The Old Town Hall and Market Hall is a municipal complex in West Row in

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

, England. The old town hall was the headquarters of Darlington Borough Council until it moved to the new town hall in Feethams in 1970. The complex consists of three separate buildings, all of which are Grade II listed: the old town hall, the market hall and the clock tower.

History

The first town hall was built at the junction of Tubwell Row and Prebend Row and opened in 1808. After the first town hall became too cramped, civic leaders decided to procure a new town hall, market place and clock tower; the site they selected had been occupied by a building known as the Shambles in the Market Square. The new complex was designed by

Alfred Waterhouse Alfred Waterhouse (19 July 1830 – 22 August 1905) was an English architect, particularly associated with Gothic Revival architecture, although he designed using other architectural styles as well. He is perhaps best known for his designs ...

in the Gothic style. The design for the town hall involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto the Horse Market; the central bay featured a doorway with a pointed arch on the ground floor, a

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...

balcony and an

oriel window An oriel window is a form of bay window which protrudes from the main wall of a building but does not reach to the ground. Supported by corbels, bracket (architecture), brackets, or similar cantilevers, an oriel window generally projects from an ...

on the first floor and a steep

hip roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downward to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope, with variants including Tented roof, tented roofs and others. Thus, a hipped roof has no gables or other ve ...

above. The market hall consisted of five bays facing West Row with stalls selling produce on the ground floor and glazed arcading on the first floor, while the clock tower, located at the north east corner of the complex, was a prominent seven-stage structure with a four-face clock and

bartizan A bartizan (an alteration of ''bratticing''), also called a guerite, ''garita'', or ''échauguette'', or spelled bartisan, is an overhanging turret projecting from the walls of late-medieval and early-modern fortifications from the early 14th c ...

s, which had been presented to the town by the railway pioneer, Joseph Pease. A flaw in the casting of one of the girders caused it to collapse during construction killing a local farmer, Robert Robson, at the annual show of the Northern Counties Fat Cattle and Poultry Society which was being held in the partly completed market hall in December 1863. The complex was built by Randal Stap from London at a cost of £7,815 and brought into use, without any official opening, on 2 May 1864. The clock was designed and made by Cooke's of

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

and the five bells were made by John Warner & Sons.

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. George was born during the reign of his pa ...

and Queen Mary attended a reception at the old town hall in 1913.

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

, accompanied by the

Duke of Edinburgh Duke of Edinburgh, named after the capital city of Scotland, Edinburgh, is a substantive title that has been created four times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not pr ...

, also visited the old town hall and waved to the crowds from the town hall steps on 27 October 1967. After Waterhouse's town hall also became inadequate, the council moved a new town hall in May 1970. The old town hall was subsequently used as an integral part of the market hall.

References

{{reflist Alfred Waterhouse buildings Government buildings completed in 1864 City and town halls in County Durham Grade II listed buildings in County Durham Buildings and structures in Darlington