Bilston Town Hall is a municipal facility in Church Street,

Bilston Bilston is a market town in the City of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands County, West Midlands, England. It is in the Black Country, south east of Wolverhampton city centre and close to the borders of Sandwell Metropolitan Borough, Sandwell ...

, West Midlands, England. It 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, H ...

History

The building was commissioned to replace an earlier timber-framed town hall in Lichfield Street. The foundation stone for the new building was laid by Edward Pugh, treasurer of the

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 ...

, on 2 April 1872. The new building, which was designed by architects Bidlake and Lovatt 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

Classical style Classical architecture typically refers to architecture consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or more specifically, from ''De architectura'' (c. 10 AD) by the Roman architect Vitruvius. Va ...

and built by a Mr Nelson from

Dudley Dudley ( , ) is a market town in the West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically part of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. In the ...

at a cost of £6,000, was officially opened on 14 June 1873. An extension incorporating a larger free library and a new reading room in the same architectural style as the original building was added in 1880. A clock, by John Smith & Sons of Derby, was installed in the tower over the main entrance in 1881. The ball room on the first floor was, in 1910, leased to Joseph Woods as a cinema: after he built Wood's Palace, on the other side of the road, the ballroom reverted to community use. The town hall became the meeting place of Bilston Urban District Council in 1894 and of the Bilston Municipal Borough Council in 1933. The

Princess Royal Princess Royal is a substantive title, title customarily (but not automatically) awarded by British monarchs to their eldest daughters. Although purely honorary, it is the highest honour that may be given to a female member of the royal famil ...

visited Bilston Town Hall in 1946 shortly after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The town hall ceased to be the local seat of government when Bilston was incorporated into the new county Borough of

in 1966. However, the town hall continued to be used by the housing department of Wolverhampton Metropolitan Borough Council for another 30 years until it closed in 1996. In April 2005, work started on a refurbishment programme for the building involving restoration of the grand ballroom for use by the Gazebo Theatre Company, new offices for Wolverhampton Homes, repairs to the roof, stonework, windows and clock and a new glass entrance. The venue also took possession of a newly restored

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a Musical keyboard, keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single tone and pitch, the pipes are provide ...

, designed and built by

John Compton Sir John George Melvin Compton, (29 April 1925 – 7 September 2007) was a Saint Lucian politician who became the first prime minister upon independence in February 1979. Having led Saint Lucia under British rule from 1964 to 1979, Compton ser ...

, which had been removed from the Lyric Cinema in

Wellingborough Wellingborough ( ) is a market town in the North Northamptonshire, Unitary Authority area, England, from London and from Northampton, north of the River Nene. Originally named "Wendelingburgh" (the stronghold of Wændel's people), the Anglo ...

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

when it changed ownership in the late 1960s and had instead been installed at Weavers Road School in Wellingborough. Although it had been used for concerts at the school in the 1980s, it had subsequently languished in the school for many years until it was acquired for Bilston Town Hall in 2007. Following the completion of the works, which cost £2.5 million, the town hall was officially reopened by Councillor Christine Mills, the Mayor of Wolverhampton, on 19 September 2008. In 2013 the town hall also became the central hub of "Talent Match Black Country", an organisation which provides support to young unemployed people in the local area.

References

{{reflist Buildings and structures in Wolverhampton Government buildings completed in 1873 City and town halls in the West Midlands (county) Grade II listed buildings in the West Midlands (county) Bilston