The Municipal Buildings are historic buildings in Corporation Street,

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, England. The buildings, which were the home of Taunton Grammar School before becoming the headquarters of Taunton Borough Council, are Grade II*

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

History

Taunton Grammar School

The east end of the current building, which was commissioned as a school, dates back to about 1480. The school was re-formed by the Bishop of Winchester and Lord Privy Seal,

Richard Foxe Richard Foxe (sometimes Richard Fox) ( 1448 – 5 October 1528) was an English churchman, the founder of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He was successively Bishop of Exeter, Bath and Wells, Durham, and Winchester, and became also Lo ...

, in 1522. Foxe gave the school an endowment in the shape of a small manor near Chard. In the late 18th century this was producing an income of some £40, enough to pay a

schoolmaster The word schoolmaster, or simply master, refers to a male school teacher. This usage survives in British independent schools, both secondary and preparatory, and a few Indian boarding schools (such as The Doon School) that were modelled afte ...

but little more. On Foxe's instructions, the mastership of the school was to be in the gift of the Warden of New College, Oxford "for ever". The school was badly damaged by the Parliamentarian forces commanded by

Robert Blake Robert Blake may refer to: Sportspeople * Bob Blake (American football) (1885–1962), American football player * Robbie Blake (born 1976), English footballer * Bob Blake (ice hockey) (1914–2008), American ice hockey player * Rob Blake (born 196 ...

in the

Sieges of Taunton The sieges of Taunton were a series of three blockades during the First English Civil War. The town of Taunton, in Somerset, was considered to be of strategic importance because it controlled the main road from Bristol to Devon and Cornwall. R ...

between September 1644 and July 1645 during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

. One of the school's masters, James Upton, was appointed in 1706 at the instigation of Lord Poulett and built the school up to the point of being a leading provincial grammar school, with over two hundred boys. In 1818 a writer on schools was puzzled to note that although the school had fine buildings, including a school-room "of vast dimensions", it had had "no scholars" for many years. In 1820 ''

The Gentleman's Magazine ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term '' magazine'' (from the French ''magazine ...

'' reported that The school moved to South Road in 1870 but, after getting into financial difficulties, it returned to Corporation Street in 1880, before closing completely in 1885. The newly-completed and abandoned premises in South Road were acquired by Canon

Nathaniel Woodard Nathaniel Woodard (; 21 March 1811 – 25 April 1891) was a priest in the Church of England. He founded 11 schools for the middle classes in England whose aim was to provide education based on "sound principle and sound knowledge, firmly groun ...

and became

King's College, Taunton (Strong and faithful) , established = 1880 , closed = , type = Independent day and boarding , religious_affiliation = Church of England , president = , head_label ...

. Meanwhile, a new girls' grammar school, funded by Bishop Fox's endowment, opened in the former Roman Catholic Church on The Crescent in 1890: this evolved to become known as

Bishop Fox's School Bishop Fox's School is a mixed secondary school located in Taunton, Somerset, England. History The school traces its history back to the Taunton Grammar School or Tudor Grammar School endowed by the Bishop of Winchester, Richard Foxe, in 1522. ...

Notable old boys

Notable old boys included: *

John Enty John Enty (1675?–1743) was an English Presbyterian minister. He became a leading figure in nonconformist circles in Exeter, after moves taken against ministers of unorthodox views in the years before 1720. Early life Enty was the son of John Ent ...

(''c.'' 1675 – 1743), presbyterian minister * John Poulett, 2nd Earl Poulett (1708–1764) *Peregrine Poulett (died 1752), member of parliament for Bridgwater *

Vere Poulett, 3rd Earl Poulett Vere Poulett, 3rd Earl Poulett (18 May 1710 – 14 April 1788), styled The Honourable Vere Poulett until 1764, was an English peer. Poulett was the son of John Poulett, 1st Earl Poulett, and Bridget Bertie, daughter of Peregrine Bertie. He was ...

(1710–1788) *

Thomas Wakley Thomas Wakley (11 July 179516 May 1862) was an English surgeon. He gained fame as a social reformer who campaigned against incompetence, privilege and nepotism. He was the founding editor of ''The Lancet'', a radical Member of Parliament (MP) a ...

(1795–1862), surgeon and social reformer, founder of ''

The Lancet ''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal and one of the oldest of its kind. It is also the world's highest-impact academic journal. It was founded in England in 1823. The journal publishes original research articles, ...

Headquarters of Taunton Borough Council

After Taunton became a

municipal borough Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002. Broadly similar structures existed in S ...

in 1885, civic leaders decided to acquire the vacant grammar school building in Corporation Street and to convert it for municipal use in 1887. In order to create extra capacity for council officers, the building was significantly extended to the west in 1904. The building continued to serve as the headquarters of Taunton Corporation for much of the 20th century and remained the local seat of government when the enlarged Taunton Deane Council was formed in 1974. However, the council eventually moved to modern facilities at Deane House on Belvedere Road in spring 1987. Queen Elizabeth II, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, visited Taunton and saw the work being undertaken to convert the Municipal Buildings for future use on 8 May 1987. The building was re-opened as a voluntary service centre by Princess Margaret on 12 June 1987.

Architecture

The 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 ...

and it was built with rubble walls and ashlar stone dressings. The design involves an asymmetrical main frontage of eleven bays facing onto Corporation Street. The eastern section features five-light

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...

ed windows while the western section features gablets containing two-light mullion windows. There is a

bellcote A bellcote, bell-cote or bell-cot is a small framework and shelter for one or more bells. Bellcotes are most common in church architecture but are also seen on institutions such as schools. The bellcote may be carried on brackets projecting from ...

in the centre of the roof. Internally, the main rooms are the council chamber (originally a boys' dormitory), the main hall (originally the schoolroom) and the mayor's parlour.

References