Thornbury Town Hall, is a municipal building in the High Street, Thornbury, Gloucestershire, England. The building, which is the meeting place of Thornbury Town Council, is a Grade II listed building.

History

The first building on the site on the east side of the High Street between Silver Street and Soapers Lane was a public house known as the "Wine Tavern" which dated back at least to 1590. It was acquired by an apothecary, John Gayner, who converted it for his own use in 1737. The site was then acquired by an attorney, George Rolph, who decided to demolish the original building and commission the current structure. The new building was designed in the neoclassical style, built in brick with a

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

finish and was completed in 1785. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing onto the High Street; the central bay featured a

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

with

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 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 ...

. The outer bays were fenestrated by tri-partite

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 and, at roof level, there was a

modillion A modillion is an ornate bracket, more horizontal in shape and less imposing than a corbel. They are often seen underneath a cornice which it helps to support. Modillions are more elaborate than dentils (literally translated as small teeth). All ...

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

and a parapet. Internally, the principal room was a large drawing room at the front of the building on the first floor. Following George Rolph's death in 1815, the house passed to his son, William, who enlarged the property by incorporating two other properties at the rear. Following William Rolph's death in 1848, the building was auctioned and acquired by the local justices of the peace. They commissioned a local contractor, Daniel Burchell, to convert the building into a police station and courthouse. Accommodation for the police sergeant and constables was created at the rear of the building. The drawing room was converted into a courtroom, which opened in time for the quarter sessions in March 1860. A large circular

plaster cast A plaster cast is a copy made in plaster of another 3-dimensional form. The original from which the cast is taken may be a sculpture, building, a face, a pregnant belly, a fossil or other remains such as fresh or fossilised footprints – p ...

recording the new use of the building and the date of the conversion was installed on the front of the building at first floor level. Thornbury Rural District Council, which was established in 1894, was not involved in the operation of the courthouse and instead established itself in council offices in Castle Street. The building in the High Street continued to operate as a police station until 1973, when a new police station opened in Rock Street, and continued to host magistrates court hearings until 1986, when the magistrates moved to a modern courthouse in Yate. The building then remained empty and deteriorating until it was acquired by Thornbury Town Council in April 1992. Restoration works, which involved the conversion of the courtroom into a council chamber, were completed in 1994. The old custody cells in the police station were restored for use as a visitor attraction and a tourist information centre was established on the ground floor of the building.

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1785 City and town halls in Gloucestershire Grade II listed buildings in Gloucestershire Thornbury, Gloucestershire