The Old Town Hall is a municipal building in St Andrews Street,

Droitwich Spa Droitwich Spa (often abbreviated to Droitwich ) is an historic spa town in the Wychavon district in northern Worcestershire, England, on the River Salwarpe. It is located approximately south-west of Birmingham and north-east of Worcester. T ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

, England. The structure, which was the headquarters of Droitwich Spa Borough Council, 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 first municipal building on the site was a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

structure known as the Exchequer Building completed in 1327. The building was used to regulate the salt trade, over which the crown had a near monopoly, to collect the salt tax from people who had the right to extract salt and to deal with all aspects of the administration of the town. The original structure was replaced by a more substantial timber-framed building in 1581. The new Exchequer House featured some fine stained glass which was later removed and installed in St Andrew's Manor House. In the early 19th century, as part of measures to improve the

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...

Bromsgrove Bromsgrove is a town in Worcestershire, England, about north-east of Worcester and south-west of Birmingham city centre. It had a population of 34,755 in at the 2021 census. It gives its name to the wider Bromsgrove District, of which it is ...

Turnpike Road which passed along St Andrews Street, civic leaders decided to demolish the Exchequer Building and replace it with a new building slightly to the west of the original building. The new building was designed in the

neoclassical style Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassici ...

, built in red brick with

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 ...

facing and was completed in 1826. It was arcaded on the ground floor so that markets could be held, with an assembly room on the first floor. The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto St Andrews Street with the right hand bay curving round into Friar Street; the St Andrews Street elevation featured

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 on the ground floor and round headed

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 windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double glazing) of glass. History ...

s with moulded

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 on the first floor. The original windows featured fine

tracery Tracery is an architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the stonework elements that support th ...

and there was a

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

and

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...

at roof level. The

pillory The pillory is a device made of a wooden or metal framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, used during the medieval and renaissance periods for punishment by public humiliation and often further physical abuse. ...

and

stocks Stocks are feet and hand restraining devices that were used as a form of corporal punishment and public humiliation. The use of stocks is seen as early as Ancient Greece, where they are described as being in use in Solon's law code. The law de ...

were kept in front of the town hall. After significant population growth, largely associated with the salt industry, the area became a

municipal borough A municipal borough was a type of local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of ...

with the town hall as its headquarters in 1835. The town, which had previously been administered in accordance with a

royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but ...

granted by King James I, had enjoyed extensive flexibility in the way it was managed; the new regime, which imposed a requirement for the council to be democratically elected, gave rise to some opposition and, in protest, the town clerk, initially transferred the town hall to his own name and refused to surrender the charter and other civic documents. The building was extended with a further curve along Friar Street to a design by Henry Rowe in 1867. In the first part of the 20th century the local fire engine was kept in the arcaded area of the town hall, but in 1940, 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 ...

, the area was partially infilled to create offices and, after the war, it was completely infilled. The building continued to serve as the headquarters of the borough council for much of the 20th century but ceased to be local seat of government when the council moved to Norbury House in Friar Street in 1970. The building was subsequently marketed for sale and then converted for retail use.

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1826 City and town halls in Worcestershire Droitwich Spa Grade II listed buildings in Worcestershire