The Old Town Hall is a municipal building in South Street in

Seaford, East Sussex Seaford is a town in East Sussex, England, east of Newhaven, East Sussex, Newhaven and west of Eastbourne.OS Explorer map Eastbourne and Beachy Head Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. I ...

, England. The structure, which is now in commercial use, 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 in Seaford was an ancient town hall in Church Street with a

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 ...

crypt A crypt (from Greek κρύπτη (kryptē) ''wikt:crypta#Latin, crypta'' "Burial vault (tomb), vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, Sarcophagus, sarcophagi, or Relic, religiou ...

dating back to the 13th century; it was later demolished but the crypt survived, and the site was subsequently occupied by a building known as "The Folly". The current building in South Street was designed in the vernacular style, built in brick with a rendered finish and, in its original form, dated back to around 1562. The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage of three bays facing onto South Street. The central bay was fenestrated with windows for prison cells on the ground floor. There was also an external staircase leading up to a doorway on the first floor in the right-hand bay. Internally, the principal rooms included a lock-up for the incarceration of petty criminals on the ground floor, and a council chamber, which was also the meeting place of the local

masonic lodge A Masonic lodge (also called Freemasons' lodge, or private lodge or constituent lodge) is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also a commonly used term for a building where Freemasons meet and hold their meetings. Every new l ...

, on the first floor. The town hall, which was remodelled in the 18th century, was the venue a riot when the reformer, Thomas Oldfield, arrived to give a lecture there in 1789. Seaford had a very small electorate and a dominant patron,

Charles Ellis, 1st Baron Seaford Charles Rose Ellis, 1st Baron Seaford (19 December 1771 – 9 July 1845) was a British politician. John Ellis and Charles' early life Charles was the second son of John Ellis of Colony of Jamaica, Jamaica, who acquired a significant amount of ...

Claremont Claremont may refer to: Places Australia *Claremont, Ipswich, a heritage-listed house in Queensland * Claremont, Tasmania, a suburb of Hobart * Claremont, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth * Town of Claremont, Perth * Claremont Airbase, an ...

, which meant it was recognised by the

UK Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of ...

as a

rotten borough A rotten or pocket borough, also known as a nomination borough or proprietorial borough, was a parliamentary borough or Electoral district, constituency in Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain, or the United Kin ...

. Its right to elect members of parliament was removed by the

Reform Act 1832 The Representation of the People Act 1832 (also known as the Reform Act 1832, Great Reform Act or First Reform Act) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (indexed as 2 & 3 Will. 4. c. 45), enacted by the Whig government of Pri ...

, and its borough council, which had met in the council chamber, was abolished under the

Municipal Corporations Act 1883 A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the gov ...

. Although the town became 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 ...

in 1894, the new civic leaders decided that the town hall was too small and chose to base themselves in new council offices in Clinton Place. The building subsequently served as a fire station until a new fire station could be completed on the corner of West Street and Green Lane. After serving as a base for the

Home Guard Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or reserve force raised for local defense. The term "home guard" was first officially used in the American Civil War, starting ...

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 building became a community tea room in the 1990s.

References

{{reflist Grade II listed buildings in East Sussex City and town halls in East Sussex Seaford, East Sussex