Tremadog Town Hall ( cy, Neuadd y Dref Tremadog) is a municipal building on Stryd Fawr, in

Tremadog Tremadog (formerly Tremadoc) is a village in the community of Porthmadog, in Gwynedd, north west Wales; about north of Porthmadog town-centre. It was a planned settlement, founded by William Madocks, who bought the land in 1798. The centre of ...

, Gwynedd,

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. The structure, which was most recently used as a shop, 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 formed part of a planned settlement which was developed by

William Madocks William Alexander Madocks (17 June 1773 – 15 September 1828) was a British politician and landowner who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for the borough of Boston in Lincolnshire from 1802 to 1820, and then for Chippenham in Wiltshire from ...

on flat land reclaimed from

Traeth Mawr Traeth Mawr (Welsh for "large beach") is a polder near Porthmadog in Gwynedd in Wales. The area was formerly the large tidal estuary of the Afon Glaslyn. It was created after large-scale land reclamation occurred in the late 18th century and the ...

, the estuary of the Afon Glaslyn. The town hall was one of the first buildings in the settlement: the site Madocks selected was at the top of the Market Square at the junction of Dublin Street ( cy, Stryd Dulyn) and London Street ( cy, Stryd Llundain). Construction of the new building started in 1807. It was designed in the

neoclassical style Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the 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 prevailing sty ...

, built in coursed stone and was completed in 1810. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto the Market Square; the ground floor was arcaded, so that markets could be held, and featured five tall openings with imposts,

voussoir A voussoir () is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, which is used in building an arch or vault. Although each unit in an arch or vault is a voussoir, two units are of distinct functional importance: the keystone and the springer. The ...

s and keystones. The keystones were decorated with

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 impur ...

floral bosses and the

spandrel A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame; between the tops of two adjacent arches or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fill ...

s contained

medallions Medallion or Medallions may refer to: * Medal (shortening of "medallion"), a carved or engraved circular piece of metal issued as a souvenir, award, work of art or fashion accessory * Medallion (architecture), a large round or oval ornament on a bu ...

, which recalled theatrical figures. The first floor was fenestrated by sash windows with cornices and, at roof level, there was a bracketed cornice and a shallow pitched slate roof. There was originally a flight of steps running right across the front of the building. Internally, the principally rooms were the market hall on the ground floor, and a dance hall on the first floor, which was accessed through a public house, now the Royal Madoc Hotel, located immediately to the left of the town hall. A school operated from the room on the first floor until it relocated to the church in 1837. After the markets relocated, the openings were bricked up and the building fell into a dilapidated state by the 1930s. Following the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, the building was refurbished, iron gates were fitted to the openings to a design by

Clough Williams-Ellis Sir Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis, CBE, MC (28 May 1883 – 9 April 1978) was a Welsh architect known chiefly as the creator of the Italianate village of Portmeirion in North Wales. He became a major figure in the development of Welsh architec ...

and the structure became a

tourist information centre A visitor center or centre (see American and British English spelling differences), visitor information center, tourist information center, is a physical location that provides tourist information to visitors. Types of visitor center A visi ...

for the

Snowdonia National Park Snowdonia or Eryri (), is a mountainous region in northwestern Wales and a national park of in area. It was the first to be designated of the three national parks in Wales, in 1951. Name and extent It was a commonly held belief that the nam ...

. In the 1970s, the three central openings were infilled with glazing, and, in the late 20th century, the building was converted for use as a shop known as "Siola" selling ethnic artefacts including furniture, clothing and jewellery. However, after Siola vacated the building in around 2008, there were difficulties finding a tenant and the building remained vacant for many years.

References

{{reflist Porthmadog City and town halls in Wales Grade II* listed buildings in Gwynedd Government buildings completed in 1810

History

See also

References