Northallerton Town Hall

Municipal building in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, England

Northallerton Town Hall

Northallerton Town Hall

Location| High Street, Northallerton
Coordinates| 54°20′25″N 1°26′04″W﻿ / ﻿54.3403°N 1.4344°W﻿ / 54.3403; -1.4344Coordinates: 54°20′25″N 1°26′04″W﻿ / ﻿54.3403°N 1.4344°W﻿ / 54.3403; -1.4344
Built| 1873
Architect| John Ross and Robert Lamb
Architectural style(s)| Italianate style

Listed Building – Grade II

Official name| Town Hall and Nos 1 to 7 The Town Hall
Designated| 24 July 2001
Reference no.| 1389344

Shown in North Yorkshire

Northallerton Town Hall is a municipal building in the High Street, Northallerton, North Yorkshire, England. The structure, which is the meeting place of Northallerton Town Council, is a grade II listed building.[1]

## History[edit]

In the mid-19th century, a group of local businessmen decided to form a company to raise funds for the erection of an events venue in the town: the site they selected was occupied by a tollbooth, which had been in use for the collection of market rents since 1334, and a shambles, which had been the local place for meat trading since the 16th century.[2] The "Northallerton Market and Public Improvements Company" was formed, the site was acquired from the Bishop of Durham, the old buildings were demolished and construction started in 1872. The new building was designed by John Ross and Robert Lamb of Darlington in the Italianate style, built in buff bricks with stone dressings at a cost of £3,000 and was officially opened on 22 December 1873.[2][3]

The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing south along the High Street. The central bay featured a short flight of steps leading up to a projecting porch which supported a balcony, with two French doors on the first floor. The outer bays contained segmental three-light windows on the ground floor and pairs of sash windows on the first floor. At roof level there was a modillioned cornice. Internally, the principal rooms were the market hall on the ground floor and the main assembly hall on the first floor.[4] The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner was critical of the design, describing it as "really irredeemable".[5]

The suffragettes, Lydia Becker and Helen Beedy, gave speeches advocating voting rights for women at a public meeting in the building in October 1875.[6] Northallerton Urban District Council, which was formed in 1894,[7] acquired the town hall and the market rights in 1923.[8] However the council chose to establish its own offices at No. 72 High Street, leaving the town hall to continue operations as an events venue.[9]

Following local government re-organisation in 1974, the building became the offices and meeting place of Northallerton Town Council.[10] The future Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, spoke at a meeting in the town hall, arranged to make the case for Brexit, in May 2016.[11] A major programme of works to refurbish the basement for use as the new home of the Northallerton Amateur Boxing Club was completed in December 2021.[12]

## References[edit]

1. ^ Historic England. "Town Hall and Nos 1 to 7 The Town Hall (1389344)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
2. ^ a b "150 years ago: The ambitious plans to remodel Northallerton High Street". Darlington and Stockton Times. 19 October 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
3. ^ "12 pictures of 'Old Northallerton in Bygone Days'". The Northern Echo. 5 March 2018. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
4. ^ Town Hall, Northallerton. The Architect. 30 August 1873. p. 111.
5. ^ Pevsner, Nikolaus (1981). Yorkshire, The North Riding (Buildings of England Series). Yale University Press. p. 271\. ISBN 978-0300096651.
6. ^ Crawford, Elizabeth (2013). The Women's Suffrage Movement in Britain and Ireland: A Regional Survey. Taylor and Francis. p. 53\. ISBN 978-1136010620.
7. ^ "Northallerton UD". Vision of Britain. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
8. ^ "Northallerton Town Hall". The Agricultural Gazette and Modern Farming. 28 December 1923. p. 816\. "The Northallerton Town Hall and market rights have been purchased by the Urban District Council for £6,000."
9. ^ "No. 34750". The London Gazette. 8 December 1939. p. 8184.
10. ^ "Town Hall". Northallerton Town Council. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
11. ^ Ashcroft, Michael (2020). Going for Broke: The Rise of Rishi Sunak. Biteback Publishing. ISBN 978-1785906381.
12. ^ "Northallerton Boxing Club's club's new town hall base". Northern Echo. 20 December 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2022.