Stockton-on-Tees Town Hall is a municipal building in the High Street in Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, England. The building, which is the meeting place of Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council, is a Grade II* listed building.[1]
| Stockton-on-Tees Town Hall | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Stockton-on-Tees Town Hall | |
| Location | Stockton-on-Tees |
| Coordinates | 54°33′51″N 1°18′46″W / 54.5641°N 1.3129°W |
| Built | 1735 |
| Architectural style(s) | Neo-Georgian style |
Listed Building – Grade II* | |
| Official name | Town Hall, High Street |
| Designated | 19 January 1951 |
| Reference no. | 1139975 |
  Shown in County Durham | |
History
editThe first structure on the site, traditionally referred to a town house, was completed in around 1100 and rebuilt in the late 15th century.[2] A purpose-built tolbooth was erected just south of the original building in the late 17th century: it was arcaded on the ground floor to allow markets to be held and there was a lock up in the building to accommodate prisoners, as well as a meeting room on the first floor and adjoining accommodation to allow visitors to stay.[2] The building was owned by the Bishops of Durham who collected rents from use of the market stalls and the rooms above.[2]
The current structure, which was designed in the Georgian style, was completed in 1735.[1] The old tolbooth was demolished in 1744 to allow the new building to be extended.[3][4] The design for the new building involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing the market square; the left hand bay featured a round headed doorway flanked by engaged Doric order columns with the borough coat of arms placed above the doorway.[1] The side elevations displayed Venetian windows and the north elevation featured a doorway in the central bay and five round headed casement windows on the first floor.[1] At roof level there was a short clock tower with a belfry surrounded by Ionic order columns supporting a small balcony;[1] the hour-striking clock currently in place in the turret was installed by Thwaites & Reed of Clerkenwell in 1805.[5] A piazza was created to the north of the building and a market cross designed by John Shout was erected there in 1768.[3][6][7]
At a meeting in the town hall in 1810, the recorder of Stockton, Leonard Raisbeck, used the opportunity to advocate the need for a railway to connect the borough with the more central parts of the country.[2] The lock-up became redundant after a police station, complete with cells, was completed in West Row in 1851.[3] The building was refurbished in the 1880s and the piazza was covered over with an iron canopy in 1890.[3]
Stockton-on-Tees Municipal Borough Council acquired the building from the Bishops of Durham in 1939 in order to secure continued access to their meeting place[2] and then hosted a visit by Queen Elizabeth II, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, on 4 June 1956.[8][9][10] Municipal buildings, which were commissioned to provide additional office space for council officers and their departments, were built nearby, in Church Road, and completed in 1961.[11] The town hall ceased to be local seat of government when the short-lived County Borough of Teesside was formed in 1967:[12] however, its main role as a civic meeting place was restored when Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council was formed in 1974.[13] An extensive programme of refurbishment works was completed in 2011.[14]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e Historic England. "Town Hall, High Street (1139975)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
- ^ a b c d e "Stockton Town Hall History". This is Stockton. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
- ^ a b c d "Stockton Town Hall". Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
- ^ "The Buildings of Stockton" (PDF). Tees Archaeology. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
- ^ "Clock Mechanism in Stockton Town Hall". Picture Stockton Archive: a Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
- ^ Historic England. "Market Cross (1139976)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
- ^ "Stockton High Street". England's North East. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
- ^ "Queen in car during Royal visit 1956". Stockton Picture Archive. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
- ^ "Incredible colour footage of Stockton and Norton in 1956 as 150,000 Teessiders greeted the Queen". Teesside Live. 1 April 2018. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
- ^ "Welcome to the Queen". British Film Archive. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
- ^ "Municipal Buildings, Stockton on Tees". Stockton Picture Archive. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
- ^ Great Britain Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, Teesside CB. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
- ^ Local Government Act 1972. 1972 c.70. The Stationery Office Ltd. 1997. ISBN 0-10-547072-4.
- ^ "Historic town hall to be reviewed with a new council chamber one option". Teesside Live. 26 February 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2020.