Chorley Town Hall is a municipal building in Market Street in

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth came p ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a Historic counties of England, historic county, Ceremonial County, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significa ...

, England.

History

The first town hall, which was commissioned by a local mercer and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

, John Hollinshead of

Hollinshead Hall Hollinshead Hall was a manor house close to the village of Tockholes, Lancashire. It is unclear whether the hall was originally the manor house of Tockholes, or if Hollinshead was indeed a manor in its own right alongside Tockholes and Livese ...

, was built on the east side of Market Street and completed in 1802. It accommodated the local public offices as well as the local lock-up. After the first town hall became too cramped, civic leaders decided to procure a new town hall: the site they selected on the west side of Market Street had been occupied by the Gillibrand Arms Public House. The new building, which was designed in the

Italianate style The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassical architecture, Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabular ...

by John Ladds and

William Henry Powell William Henry Powell (February 14, 1823 – October 6, 1879), was an American artist who was born and died in New York City. Powell is known for a painting of the Battle of Lake Erie, of which one copy hangs in the Ohio state capitol building ...

, was completed in 1879. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto Market Street with the end bays slightly projected forward; the central section, which also slightly projected forward, featured a doorway on the ground floor with

bracket A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. Typically deployed in symmetric pairs, an individual bracket may be identified as a 'left' or 'r ...

s supporting a

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedim ...

containing a carved tympanum with a tall clock tower above; there were

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 on the first and second floors. The principal rooms were a large assembly hall, which later became known as the Lancastrian Room, the council chamber and town clerk's office. The town hall became the headquarters of the new Municipal Borough of Chorley in 1881. In the early years the basement was used for a butter market and, in the early 20th century, the assembly room was used as a cinema. Meanwhile the old town hall was demolished in the 1930s. The building remained the local seat of government when the enlarged

Borough of Chorley The Borough of Chorley is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. The population of the Borough at the 2011 census was 107,155. It is named after its largest settlement, the town of Chorley. History The non-me ...

was formed in 1974. In the 1980s, a control centre was established in the basement for the protection of civic leaders in the event of a

nuclear attack Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a theoretical military conflict or prepared political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conventional warfare, nuclear wa ...

. Although most council officers and their departments relocated to the Civic Offices in Union Street in the late 20th century, council meetings continued to be held in the town hall. An extensive programme of refurbishment works at the town hall was completed in 2005. The works, which were designed by Seed Architects, involved re-instatement of the main entrance under the clock tower and the creation of a glass-roofed atrium with glass passenger lifts to facilitate easy movement of customers within the building. After several incidents involving damage to facilities and abuse of staff, the Lancastrian Room, ceased to be available for private hire in 2009.

References

{{Borough of Chorley buildings Government buildings completed in 1879 City and town halls in Lancashire Buildings and structures in Chorley