County Hall is a municipal building in Bythesea Road,

Trowbridge Trowbridge ( ) is the county town of Wiltshire, England; situated on the River Biss in the west of the county, close to the border with Somerset. The town lies south-east of Bath, Somerset, Bath, south-west of Swindon and south-east of Brist ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

, England, completed in 1940. It is the headquarters of

Wiltshire Council Wiltshire Council, known between 1889 and 2009 as Wiltshire County Council, is the Local government in England, local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Wiltshire (district), Wiltshire in South West England, and has its headquarters a ...

History

In the 19th century the judicial functions of the county were discharged at

Devizes Assize Court Devizes Assize Court is a judicial building in Northgate Street in Devizes, a town in Wiltshire, England. The building, which is currently vacant and deteriorating, is a Grade II* listed building. History The building was designed by Thomas Hen ...

in the Summer and at Salisbury Assize Court in the Lent. Following the implementation of the

Local Government Act 1888 The Local Government Act 1888 (51 & 52 Vict. c. 41) was an Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which established county councils and county borough councils in England and Wales. It came into effect ...

, which established county councils in every county, there was a need to find a meeting place for

Wiltshire County Council Wiltshire Council, known between 1889 and 2009 as Wiltshire County Council, is the local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Wiltshire in South West England, and has its headquarters at County Hall in Trowbridge. Since 2009 it has bee ...

, and the

Victoria County History The Victoria History of the Counties of England, commonly known as the Victoria County History (VCH), is an English history project which began in 1899 with the aim of creating an encyclopaedic history of each of the historic counties of Englan ...

infers that Trowbridge was chosen by virtue of its railway connections. The County Council acquired Arlington House in The Parade, Trowbridge in 1896; subsequent extensions included a block of offices on land behind the building, completed in 1900, and a block of offices adjacent to the building completed in 1913. After deciding that the facilities at Arlington House and the adjacent properties were inadequate for their needs, council leaders decided to procure a new purpose-built building; the site they selected in Bythesea Road had previously been occupied by the

Trowbridge Town Trowbridge Town Football Club is a football club based in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England. They compete at Step 7 in the and play at Woodmarsh, on the southern edge of the town. History A Trowbridge Town team was originally formed in 1880 and ...

football club. The new building, which was designed by

Philip Hepworth Philip Dalton Hepworth (12 March 1888 – 21 February 1963) was a British architect. He studied in both the UK and France, at the Architectural Association School of Architecture and the École des Beaux-Arts, and returned to work as an architec ...

in the Neo-Georgian style, was completed in 1940. The design has a symmetrical main frontage with thirteen bays facing onto Bythesea Road, the end bays slightly projected forward; the central section features a three-bay

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 cu ...

in antis An anta (pl. antæ, antae, or antas; Latin, possibly from ''ante'', "before" or "in front of"), or sometimes parastas (pl. parastades), is a term in classical architecture describing the posts or pillars on either side of a doorway or entrance of ...

with

Doric order The Doric order is one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of t ...

columns; there is a prominent window, framed by an

aedicule In ancient Roman religion, an ''aedicula'' (: ''aediculae'') is a small shrine, and in classical architecture refers to a niche covered by a pediment or entablature supported by a pair of columns and typically framing a statue,"aedicula, n." ''O ...

, on the first floor and a wooden

lantern A lantern is a source of lighting, often portable. It typically features a protective enclosure for the light sourcehistorically usually a candle, a oil lamp, wick in oil, or a thermoluminescence, thermoluminescent Gas mantle, mesh, and often a ...

containing a clock at roof level. Internally, the principal room was the council chamber which was

polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure made up of line segments connected to form a closed polygonal chain. The segments of a closed polygonal chain are called its '' edges'' or ''sides''. The points where two edges meet are the polygon ...

-shaped and jutted out to the rear of the main building. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, following concerns that County Hall would be a potential landmark for German aircraft, it was covered in

camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the b ...

nets. An extension to a design by Alec French & Partners was built to the south east of the main building and completed in 1974. Following the merger of the former non-metropolitan districts of Kennet,

North Wiltshire North Wiltshire was a Districts of England, local government district in Wiltshire, England, between 1974 and 2009, when it was superseded by the unitary area of Wiltshire (district), Wiltshire. The district was formed on 1 April 1974 by a me ...

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

and

West Wiltshire West Wiltshire was a local government district in Wiltshire, England, between 1974 and 2009, when it was superseded by the new Wiltshire unitary area. The district was formed on 1 April 1974, further to the Local Government Act 1972, as a me ...

in April 2009, a new

unitary authority A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...

known as

adopted County Hall as its headquarters. In 2011, following an application from 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, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

decided not to

list A list is a Set (mathematics), set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of t ...

County Hall as the building did not meet the criteria for listing post-1945 buildings. The building was extensively refurbished by

Kier Group Kier Group plc is a British construction, services and property group active in building and civil engineering, support services, and the Private Finance Initiative. Founded in 1928 in Stoke-on-Trent it initially specialised in concrete enginee ...

at a cost of £22 million, to a design by Stride Treglown, in 2012. The refurbishment works involved the creation of a new link block to the 1970s extension; it also involved covering over the internal courtyard within the extension with an

ETFE Ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) is a fluorine-based plastic. It was designed to have high corrosion resistance and strength over a wide temperature range. ETFE is a polymer and its source-based name is poly (ethene-co-tetrafluoroethene). It i ...

roof, so creating a new cafe and exhibition area.

Public facilities

County Hall has the main office of Wiltshire Council's registration service, and parts of the building are used for ceremonies such as marriage and civil partnership. The building also houses the town's public library.

References

{{reflist

Buildings and structures in Wiltshire Government buildings completed in 1940 Trowbridge