The Old Town Hall is a municipal building in the High Street in Town Lane, Newtown, Isle of Wight, England. The structure, which is used as a tourist attraction, is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. Newtown is now a small village, and its town hall is owned by the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

History

Newtown developed as a commercial centre and a

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle A ...

in the 14th century. However, it failed to recover after a French raid in 1377 and

Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...

awarded the town two parliamentary seats to try to stimulate economic development in 1584. In the late 17th century, the mayor and burgesses decided to commission a town hall in order to be able to exercise the privileges afforded to them of holding dinners at which they would confirm the names of the candidates for the two seats. The new building was designed in the

Tudor style Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...

, built in red brick and was completed in around 1699. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with two bays facing north along Town Lane; there was a doorway on the ground floor and two rounded headed windows on the first floor. The south-facing frontage featured a doorway on the first floor accessed by an external stone staircase, while the east front featured four casement windows on the ground floor and four round headed windows on the first floor; the west front was completely plain. Internally, the principal rooms were the council chamber and the mayor's parlour. Members of parliament who were chosen in the town hall included the future

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

, George Canning, in 1806. A portico with four

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 with ...

columns supporting a modillioned cornice 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 ...

was added in 1813. Newtown had a very small electorate which was dominated by three families (the Barrington, Holmes and Anderson-Pelham families), which meant it was recognised by the

UK Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

as a

rotten borough A rotten or pocket borough, also known as a nomination borough or proprietorial borough, was a parliamentary borough or constituency in England, Great Britain, or the United Kingdom before the Reform Act 1832, which had a very small electorate ...

. Its right to elect

members of parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

was removed by the Reform Act 1832, and its borough council, which had effectively be extinct from 1835, was formally abolished under the

Municipal Corporations Act 1883 A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

. After many years of decline and neglect the building was repaired in 1933 under the supervision of John Eric Miers Macgregor OBE, a specialist conservation architect who managed to save the derelict structure. The repair was funded by Ferguson's Gang, a mysterious group of young, anonymous, women benefactors who endowed Newtown Old Town Hall to the

and agreed for it to be run as a Youth Hostel for fifteen years. An exhibition of the exploits of the Gang was put on display in the building, which became a local tourist attraction, open to the public during the summer months.

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1699 National Trust properties on the Isle of Wight Tourist attractions on the Isle of Wight Museums on the Isle of Wight History museums on the Isle of Wight Grade II* listed buildings on the Isle of Wight Newtown, Isle of Wight City and town halls on the Isle of Wight