Pontypool Town Hall () is a municipal structure in Hanbury Road,

Pontypool Pontypool ( ) is a town and the administrative centre of the county borough of Torfaen, within the Historic counties of Wales, historic boundaries of Monmouthshire (historic), Monmouthshire in South Wales. , it has a population of 29,062. Locat ...

, Wales. The town hall, which forms the original part of a civic centre that now serves as the headquarters of

Torfaen County Borough Council Torfaen County Borough Council () is the governing body for Torfaen, one of the Principal Areas of Wales. History The borough council was created in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 as a lower-tier district council with borough status. ...

, is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

Until the opening of the town hall, Pontypool did not have a hall for the transaction of public business, a fact which was considered by the local newspaper to be "anomalous". The town hall was a gift to the town from the

Lord Lieutenant of Monmouthshire This is a list of people who served as Lord Lieutenant of Monmouthshire. Before the English Civil War, the lieutenancy of Monmouthshire was held by the Lord Lieutenant of Wales, except for the period from 1602 to 1629, when it formed a separate l ...

, Capel Hanbury Leigh, whose seat was at

Pontypool Park Pontypool Park () is a park in Pontypool, Torfaen, Wales. The park was formerly the grounds of Pontypool House and was laid out in the closing years of the 17th century for John Hanbury (1744–1784), John Hanbury, an ironmaster, who is closely ...

, to celebrate the birth of his son. The foundation stone for the building was laid by Mrs Hanbury Leigh on 15 May 1854. It was designed by Bidlake and Lovett of

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...

in the

Italianate style The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Ita ...

, was built in

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

stone by William Prosser of

Abergavenny Abergavenny (; , , archaically , ) is a market town and Community (Wales), community in Monmouthshire, Wales. Abergavenny is promoted as a "Gateway to Wales"; it is approximately from the England–Wales border, border with England and is loca ...

and was officially opened on 5 January 1856. The official opening was celebrated with an evening concert which was attended by Mr and Mrs Hanbury Leigh. The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto Hanbury Road with the left hand end bay slightly projected forward and topped with a small clock tower and the right hand end bay slightly set back; the two end bays originally had openings on the ground floor. The central bay featured a doorway with an arched surround flanked by

Tuscan order The Tuscan order (Latin ''Ordo Tuscanicus'' or ''Ordo Tuscanus'', with the meaning of Etruscan order) is one of the two classical orders developed by the Romans, the other being the composite order. It is influenced by the Doric order, but wit ...

pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

s supporting an

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

and a

canopy Canopy may refer to: Plants * Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests) * Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes Religion and ceremonies * Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an a ...

; above the ground floor, which was rusticated, was a band inscribed with the name of the benefactor and the date of opening. There were rounded headed

sash window A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double glazing) of glass. History ...

s in the other bays on the ground floor and on the first floor, except for the left hand end bay on the first floor which contained a niche. At roof level there was a

frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...

with

triglyph Triglyph is an architectural term for the vertically channeled tablets of the Doric frieze in classical architecture, so called because of the angular channels in them. The rectangular recessed spaces between the triglyphs on a Doric frieze are ...

s and a

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...

bearing the Hanbury

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

. In the mid-19th century the town was managed by magistrates but a

local board of health A local board of health (or simply a ''local board'') was a local authority in urban areas of England and Wales from 1848 to 1894. They were formed in response to cholera epidemics and were given powers to control sewers, clean the streets, regulat ...

was established in 1871 and, following population growth largely associated with the

tinplate Tinplate consists of sheet metal, sheets of steel coated with a thin layer of tin to impede rust, rusting. Before the advent of cheap mild steel, the backing metal (known as "") was wrought iron. While once more widely used, the primary use of tinp ...

industry, the area became an

urban district An urban district is a division generally managed by a local government. It may also refer to a city district, district, urban area or quarter Specific urban districts in some countries include: * Urban districts of Denmark * Districts of Germa ...

with the town hall as its headquarters in 1895. The town hall was also the meeting place for hearings of the county court. The town hall continued to serve as the headquarters of the urban district for much of the 20th century and remained the local seat of government after the enlarged

was formed in 1974. A programme of works was undertaken to a design by the David Preece Partnership, to extend the building to the south west thereby creating a modern civic centre, in 1991. The works involved the demolition of an old police station and an old town gaol and the construction of a modern six-storey office block.

References

{{Government buildings in Wales Government buildings completed in 1856 City and town halls in Wales Pontypool Grade II listed buildings in Torfaen