The Old Town Hall is a municipal building in the Market Place, Great Dunmow, Essex, England. The structure, which is now in retail use, is a Grade II listed building.[1]
| Old Town Hall, Great Dunmow | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Old Town Hall, Great Dunmow | |
| Location | Market Place, Great Dunmow |
| Coordinates | 51°52′22″N 0°21′44″E / 51.8729°N 0.3623°E |
| Built | 1578 |
| Architectural style(s) | Elizabethan style |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
| Official name | Old Town Hall |
| Designated | 16 February 1984 |
| Reference no. | 1142444 |
  Shown in Essex | |
History
editThe town hall was commissioned as a guildhall following the incorporation of the borough in 1555.[2][3][4] It was designed in the Elizabethan style, built using timber-framing with plaster infill, and was completed in around 1578.[5][6][7]
The first floor was then re-built in the mid-19th century.[8] The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage of two bays facing onto the Market Place. The left hand bay, which was narrow and recessed, contained a doorway with a rectangular fanlight on the ground floor, and a small bi-partite window on the first floor. The right hand bay was fenestrated by a timber framed window on the ground floor, and by a prominent oriel window on the first floor, which was jettied out over the pavement and extensively decorated by pargeting. The right hand bay was surmounted by a gable containing a bargeboard and a clock face. At roof level, there was a cupola, containing a bell,[9] which was surmounted by a pyramid-shaped roof and a weather vane. Internally, the principal room was the assembly room on the first floor.[1]
The assembly room became the venue for public meetings in the town and also served as the regular meeting place of the local masonic lodge.[10] However, the borough council, which had also met in the town hall, was abolished under the Municipal Corporations Act 1883.[11] The building was then acquired by a syndicate of investors for commercial use in 1888.[6] Meanwhile, Foakes Hall, which was financed by a legacy from Alice Foakes, was erected in Stortford Road and was officially opened in September 1934; it subsequently became the regular meeting place of Great Dunmow Parish Council.[12] By the second half of the 20th century, the old town hall was serving as the offices of a firm of estate agents.[13][14][15]
References
edit- ^ a b Historic England. "Old Town Hall (1142444)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
- ^ "Plaque on The Old Town Hall, Great Dunmow, Essex". Alamy. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
- ^ "Great Dunmow". Recordinguttlesfordhistory.org.uk. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
- ^ "Great Dunmow Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Proposals" (PDF). Uttlesford District Council. 1 November 2007. p. 10. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
- ^ White's Directory of Essex. 1848.
- ^ a b "Kelly's Directory of Essex". 1902. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
- ^ Conduit, Brian (2014). "Essex Walks: Great Dunmow and Little Easton". BBC. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
- ^ "'Great Dunmow', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Essex, Volume 1, North West". London: British History Online. 1916. pp. 117–125. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
- ^ "An introduction to Great Dunmow" (PDF). The Hundred Parishes. p. 3. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
- ^ The Freemason's Chronicle. Vol. 2. W. W. Morgan. 1875. p. 251.
- ^ Municipal Corporations Act 1883 (46 & 46 Vict. Ch. 18) (PDF). 1883. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
- ^ "History". Foakes Hall. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
- ^ Estates Gazette. Vol. 247. 11 December 1978. p. 210.
The Auctioneers: J. M. Welch & Son, The Old Town Hall, Great Dunmow
- ^ Country Life. Vol. 185. 1991. p. 53.
For Sale as a whole or in 2 lots...The Old Town Hall, Great Dunmow
- ^ Country Life. Vol. 196. 2002. p. 139.
Estate Agents, Joint Sole Agents, Mullucks Wells & Associates…The Old Town Hall, Great Dunmow