Egremont_Town_Hall

Egremont Town Hall

Egremont Town Hall

Municipal building in Egremont, Cumbria, England

Egremont Town Hall is a municipal building in Main Street, Egremont, Cumbria, England. The town hall, which is currently used as a public library, is a Grade II listed building.[1]

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History

Following significant growth in the population, largely associated with the expansion of open-pit iron mining in the area,[2] Egremont became a local government district with its own local board of health in 1879.[3] In this context, the local board decided to commission a new market hall: the site they chose for the market hall was open land to the west of Main Street.[4] The market hall was completed in 1883 and the local board followed this up, a few years later, with the procurement of a town hall on a site to the east of the market hall.[5]

The new town hall was designed in the Gothic Revival style, built in fine sandstone at a cost of £5,000 and was completed in 1890.[6] The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto Main Street; the central bay was formed by a five-stage clock tower with a doorway with a fanlight in the first stage, a segmental window in the second stage, a segmental niche in the third stage, a belfry in the fourth stage and a series of clock faces in the fifth stage: the tower was surmounted by a pyramid-shaped roof. The two outer bays on the left were surmounted with a gable, as were the two outer bays on the right: the outer bays were fenestrated by pointed windows on the ground floor and segmental windows on the first floor. Internally, the principal room was the office for the local board.[3]

After the area became an urban district, with the town hall as its headquarters, in 1894,[7] the new council designated some rooms for teaching and a new school was established in the building in 1895.[8] The town hall ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlarged Ennerdale Rural District Council was formed at Cleator Moor in 1934.[7][9] It was subsequently used as a venue for community events including theatre and cinema performances.[10]

The declining use of the building caused Copeland District Council to market the building for sale in 2010.[11] However, there was limited interest from purchasers and the building was withdrawn from sale, so that the local public library could relocate to the town hall later that year.[12][13]

See also

References

  1. [1]
    Historic England. "Town Hall, Main Street (1086707)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
  2. [2]
    "Egrement". Cumbria County History. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
  3. [3]
    Kelly's Directory of Cumberland & Westmorland, 1914. Kelly's Directories Ltd. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
  4. [4]
    "Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Scotland First Series". 1887. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
  5. [5]
    "Egremont Conservation Area Appraisal" (PDF). Copeland Borough Council. p. 18. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
  6. [6]
    Routledge, Alan W. (2011). Whitehaven and District Through Time. Amberley Publishing. ISBN 978-1445602844.
  7. [7]
    "Egremont UD". Vision of Britain. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
  8. [8]
    Calendar, History, and General Summary of Regulations of the Department of Science and Art. H. M. Stationery Office. 1896. p. 28.
  9. [9]
    "No. 45644". The London Gazette. 13 April 1972. p. 4409.
  10. [10]
    "Arts Development" (PDF). Copeland District Council. 20 October 2005. p. 23. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
  11. [11]
    "Former Town Hall, Main Street, Egremont, Cumbria, CA22 2DB". Pugh Auctions. 2010. Archived from the original on 17 March 2013. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
  12. [12]
    "Community Engagement" (PDF). 2 June 2010. p. 8. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
  13. [13]
    "Egremont Library, Town Hall, Egremont". Families Online. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
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