Carterton Town Hall is a municipal building in Alvescot Road in Carterton, Oxfordshire, a town in England. It accommodates the offices and meeting place of Carterton Town Council.
| Carterton Town Hall | |
|---|---|
 The building in 2009 | |
| Location | Alvescot Road, Carterton |
| Coordinates | 51°45′30″N 1°35′47″W / 51.7583°N 1.5963°W |
| Built | 1983 |
| Architectural style(s) | Neoclassical style |
  Shown in Oxfordshire | |
History
editThe settlement of Carterton was founded by a property speculator, William Carter, in May 1900.[1] Following the establishment of RAF Brize Norton, just to the south of the settlement, in 1937, the settlement grew steadily, and it adopted town status in about 1980.[2] In the early 1980s, the new council decided to commission a town hall.[2] The site they selected, on the southeast side of Alvescot Road, was open land.[3]
Construction of the new building started in 1982. It was designed broadly in the neoclassical style, built in yellow brick and was officially opened by the mayor, Ernest Crapper, in March 1983.[4] The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage of two bays facing onto a small garden adjacent to the building. On the ground floor, there were two segmental headed openings, the left of which contained a recessed doorway and the right of which contained a casement window with a wooden panel below. On the first floor, there was a segmental headed casement window on the left, and a French door with a balcony and iron railings on the right. The building was surmounted by a pitched roof with a weather vane. Internally, the principal room was a small assembly hall which was suitable for meetings but not for social events.[5]
A war memorial, in the form of a cross pattée on a pedestal, which was intended to commemorate the lives of local people who had died in the First World War, and which had originally been erected at the crossroads after the war, was relocated to the garden in front of the town hall at that time.[6][7][8] In 2004, a blue plaque, intended to commemorate founding of the town by William Carter a century beforehand, was fixed to the front of the building.[9]
A small single storey building to the northeast off the town hall, which had accommodated a veterinary practice, was demolished in 2014, allowing the creation of a small market square and landscaping. The town hall was extended to the southeast at that time to create new accommodation for the veterinary practice as well as a new entrance with a porch for the town hall. The previous doorway was partially bricked up and another casement window was installed in its place.[10] The new market square was enhanced by the creation of a sensory garden which was officially opened, adjacent to the town hall, in September 2022.[11][12]
References
edit- ^ "North Carterton". Oxfordshire County Council Heritage Department. 11 May 2000. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
- ^ a b Colvin, Christina (2006). A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 15, Bampton Hundred (Part Three). London: Victoria County History. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
- ^ "Ordnance Survey Map". 1955. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
- ^ "Carterton Town Hall on the Alvescot Road with war memorial outside. The present town hall was opened in March 1983 by the mayor of the day, Councillor E. H. Crapper". Oxfordshire County Council Heritage Department. 2000. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
- ^ "Rules for hire of the town hall" (PDF). Carterton Town Council. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
- ^ "Carterton". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
- ^ "Carterton". War Memorials Online. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
- ^ Historic England. "Carterton War Memorial (1441794)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
- ^ "William Carter (1852–1921)". Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Scheme. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
- ^ "Carterton Market Square Project". Rangers Review. 18 January 2014. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
- ^ "Opening of the Sensory Garden – Market Square". Carterton Town Council. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
- ^ "Sensory Garden". Carterton Crier. 1 December 2022. p. 8. Retrieved 1 July 2024.