Godalming Borough Hall is a municipal building in Bridge Street in

Godalming Godalming is a market town and civil parish in southwest Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, at the confluence of the Rivers Wey and Ock. The civil parish covers and includes the settleme ...

, England. The building is the meeting place of Godalming Town Council.

History

The first municipal building in Godalming was an 18th-century market hall in the High Street which was used to accommodate French prisoners following the capture of Belle Île in June 1761. It was replaced by the current market hall (also known as the Pepper Pot) which was designed by John Perry in the neoclassical style, built by

public subscription Subscription refers to the process of investors signing up and committing to invest in a financial instrument, before the actual closing of the purchase. The term comes from the Latin word ''subscribere''. Historical Praenumeration An early form ...

and completed in 1814. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing onto the High Street; it was arcaded on the ground floor so markets could be held with an assembly room on the first floor. The end elevations were

canted Cant, CANT, canting, or canted may refer to: Language * Cant (language), a secret language * Beurla Reagaird, a language of the Scottish Highland Travellers * Scottish Cant, a language of the Scottish Lowland Travellers * Shelta or the Cant, a lan ...

so as to give an

octagon In geometry, an octagon (from the Greek ὀκτάγωνον ''oktágōnon'', "eight angles") is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, whi ...

al shape and at roof level there was a two-stage clock tower with a

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, from ...

for the second stage. After civic leaders decided that the assembly room in the Pepper Pot was inadequate for public meetings, a public hall was erected in Bridge Street: it was designed by Henry Peak, built using brown

rubble masonry 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. Analogously, some medieval cathedral walls are outer shells of ashlar with an inn ...

and completed in 1861. Following significant population growth, especially after the London and South Western Railway reached the town in 1849, the area 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 ...

with the Pepper Pot as its town hall in 1875. In May 1907 tenders were invited from contractors to extend the public hall in Bridge Street to the west to create new municipal buildings for the borough. The extension was built in red brick with stone dressings and the work was completed in 1908. The design of the enlarged structure involved an asymmetrical main frontage with ten bays facing onto Bridge Street; the central section of three bays, which slightly projected forward, featured arcading on the ground floor, three

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 window (architecture), paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double gla ...

s with stone surrounds on the first floor and 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 pedimen ...

above with an

oculus Oculus (a term from Latin ''oculus'', meaning 'eye'), may refer to the following Architecture * Oculus (architecture), a circular opening in the centre of a dome or in a wall Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Oculus'' (film), a 2013 American ...

in the tympanum. The left hand section featured, in the central bay, a doorway with a canopy on the ground floor and a panel containing the borough

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 latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

on the first floor. The right hand section featured, in the end bay which slightly projected forward, a round headed doorway on the ground floor and a tri-part sash window on the first floor with a pediment above. The building continued to serve as the meeting place of Godalming Borough Council for much of the 20th century, but ceased to be the local seat of government when

Waverley Borough Council Waverley may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Waverley (novel), ''Waverley'' (novel), by Sir Walter Scott **Overtures by Hector Berlioz#Waverley, ''Waverley'' Overture, a work by Hector Berlioz inspired by Scott's novel * Waverley Harrison, a cha ...

was formed with its headquarters in

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

in 1974. Waverley Council moved to new council offices in The Burys just behind the borough hall in 1980. The borough hall subsequently became the meeting place for Godalming Town Council. Works of art in the borough hall include a portrait by

Godfrey Kneller Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1st Baronet (born Gottfried Kniller; 8 August 1646 – 19 October 1723), was the leading portrait painter in England during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and was court painter to Kingdom of England, English and Br ...

of the locally-born sailor, Admiral

Sir John Balchen Admiral of the White Sir John Balchen (2 February 1670 – 4 October 1744), sometimes written as Balchin, was an officer of the British Royal Navy with a long and distinguished career during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. In the course ...

, who became governor of the

Greenwich Naval Hospital Greenwich Hospital was a permanent home for retired sailors of the Royal Navy, which operated from 1692 to 1869. Its buildings, in Greenwich, London, were later used by the Royal Naval College, Greenwich and the University of Greenwich, and ar ...

in March 1743.

References

{{Commons category-inline Government buildings completed in 1861 City and town halls in Surrey Godalming