Thirsk and Sowerby Town Hall is a municipal building in Westgate,

Thirsk Thirsk is a market town and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England known for its racecourse; quirky yarnbomber displays, and depiction as local author James Herriot's fictional Darrowby. History Archeological fin ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

, England. The structure is used as the meeting place of Thirsk Town Council and of Sowerby Parish Council.

History

The first municipal building in Thirsk was 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 ...

tollbooth A tollbooth (or toll booth) is an enclosure placed along a toll road that is used for the purpose of collecting a toll from passing traffic. A structure consisting of several tollbooths placed next to each other is called a toll plaza, tollgat ...

in the Market Place; it was used as a venue for the collection of market rents as well as a meeting place but, having become dilapidated, it was demolished in 1838. In the early-20th century, a group of local businessmen decided to form a company to raise funds for the erection of a combined town hall and constitutional club in the town: the site they selected was vacant land on the south side of Westgate. The new building was designed by

Walter Brierley Walter Henry Brierley (1862–1926) was a York architect who practised in the city for 40 years. He is known as "the Yorkshire Lutyens" or the "Lutyens of the North". He is also credited with being a leading exponent of the " Wrenaissance ...

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 and buff bricks with stone dressings and was officially opened on 16 July 1913. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto Westgate; the central bay featured a two-panel doorway flanked by

pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

s supporting an

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

and 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 Inclusion (mineral), inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a ...

balcony A balcony (from it, balcone, "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. Types The traditional Maltese balcony is ...

. There was a central French door on the first floor. The flanking bays featured single panel doorways on the ground floor and

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 ...

s on the first floor, while the outer bays were fenestrated by small rectangular windows on the ground floor and sash windows on the first floor. Internally, the principal rooms were the main assembly hall for public meetings and various club rooms including a smoking room, a reading room and a billiards room. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the town hall was used as a

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

Voluntary Aid Detachment The Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) was a voluntary unit of civilians providing nursing care for military personnel in the United Kingdom and various other countries in the British Empire. The most important periods of operation for these units we ...

auxiliary hospital. The building was refurbished in 1974 and re-opened as a cinema by a film enthusiast, Ken Cartman, under the name "Central Cinema". After initial good attendances, the volume of cinema viewers fell sharply and the venue closed after a couple of years. The company which had developed the building, the "Thirsk Town Hall and Constitutional Club Buildings Company", got into financial difficulties and was wound up in 1980. The building subsequently started operating as a community centre operating under the name "Thirsk and Sowerby Town Hall" and became the meeting place of both Thirsk Town Council and Sowerby Parish Council.

References

{{Reflist Government buildings completed in 1913 City and town halls in North Yorkshire Thirsk