The Old Town Hall is a former municipal building in the High Street in

Ilfracombe Ilfracombe ( ) is a seaside resort and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the North Devon coast, England, with a small harbour surrounded by cliffs. The parish stretches along the coast from the 'Coastguard Cottages' in Hele Bay towar ...

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, England. The structure, which currently operates as gym, 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

Following significant population growth, largely associated with the status of Ilfracombe as a market town, a

local board of health A local board of health (or simply a ''local board'') was a local authority in urban areas of England and Wales from 1848 to 1894. They were formed in response to cholera epidemics and were given powers to control sewers, clean the streets, regulat ...

was established for the area in 1851. The new board decided to commission a town hall to serve as its headquarters: the site it selected was on the north side of the High Street. The new 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

Bath stone Bath Stone is an oolitic limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate originally obtained from the Middle Jurassic aged Great Oolite Group of the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England. Its h ...

and was officially opened in 1863. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of three bays facing onto the High Street. The building was arcaded on the ground floor so that pedestrians and horse-drawn vehicles could pass through

vaulted In architecture, a vault (French ''voûte'', from Italian ''volta'') is a self-supporting arched form, usually of stone or brick, serving to cover a space with a ceiling or roof. As in building an arch, a temporary support is needed while ring ...

passageways to the long

pannier market A pannier market is a form of indoor market especially popular in Devon in the West Country of the United Kingdom where they can be found in various cities and towns. They take their name from the panniers once used to carry goods to market on the ...

stretching down to Wilder Road behind. The ground floor, which was rusticated, featured three openings (one for pedestrians and two for vehicles) flanked by

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 supporting 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 ...

, while the first and second floors were fenestrated by round headed windows 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 also flanked by Doric order columns supporting cornices. There was a

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 ...

above the second floor cornice. Following the opening of Ilfracombe railway station in 1874, the

London and South Western Railway The London and South Western Railway (LSWR, sometimes written L&SWR) was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Originating as the London and Southampton Railway, its network extended to Dorchester and Weymouth, to Salisbury, Exete ...

erected an indicator board at the town hall advising platform numbers and the destination of the trains using those platforms. The area was reconstituted as an

urban district An urban district is a division generally managed by a local government. It may also refer to a city district, district, urban area or quarter Specific urban districts in some countries include: * Urban districts of Denmark * Districts of Germa ...

, with its offices and meeting place at the town hall, in 1894. In June 1902, at a meeting held in the town hall, the council decided that 1,600 medals should be made and distributed to children, to commemorate the end of the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...

, and in July 1915, the town hall was the venue for a display of images of 385 local service personnel serving in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The building remained the local seat of government until 1931, when the urban district council relocated to the west wing of the Ilfracombe Hotel on Wilder Road. The First World War images were transferred to the Ilfracombe Hotel at that time and formed part of the initial collection of the Ilfracombe Museum. The town hall sold shortly thereafter, and 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 ...

, it served as a NAAFI Club. By the early 21st century, the building was re-purposed again, with the upper floors becoming a badminton court, and then a gym, known as Studio 20.

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1862 Grade II listed buildings in Devon City and town halls in Devon Ilfracombe