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St Columb Major Town Hall is a historic building in the Market Place in
St Columb Major Town Hall is a historic building in the Market Place in St Columb Major
St Columb Major is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Often referred to locally as ''St Columb'', it is approximately southwest of Wadebridge and east of Newquay
Ordnance Survey: Landran ...
, a town in Cornwall
Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
, in England. The building, which serves as the offices and meeting place of St Columb Major Town Council as well as a public library, 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
The current building was commissioned to replace an ancientmarket house
A market house or market hall is a covered space historically used as a marketplace to exchange goods and services such as provisions or livestock, sometimes combined with spaces for public or civic functions on the upper floors and often with a ...
, which consisted of a large room raised on arches. The current building was designed in the neoclassical style
Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassici ...
, built in rubble masonry
Rubble masonry or rubble stone is rough, uneven building stone not laid in regular courses. It may fill the core of a wall which is faced with unit masonry such as brick or ashlar. Some medieval cathedral walls have outer shells of ashlar wi ...
with an 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 front and sides, and was completed in 1848. It originally accommodated monthly meetings of the magistrates' court
A magistrates' court is a lower court where, in several Jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions, all criminal proceedings start. Also some civil matters may be dealt with here, such as family proceedings.
Courts
* Magistrates' court (England and Wales) ...
, the county court, and other public meetings on the first floor, while the ground floor housed the regular meat markets.
In 1913, a cinema known as "The Picture Palace" started showing silent films in the town hall; it became the "Town Hall Cinema" in the late 1920s and "Neath's Non-Flam Pictures" in the 1930s, before closing as a cinema in February 1945.
Since local government re-organisation in 1974, it has accommodated the offices of St Columb Major Town Council and been the venue for their meetings. The building also accommodates the local public library, which, since 2018, has been managed by the town council.
The annual Cornish hurling
Hurling () is an outdoor team game played only in Cornwall, England, played with a small silver ball. While the sport shares its name with the Irish game of hurling, the two sports are completely different.
Once played widely in Cornwall, the ...
competition, which has been held on Shrove Tuesday
Shrove Tuesday (also known as Pancake Tuesday or Pancake Day) is the final day of Shrovetide, which marks the end of the pre-Lenten season. Lent begins the following day with Ash Wednesday. Shrove Tuesday is observed in many Christian state, Ch ...
each year for some 500 years, starts with the silver ball being thrown up in the Market Place close to the town hall, and the two teams then compete to take possession of the ball and place it in their own goal.
Architecture
The design involves a symmetrical main frontage of five bays facing onto the Market Place. It is rusticated on the ground floor and features five round headed openings withvoussoir
A voussoir ( UK: ; US: ) is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, which is used in building an arch or vault.“Voussoir, N., Pronunciation.” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, June 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/7553486115. Acces ...
s and keystones. These openings originally allowed unfettered access to the market hall; however, two of the openings have been infilled with doorways with fanlight
A fanlight is a form of lunette window (transom window), often semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing (window), glazing bars or tracery sets radiating out like an open Hand fan, fan. It is placed over another window or a doorway, ...
s and three have been infilled with windows with glazing bars. Above the ground floor openings there are a series of rectangular panels. The first floor is fenestrated by five round headed windows, also with voussoirs and keystones. At the east end, there is a blocked doorway flanked by a full height arch which is surmounted by 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 ...
, a date stone inscribed with the date MDCCCXLVIII (1848), a single-stage clock tower and a cupola
In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, usually dome-like structure on top of a building often crowning a larger roof or dome. Cupolas often serve as a roof lantern to admit light and air or as a lookout.
The word derives, via Ital ...
. At the west end, there is a round headed doorway flanked by a pair of round headed windows. At roof level, there is a prominent cornice
In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...
and a slate roof hidden behind 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 ...
. The building was grade II* listed
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, H ...
in 1967.
See also
*Grade II* listed buildings in Cornwall (Q–Z)
There are over 20,000 Grade II* listed buildings in England. This article comprises a list of these buildings in the county of Cornwall.
List of buildings
...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Columb Major Town Hall City and town halls in Cornwall St Columb Major Government buildings completed in 1848 Grade II* listed buildings in Cornwall Grade II* listed government buildings