Buckfastleigh Town Hall is a municipal building in Bossell Road in

Buckfastleigh Buckfastleigh is a market town and civil parish in Devon, England situated beside the Devon Expressway ( A38) at the edge of the Dartmoor National Park. It is part of Teignbridge and, for ecclesiastical purposes, lies within the Totnes Deanery. ...

, a town in Devon, in England. It currently accommodates the offices and meeting place of Buckfastleigh Town Council.

History

The building was commissioned by the Hamlyn family as part of celebrations to commemorate the

Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria The Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria was celebrated on 20 and 21 June 1887 to mark the Golden jubilee, 50th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession on 20 June 1837. It was celebrated with a National service of thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Serv ...

. Joseph Hamlyn and his youngest son, William, were the proprietors the Town Mill, the largest of the woollen mills in Buckfastleigh at that time. Joseph also had two other sons, James and John. James Hamlyn became a director of the Buckfastleigh, Totnes and South Devon Railway. The site they selected for the town hall was on the south side of Bossell Road, the road that led to Bossell House, a mansion that James Hamlyn had built in 1880. The new building was designed by James Hine of the firm of Hine & Odgers in

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

, 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 a mix of red brick and

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 ...

and was completed in 1887. The design involved a narrow main frontage of two bays facing northeast with a longer frontage of four bays stretching out behind along Bossell Road. There was a short flight of steps leading up to a segmental headed doorway with a keystone in the right-hand bay. The left-hand bay was fenestrated by a small segmental headed window on the ground floor and there was a pair of segmental 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, which were linked together, on the first floor. There was an open pediment above with the words "Hall and Institute" carved into the tympanum. Internally, the principal rooms were a

town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

, a

mechanics' institute Mechanics' institutes, also known as mechanics' institutions, sometimes simply known as institutes, and also called schools of arts (especially in the Australian colonies), were educational establishments originally formed to provide adult edu ...

, a library and a technical school. The town hall was extended along Bossell Road by an extra five bays in 1924. The Hamlyn family put the town hall into a charity, and in 1952, Buckfastleigh Town Council became the trustees of the charity. Buckfastleigh

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 ...

Council, which had been based at Harewood House further to the west along Bossell Road, relocated to the town hall in the 1960s. However, this was short-lived as the town hall ceased to be the local seat of government when Teignbridge District Council was formed in 1974. Since then, the town hall has continued to serve as a library, and to provide space for community events, as well as serving as the offices and meeting place of Buckfastleigh Town Council. Works of art in the town hall include portraits of three members of the Hamlyn family: Joseph (1809–1888) by Worthy Vizard, John (1816–1878) by Warwick Henry Mann, and William Junior (1852–1941) by an unknown artist.

References

{{reflist City and town halls in Devon Buckfastleigh Government buildings completed in 1887