The Old Town Hall is a municipal building in The Square,

Broughton-in-Furness Broughton in Furness is a market town in the civil parish of Broughton West in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. It had a population of 529 at the 2011 Census. It is located on the south western boundary of England's Lak ...

, a town in

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

, England. The building, which currently accommodates a

tourist information centre A visitor center or centre (see American and British English spelling differences), visitor information center or tourist information centre is a physical location that provides information to tourists. Types A visitor center may be a Civic ce ...

and a shop, is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

The building was commissioned as a market hall by the

lord of the manor Lord of the manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England and Norman England, referred to the landholder of a historical rural estate. The titles date to the English Feudalism, feudal (specifically English feudal barony, baronial) system. The ...

, John Gilpin Sawrey, whose seat was at Broughton Tower to the northeast of the centre of the town. The building formed part of a grander scheme by Sawrey to lay out a market square for the town. His vision was to create a square that recalled the great squares of London, and the market hall, on the south side of the proposed square, was the first step in implementing that plan. The scheme was seen as very successful: the architectural historian,

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (195 ...

, has described the square with its trees as "handsome". The building was designed in the

Italianate style The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Ita ...

, built in brick with a

cement render Cement render or cement plaster is the application of a mortar mix of sand and cement, (optionally lime) and water to brick, concrete, stone, or mud brick. It is often textured, colored, or painted after application. It is generally used on ...

finish and was completed in 1766. The design involved a main frontage of seven bays facing onto The Square. It was arcaded so that markets could be held, with an assembly hall on the first floor. The use of the building as a market hall declined significantly in the wake of the Great depression of British agriculture in the late 19th century. In the early 20th century, the building remained in the ownership of the Broughton Tower Estate. However, lock-up shops were established on the ground floor and the assembly hall on the first floor was increasingly used for social events such as dances. Ownership of the building became vested in the trustees of the "Broughton Reading and Recreation Rooms". Later on the uses changed again and a

was established on the ground floor, while an antiques shop was accommodated on the first floor. The clock was the subject of an 18-month refurbishment programme which was completed in 2007.

Architecture

The town hall is a two-storey stone building, with a slate roof. The ground floor has a seven-bay arcade with

architrave In classical architecture, an architrave (; , also called an epistyle; ) is the lintel or beam, typically made of wood or stone, that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can also apply to all sides, including the vertical members, ...

s and keystones, since infilled with entrances and glazing, while the first floor has four sets of paired round-headed windows. There is a central clock, and a bell turret, topped by a weathervane depicting figures from a hunt. The clock was designed and manufactured by a local clockmaker, William Shepherd, and requires winding twice a week by a local volunteer. The building was

grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

in 1990.

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1766 City and town halls in Cumbria Broughton-in-Furness Grade II listed buildings in Cumbria

History

Architecture

See also

References