Knutsford Town Hall is a former municipal building in Princess Street,

Knutsford Knutsford () is a market town and civil parish in the Cheshire East district, in Cheshire, England; it is located south-west of Manchester, north-west of Macclesfield and south-east of Warrington. The population of the parish at the 2021 Uni ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

, England. The structure, which for a long time was used as an events venue, 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

The town hall was a gift to the town from the

lord of the manor Lord of the manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England and Norman England, referred to the landholder of a historical rural estate. The titles date to the English Feudalism, feudal (specifically English feudal barony, baronial) system. The ...

, the 1st Lord Egerton who lived at Tatton Hall. It was designed by

Alfred Waterhouse Alfred Waterhouse (19 July 1830 – 22 August 1905) was an English architect, particularly associated with Gothic Revival architecture, although he designed using other architectural styles as well. He is perhaps best known for his designs ...

in the Gothic Revival style, built by J. Parnell & Sons in red brick with blue brick dressings and was completed in 1871. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with seven bays facing Princess Street; it was arcaded on the ground floor, so that markets could be held, with a large assembly room on the first floor. The second bay on the left featured a prominent

porch A porch (; , ) is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance to a building. A porch is placed in front of the façade of a building it commands, and forms a low front. Alternatively, it may be a vestibule (architecture), vestibule (a s ...

with a gable. The arcade of five bays to the right incorporated arched openings supported by blue brick columns, while the first floor featured a row of three-light gothic windows flanked by panels containing

coats of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic ac ...

. The attic floor featured three

dormer A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a Roof pitch, pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the ...

windows with

quatrefoil A quatrefoil (anciently caterfoil) is a decorative element consisting of a symmetrical shape which forms the overall outline of four partially overlapping circles of the same diameter. It is found in art, architecture, heraldry and traditional ...

glazing and, at roof level, there was a central spirelet. The town hall was latterly mainly used as an events venue. Knutsford Urban District Council, formed in 1895, was initially based at offices in King Street but after Knutsford Prison closed in 1913, moved its main departments to the former Governor's House, just to the south of the town hall on Toft Road. While the ground floor of the town hall continued to be used for markets, the first floor was converted for use as a boys' club and an education centre: exhibits in the education centre included the 4th Lord Egerton's collection of military weapons and natural history items. Shortly before the

Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and ...

in June 1944, General George S. Patton, delivered a speech in Knutsford which was perceived to be critical of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, and to have "slap(ped) the face of every one of the United Nations except Great Britain"; these events were depicted in the film '' Patton: Lust for Glory'', with

George C. Scott George Campbell Scott (October 18, 1927 – September 22, 1999) was an American actor. He had a celebrated career on both stage and screen. With a gruff demeanor and commanding presence, Scott became known for his portrayal of stern but complex ...

in the title role, scenes from which were filmed in front of the town hall in 1969. The town hall was subsequently acquired by the conservationist, Randle Brooks. Brookes in turn leased it to a local furniture shop owner, Derek Panagakis, for use as a furniture showroom in 1973. The building fell empty in 2011 but was converted for public house use at a cost of £2 million by The Revere Pub Company in 2016; it now operates as a public house known as "Lost and Found".

References

{{reflist Alfred Waterhouse buildings Government buildings completed in 1871 City and town halls in Cheshire Knutsford Grade II listed buildings in Cheshire

History

See also

References