) * Fluting (firearms) * Fluting (geology) * Fluting (glacial) *Fluting (paper) Arts, entertainment, and media *Fluting on the Hump ''Fluting on the Hump'' is the first album by avant-garde band Kin ...

brackets with a

balustrade A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its con ...

and a 90 ft high

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 ...

above, containing a clock by

Thwaites & Reed Thwaites & Reed has been in continuous manufacture since its foundation and claims to be the oldest clock manufacturing company in the world. Geoffrey Buggins MBE, the last of the original family clockmakers, saw drawings of Thwaites clocks datin ...

. The building was officially opened by the

Marquess of Bath Marquess of Bath is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1789 for Thomas Thynne, 3rd Viscount Weymouth. The Marquess holds the subsidiary titles Baron Thynne, of Warminster in the County of Wiltshire, and Viscount Weymouth ...

on 21 October 1891. In the later 19th century the prospect of combining the New Town and the Old Town into a single Swindon had become a burning issue. Commentators of the time such as the

Swindon Advertiser The ''Swindon Advertiser'' is a daily tabloid newspaper, published in Swindon. The newspaper was founded in 1854, and had an audited average daily circulation at the end of 2017 of 8,828. It claims to have been the UK's first provincial 'penny ...

's editor William Morris were heavily in favour. The New Swindon

Urban District Urban district may refer to: * District * Urban area * Quarter (urban subdivision) * Neighbourhood Specific subdivisions in some countries: * Urban districts of Denmark * Urban districts of Germany * Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland) (hist ...

Council was the more powerful of the two at this time, containing within it all of Swindon's industrial companies and the majority of the population. The two towns remained separate until 1901 when they combined and

Swindon Borough Council Swindon Borough Council is the local authority of the Borough of Swindon in Wiltshire, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. As such, it is administratively separate fro ...

became the last to be incorporated during Queen Victoria's reign. The town hall in Regent Circus became the council offices of the new borough and remained so until the civic offices were opened in Euclid Street in July 1938. The building was also the venue for magistrates' court hearings. This lack of dedicated judicial facilities was temporarily resolved when the new Courts of Justice (now referred to as Swindon Magistrates' Court) were opened in Princes Street on 21 April 1965. The ground floor of the town hall housed the Swindon

Reference Library A library is a collection of Document, materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or electronic media, digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a ...

until 2006 when it moved into temporary accommodation pending new purpose-built premises in Regent Circus becoming available in October 2008. Meanwhile, the remainder of the building has been used as

dance studio A dance studio is a space in which dancers learn or rehearse. The term is typically used to describe a space that has either been built or equipped for the purpose. Overview A dance studio normally includes a smooth floor covering or, if used fo ...

s and a media hub.

References

{{Reflist Buildings and structures in Swindon City and town halls in Wiltshire Grade II listed buildings in Wiltshire Grade II listed government buildings Government buildings completed in 1891