Old Town Hall, Spilsby
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The Old Town Hall is a municipal building in the High Street in
Spilsby Spilsby is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The town is adjacent to the main A16 road (England), A16, east of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, Lincoln, north-east of Boston ...
,
Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...
, England. The structure, which accommodates some shops and a petrol filling station, 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 to replace a medieval market hall which had become very dilapidated by the mid-18th century. The old building was duly demolished and funds for the new building were raised by
public subscription Subscription refers to the process of investors signing up and committing to invest in a financial instrument, before the actual closing of the purchase. The term comes from the Latin word ''subscribere''. Historical Praenumeration An early form ...
. The foundation stone for the new building was laid by Carr Thomas Brackenbury, a member of the Brackenbury family of Raithby Hall, on 17 August 1764. 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 brick with a
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 ...
finish at a cost of £163, and was completed later in the year. 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 of five bays facing onto The Terrace, with the left-hand bay taller than the other bays, and the first floor fenestrated by
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. The west end of the building was fenestrated by a rounded headed window flanked by sash windows on the first floor, and by a smaller round headed window flanked by sash windows at attic level, with a gable above. The assembly room on the first floor was used as a town hall, council chamber and courtroom, and there was also a lock-up for petty criminals. From the late 18th century, the
quarter sessions The courts of quarter sessions or quarter sessions were local courts that were traditionally held at four set times each year in the Kingdom of England from 1388; they were extended to Wales following the Laws in Wales Act 1535. Scotland establ ...
for the southern division of the
Parts of Lindsey The Parts of Lindsey are a traditional division of Lincolnshire, England, covering the northern part of the county. The Isle of Axholme, which is on the west side of the River Trent, has normally formed part of it. The district's name origina ...
were held in the building. A statue of the Arctic explorer, Sir John Frankin, sculpted by
Charles Bacon Charles James Bacon Jr. (January 9, 1885 – November 15, 1968) was an American athlete and a member of the Irish American Athletic Club and the New York City Police Department. He won the 400 metres hurdles at the 1908 Summer Olympics. H ...
in
Portland stone Portland stone is a limestone geological formation (formally named the Portland Stone Formation) dating to the Tithonian age of the Late Jurassic that is quarried on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England. The quarries are cut in beds of whi ...
and mounted on a
pedestal A pedestal or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In civil engineering, it is also called ''basement''. The minimum height o ...
, was unveiled to the southwest of the town hall in November 1861. Although the building had been paid for by
public subscription Subscription refers to the process of investors signing up and committing to invest in a financial instrument, before the actual closing of the purchase. The term comes from the Latin word ''subscribere''. Historical Praenumeration An early form ...
, the site remained in the ownership of the
lady 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 ...
which, in the 19th century, was
Clementina Drummond-Willoughby, 24th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby Clementina Elizabeth Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 24th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby (''née'' Burrell-Drummond; 2 September 1809 – 13 November 1888), styled Lady Aveland from 1827–71, was a ''suo jure'' British baroness. She was born in P ...
, whose seat was at
Grimsthorpe Castle Grimsthorpe Castle is a country house in Lincolnshire, England north-west of Bourne, Lincolnshire, Bourne on the A151 road, A151. It lies within a 3,000 acre (12 km2) park of rolling pastures, lakes, and woodland landscaped by Capability B ...
. In February 1964, a specially formed board of trustees appointed by the Spilsby and District community acquired the Spilsby Drill Hall in Halton Road from the County of Lincoln Territorial, Auxiliary and Volunteer Reserve Association and converted it into a new town hall, which later became known as the Franklin Hall. The old town hall was then converted for commercial use and has since been used to accommodate some shops and a petrol filling station.


Notes


References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1764 Grade II listed buildings in Lincolnshire City and town halls in Lincolnshire Spilsby