Shirehall is a municipal facility in Abbey Foregate,

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

. The building, which is the headquarters of

Shropshire Council Shropshire Council is the local authority of Shropshire (district), Shropshire, in England, comprising the ceremonial county of Shropshire except Telford and Wrekin. It is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority, having the powers ...

, is just north of

Lord Hill's Column Lord Hill's Column is a monument located outside of Shropshire Council's headquarters, Shirehall, in the town of Shrewsbury, Shropshire. It is a column of the Doric order and measures in height making it the tallest Doric column in England. I ...

History

The building was commissioned to replace the Old Shirehall in Market Square. After deciding in the Old Shirehall was inadequate for their needs, county leaders decided to procure a new building: the site they selected had previously been occupied by a country house known as "Nearwell". The foundation stone for the new building was laid by Sir Offley Wakeman, a former chairman of the county council, on 25 July 1964. It was designed by Ralph Crowe, the County Architect, in the

Modernist style Modern architecture, or modernist architecture, was an architectural movement or architectural style based upon new and innovative technologies of construction, particularly the use of glass, steel, and reinforced concrete; the idea that form ...

, built at a cost of £1.8 million and was completed in April 1966. It was officially opened 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 17 March 1967. The design for the six-storey building facing Abbey Foregate involved continuous bands of glazing with concrete panels above and below: it also included an unusual

ovoid An oval () is a closed curve in a plane which resembles the outline of an egg. The term is not very specific, but in some areas (projective geometry, technical drawing, etc.) it is given a more precise definition, which may include either one or ...

-shaped council chamber which jutted out to the south-west of the main building. The building also included court facilities for the local

assizes The courts of assize, or assizes (), were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes e ...

and

quarter sessions The courts of quarter sessions or quarter sessions were local courts traditionally held at four set times each year in the Kingdom of England from 1388 (extending also to Wales following the Laws in Wales Act 1535). They were also established in ...

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, da ...

described the building as "the major monument to post-war modernism in the county". Originally established as the headquarters of

Shropshire County Council Shropshire County Council was the county council of the non-metropolitan county of Shropshire in England. History The Council came into its powers under the Local Government Act 1888 on 1 April 1889 and was known as Salop County Council from for ...

, the building became the offices of the new

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

in April 2009. A scheme to refurbish the building at a cost of £24 million was proposed in December 2018. However, in September 2020, the council indicated that it would rather sell the building and move to the town centre. Then in October 2020, following an application for a certificate of immunity from listing requested by the county council,

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

decided not to

list A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby union ...

County Hall as the building did not meet the criteria for listing post-1945 buildings. In May 2021 the

Twentieth Century Society The Twentieth Century Society (C20) is a British charity which campaigns for the preservation of architectural heritage from 1914 onwards. The society's interests embrace buildings and artefacts that characterise 20th-century Britain. It is form ...

placed the site on its Top 10 Buildings at Risk List. Works of art in the building include a

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...

mural by Rosalind Alexander, located in the entrance hall, depicting Shropshire industries.

Notes

References

{{reflist Buildings and structures in Shrewsbury County halls in England Government buildings completed in 1966