The Much Wenlock Guildhall is a guildhall located on Wilmore Street in Much Wenlock, Shropshire. It is a Grade II* listed building.^[1]

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Much Wenlock Guildhall
Location	Much Wenlock, Shropshire
Coordinates	52.59603°N 2.55719°W / 52.59603; -2.55719
Built	1557
Listed Building – Grade II*
Designated	24 October 1950
Reference no.	1053794
Location of Much Wenlock Guildhall in Shropshire

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In the aftermath of the dissolution of the monasteries, which saw the powers of Wenlock Priory suppressed, civic leaders sought a new meeting place to conduct the business of the town.^[2] The new half-timbered building which they commissioned was completed in two phases, the south end (the court room) in 1540 and the north end (the council chamber) in 1557.^[2]

The design for the main frontage on Wilmore Street featured three large gables.^[2] On the ground floor, at the north end there was initially a prison (it was dismantled in 1869), in the central section there was arcading to allow markets to he held^[3] and at the southern end there was a passageway for carriages to pass through.^[1] At first floor level, the design involved tall mullion windows below each of the three gables.^[1] A new cupola was erected on the roof in 1720.^[2]

Internally, the principal rooms are the courtroom and the council chamber, both on the first floor.^[2] The courtroom was the venue for the Quarter sessions where the more serious offences were considered, and also the venue for the Petty sessions where more trivial offences were considered.^[2] The Royal Coat of Arms, which is that of Queen Elizabeth I, was erected in the courtroom in 1589.^[4] An "inner room" for the storage of court records was created in 1616.^[2] The last quarter sessions were held in the courtroom in 1951 and the last petty sessions, by then known as magistrates' courts, were held there in 1985.^[2]

The council chamber was the meeting place of the municipal borough of Much Wenlock which was incorporated under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835; it was fitted out with ornate Jacobean style panelling which had been retrieved from a local country house and installed at the expense of the educationalist, William Penny Brookes in 1848.^{[2][lower-alpha 1]} The council chamber ceased to be the local seat of government when Much Wenlock was absorbed into the Bridgnorth Rural District in 1966.^[8][9] However, it still remains the meeting place of the local town council.^[10] The chamber contains a memorial board topped by a clock in memory of 16 Allied airmen - British, Canadian and American - who were killed in aircraft crashes in the territory of Wenlock Borough during the Second World War.^[11]

The principal rooms are open to visitors free of charge for entrance from April to October.^[12] The stocks and the whipping post can both be seen on the ground floor.^[2]

• Listed buildings in Much Wenlock
• Guild
• Guildhall