Fenland Hall is a municipal building on County Road, March, Cambridgeshire, England, which serves as the headquarters of Fenland District Council. The building was originally called "County Hall", and was built in 1908–1909 by
Isle of Ely County Council
Isle of Ely County Council was the county council of Isle of Ely in the east of England. It came into its powers on 1 April 1889 and was abolished on 1 April 1965. The county council was based at County Hall, March. It was amalgamated with Cambrid ...
to be its meeting place and offices.
History
Isle of Ely County Council was created in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888. The Isle of Ely Quarter Sessions, which preceded the county council, had met alternately at
Ely Ely or ELY may refer to:
Places Ireland
* Éile, a medieval kingdom commonly anglicised Ely
* Ely Place, Dublin, a street
United Kingdom
* Ely, Cambridgeshire, a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England
** Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral, formal ...
and Wisbech. The county council decided instead to hold its meetings in March, being a more central location within the Isle, and with better railway connections. For the first twenty years after its creation the county council met at the Temperance Hall in March, an assembly hall and hotel which had been built in 1885 opposite March railway station (and which was later renamed the Station Hotel).
After nearly twenty years of meeting at the Temperance Hall, in which time the council's staff were based in various rented offices, the council decided to build itself a purpose-built headquarters. The council acquired a site west of Station Road, close to March station. The building was designed by
Herbert John Green Herbert John Green (1850/51 – 1918) was an English architect who was born near Ipswich
The building was subsequently extended in 1928 and again in 1937. Each extension took the form of a linked block in a similar style to the 1909 original at the eastern end of the site.
Isle of Ely County Council was abolished in 1965, merging with neighbouring Cambridgeshire County Council to become a short-lived authority called
Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely
Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely was, from 1965 to 1974, an administrative and geographical county in East Anglia in the United Kingdom. In 1974 it became part of an enlarged Cambridgeshire.
Formation
The Local Government Act 1888 created four s ...
County Council. Local government was reformed again in 1974 under the
Local Government Act 1972
The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...
. The town of March became part of the Fenland district of an enlarged Cambridgeshire. The new Fenland District Council took over the County Hall buildings in March, renaming the building Fenland Hall.
As at 2022, Fenland Hall continues to serve as the main offices and meeting place of Fenland District Council.