Llanidloes Town Hall () is a municipal building in Great Oak Street,

Llanidloes Llanidloes () is a town and community on the A470 and B4518 roads in Powys, within the historic county boundaries of Montgomeryshire (), Wales. The population in 2011 was 2,929, of whom 15% could speak Welsh. It is the third largest settleme ...

Powys Powys ( , ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It borders Gwynedd, Denbighshire, and Wrexham County Borough, Wrexham to the north; the English Ceremonial counties of England, ceremo ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. The structure, which is the meeting place of Llanidloes Town Council as well as the home of the Llanidloes Museum and the Llanidloes Public Library, 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 of the building

The building was commissioned following of a request from the local Free Church Council who believed the town needed a

public library A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil servic ...

and a

temperance hotel A coffee palace was an often large and elaborate residential hotel that did not serve alcohol, most of which were built in Australia in the late 19th century. A modest temperance hotel was opened in 1826 by activist Gerrit Smith in his hometo ...

, although the concept was significantly adjusted to create a new market hall and a new meeting place for the borough council, who had previously met in the Old Market Hall. The site was paid for by the borough council and the cost of construction was paid for by the descendants of David Davies of

Llandinam Llandinam () is a village and community in Montgomeryshire, Powys, central Wales, between Newtown and Llanidloes, located on the A470. As a community, Llandinam is made up of the village itself, small hamlets including Plas Dinam and Little Lo ...

who had served as a member of parliament and had been involved in the construction of the

Llanidloes and Newtown Railway The Llanidloes and Newtown Railway (L&NR) was a railway company between Llanidloes and Newtown in Montgomeryshire, Wales. It was promoted locally when plans for trunk railways passing through the locality were cancelled; local people saw that a ...

, which had opened in 1859. The building was designed by

Frank Shayler Frank Hearn Shayler (1867–1954) was a Shrewsbury-based architect who worked in an Arts and Crafts style. He was in partnership with Thomas Ridge, and they also had offices in Oswestry and Welshpool. Career Born in Banbury, Oxfordshire, son o ...

and Thomas Ridge in the

Arts and Crafts style The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the Decorative arts, decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and ...

, built in Cefn stone from

Minera Minera (; ) is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It adjoins the village of Coedpoeth. The community, which in addition to Minera village includes a number of smaller hamlets such as Gwynfryn and New Brighton and large ...

and was officially opened on 20 April 1908. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto Great Oak Street; it was arcaded on the ground floor, so that markets could be held. The openings on the ground floor were flanked by columns and imposts supporting moulded arches. On the first floor, the central bay featured a three-light window, in a style influenced by

Norman Shaw Richard Norman Shaw RA (7 May 1831 – 17 November 1912), also known as Norman Shaw, was a British architect who worked from the 1870s to the 1900s, known for his country houses and for commercial buildings. He is considered to be among the g ...

, with a

wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.05%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4.5%), or 0.25 for low carbon "mild" steel. Wrought iron is manufactured by heating and melting high carbon cast iron in an ...

balcony in front and a

cross-gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

containing a four-light

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid sup ...

ed window above. The other bays on the first floor were fenestrated by three and four-light mullioned and transomed windows. At roof level, there was a central clock-tower surmounted by a

bellcote A bellcote, bell-cote or bell-cot is a small framework and shelter for one or more bells. Bellcotes are most common in church architecture but are also seen on institutions such as schools. The bellcote may be carried on brackets projecting from ...

with a

weather vane A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , m ...

, and the cross-gable was flanked by

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. Internally, the principal rooms were the market hall on the ground floor and the council chamber and offices on the first floor. Shayler was a notable architect of the Arts and Crafts movement and the architectural historians, Robert Scourfield and Richard Haslam, have described it as "one of the best examples of his work". A war memorial, in the form of stone plaque, intended to commemorate the lives of local service personnel who died in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

was paid for by the former mayor, Alderman Richard Jerman, and installed in the first opening on the left in the early 1920s. The building served as the meeting place of Llanidloes Borough Council for much of the 20th century but ceased to be local seat of government when the enlarged Montgomeryshire District Council was formed in 1974. Instead the council chamber became the meeting place of Llanidloes Town Council and, in 1995, the Llanidloes Museum relocated from the Old Market Hall, where it been originally established, to the ground floor of the town hall. In 2000, the town council made an additional room available to the museum thereby doubling its space and, in 2017, the local public library relocated to the town hall as well. A three-stage restoration on the building began in 2023 and was completed in January 2025. However, due to faulty waterproof membrane, the wooden arch next to China Street became rotten; additionally, some panelling had turned from white to green due to rain damage, prompting a need for further repairs.

Llanidloes Museum

The museum, which was established in 1930, holds a local history collection with items associated with the chartist riots of 1839, the construction of the Llanidloes and Newtown Railway and items relating to the local woollen and mining industries.

References

{{Government buildings in Wales Llanidloes City and town halls in Wales Grade II listed buildings in Powys Government buildings completed in 1908