Wakefield Town Hall is a municipal building in Wood Street in

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

, England. It remains a venue for weddings and civil partnerships but is no longer the headquarters of

Wakefield Council Wakefield Metropolitan District Council, also known as Wakefield Council, is the local authority of the City of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England. It is a metropolitan district council and provides a full range of local government services inc ...

which is now based at County Hall. The town hall is a

Grade I 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 ...

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 in Crown Court which had been completed in 1800. After deciding that the old town hall was of insufficient status to compete with

Leeds Town Hall Leeds Town Hall is a 19th-century municipal building on The Headrow (formerly Park Lane), Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Planned to include law courts, a council chamber, offices, a public hall, and a suite of ceremonial rooms, it was built be ...

and

Bradford City Hall Bradford City Hall is a 19th-century town hall in Centenary Square, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. It is a Grade I listed building which has a distinctive clock tower. History Before its relocation, between 1847 and 1873, the town hall ...

, civic leaders chose to procure a new town hall: the site they selected was a vacant area between the mechanics institute and the old

Crown Court The Crown Court is the court of first instance of England and Wales responsible for hearing all Indictable offence, indictable offences, some Hybrid offence, either way offences and appeals lied to it by the Magistrates' court, magistrates' court ...

. The foundation stone for the new building was laid by the mayor, Alderman William Henry Gill, in October 1877. It was designed by Thomas Edward Collcutt in the

Gothic style Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

, built by William Holdsworth of

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

and was officially opened by the new mayor, Alderman William Hartley Lee, in October 1880. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing onto Wood Street; the central section, which slightly projected forward, featured a doorway with 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

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedimen ...

and a balcony above; there were ornate

oriel window An oriel window is a form of bay window which protrudes from the main wall of a building but does not reach to the ground. Supported by corbels, bracket (architecture), brackets, or similar cantilevers, an oriel window is most commonly found pro ...

s on the first floor and pedimented bay windows on the second floor and a steeply pitched roof above. A high, six-stage

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 ...

was erected at the north corner of the building. Internally, the principal rooms were the council chamber, the mayor's parlour and the courtroom. The construction also involved the creation of a tunnel which linked the courtroom and the police cells in the basement of the town hall to the police station in Tammy Hall Street. 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 opposin ...

, a plaque was installed in the council chamber in June 1946 to commemorate the council's decision to award the

King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry The King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (KOYLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army. It officially existed from 1881 to 1968, but its predecessors go back to 1755. In 1968, the regiment was amalgamated with the Somerset and Cornwall ...

the right to parade through the streets of the city with "drums beating, bands playing, colours flying and bayonets fixed". Princess Elizabeth, 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 ...

, visited the town hall and waved to the crowds from the balcony on 27 July 1949. The building was the headquarters of the

County Borough of Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

until 1974 when it became the local seat of government for the enlarged

Wakefield Metropolitan District The City of Wakefield is a local government district with the status of a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. Wakefield, the largest settlement, is the administrative centre of the district. The population of the City ...

. However, in December 1987, Wakefield Council decided to acquire and refurbish County Hall, which was empty and deteriorating, and make County Hall its headquarters. Following an extensive refurbishment of various parts of the town hall in 2016, the council chamber was re-opened as the "Kingswood Suite", for use by the local Register Office as a venue for weddings and civil partnerships. The old courtroom was also made available for use as a reception room.

References

{{Wakefield, West Yorkshire City and town halls in West Yorkshire Government buildings completed in 1880 Grade I listed buildings in West Yorkshire Listed buildings in Wakefield

History

See also

References