Cleckheaton Town Hall is a municipal building in Bradford Road,

Cleckheaton Cleckheaton is a town in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated south of Bradford, east of Brighouse, west of Batley and so ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

, England. The town hall, which was the headquarters of Spenborough Urban District Council, 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, Hi ...

History

After significant population growth in the second half of the 19th century, particularly associated with

carding In Textile manufacturing, textile production, carding is a mechanical process that disentangles, cleans and intermixes fibres to produce a continuous web or sliver (textiles), sliver suitable for subsequent processing. This is achieved by passi ...

(disentangling fibres) for the textile industry, civic leaders decided to procure a town hall to celebrate 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 ...

: the site they selected had been occupied by a school and some residential properties on the north side of Church Street. The foundation stone for the new building was laid by William Anderton of Elm Bank on 21 June 1890. It was designed by Mawson & Hudson of

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

in the Queen Anne style and was built at a cost of £13,900, which was financed, in part, by public subscription. It was officially opened by the Chairman of the Town Hall Committee, Joseph Law, on 10 February 1892. A plaque was subsequently placed in the room adjacent to the assembly hall to commemorate the life of Elymas Wadsworth, Law's predecessor, who had chaired the committee throughout the development stage of the town hall. The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage with four bays facing onto Bradford Road; the right hand of the two central bays featured a steep flight of steps leading up to an arched doorway with a square

clock tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure that house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another building ...

above. The end bay on the left featured an Ipswich window on the first floor with a gable above, while the end bay on the right, which projected forward, featured a small stone balcony with two tall

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 and a flagpole on the second floor within the gable. Internally, the principal rooms were the council chamber and the assembly hall, the latter of which featured a

proscenium arch A proscenium (, ) is the virtual vertical plane of space in a theatre, usually surrounded on the top and sides by a physical proscenium arch (whether or not truly "arched") and on the bottom by the stage floor itself, which serves as the frame ...

. The Cambridge-chiming clock was designed and manufactured by

Potts of Leeds Potts of Leeds was a major British manufacturer of public clocks, based in Leeds, Yorkshire, England. History William Potts was born in December 1809 and was apprenticed to Samuel Thompson, a Darlington clockmaker. In 1833, at the age of 2 ...

and the bells were cast by

John Taylor & Co John Taylor Bell Foundry (Loughborough) Limited, trading as John Taylor & Co and commonly known as Taylor's Bell Foundry, Taylor's of Loughborough, or simply Taylor's, is the world's largest working bell (instrument), bell foundry. It is locat ...

Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood (borough), Charnwood Borough of Leicestershire, England; it is the administrative centre of Charnwood Borough Council. At the United Kingdom 2021 census, the town's built-up area had a popula ...

. The building became the headquarters of Cleckheaton Urban District Council, when it was formed in 1894, and of the enlarged Spenborough Urban District Council, when it was established in 1915. On 20 May 1926, the town hall was the venue for an important speech by the future leader of the National Liberal Party,

Sir John Simon John Allsebrook Simon, 1st Viscount Simon, (28 February 1873 – 11 January 1954) was a British politician who held senior Cabinet posts from the beginning of the First World War to the end of the Second World War. He is one of three people to ...

, who called for unity in the wake of the collapse of the

General Strike A general strike is a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large coalitions ...

: he said the British people should "retrace the false steps and acknowledge a grievous error ". After the council was granted a charter of incorporation in July 1955, the town hall became the headquarters of the new

municipal borough A municipal borough was a type of local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of ...

. However, it ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlarged

Kirklees Council Kirklees Council, also known as Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council, is the local authority for the metropolitan borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. As a metropolitan borough council it provides the majority of local government ser ...

was formed in 1974. A stained glass window which depicted the

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

of Spenborough was installed in the town hall after the council was abolished. The town hall became a regular venue for the annual Cleckheaton Folk Festival which promoted local musical and literary initiatives after it was launched in 1988.

References

{{City and town halls in West Yorkshire Government buildings completed in 1892 City and town halls in West Yorkshire Cleckheaton Grade II listed buildings in West Yorkshire

History

See also

References