Masham Town Hall is a municipal building in the Little Market Place,

Masham Masham ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 1,205 at the 2011 census. The town is located northwest of York and was in the former Borough of Harrogate, Harrogate ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

, England. It is used as an events venue and meeting place of Masham Parish Council, and 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

Following significant population growth, largely associated with the status of Masham as a market town, the area became an

urban district An urban district is a division generally managed by a local government. It may also refer to a city district, district, urban area or quarter Specific urban districts in some countries include: * Urban districts of Denmark * Districts of Germa ...

in 1894. In the early 20th century, the new council decided to procure an events venue for the town: they site they chose on the north side of the Little Market Place had been occupied by a row of single-storey houses. The new building was financed by a bequest from

Samuel Lister, 1st Baron Masham Samuel Cunliffe Lister, 1st Baron Masham (1 January 1815 – 2 February 1906), was an English inventor and industrialist, notable for inventing the Lister nip comb. Early life He was born in Calverley Hall (now Calverley House Farm- not to b ...

who had died in 1906. Construction work on the new building began in 1912. It was designed by John Houfe of

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and civil parish in the North Yorkshire District, district and North Yorkshire, county of North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist de ...

in the

neoclassical style Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassici ...

, built in

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

stone at a cost of £3,751 and was officially opened on 24 May 1913. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with seven bays facing onto the Little Market Place. The central bay featured a doorway with a

fanlight A fanlight is a form of lunette window (transom window), often semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing (window), glazing bars or tracery sets radiating out like an open Hand fan, fan. It is placed over another window or a doorway, ...

and a keystone, flanked by rusticated

pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

s and

brackets 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. They come in four main pairs of shapes, as given in the box to the right, which also gives their n ...

supporting a stone

balcony A balcony (from , "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. They are commonly found on multi-level houses, apartme ...

; there was a French door with a fanlight and keystone, flanked by pilasters, on the first floor. The other bays were fenestrated by

casement window A casement window is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges at the side. They are used singly or in pairs within a common frame, in which case they are hinged on the outside. Casement windows are often held open using a c ...

s with

architrave In classical architecture, an architrave (; , also called an epistyle; ) is the lintel or beam, typically made of wood or stone, that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can also apply to all sides, including the vertical members, ...

s and keystones on the ground floor and by casement windows with architraves,

frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...

s and pediments on the first floor. At roof level there was a frieze,

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

and

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...

as well as a central

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, usually dome-like structure on top of a building often crowning a larger roof or dome. Cupolas often serve as a roof lantern to admit light and air or as a lookout. The word derives, via Ital ...

. Internally, the principal room was the main assembly hall on the first floor. During 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 ...

, the town hall was used as a

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

Voluntary Aid Detachment The Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) was a voluntary unit of civilians providing nursing care for military personnel in the United Kingdom and various other countries in the British Empire. The most important periods of operation for these units we ...

auxiliary hospital for wounded service personnel. A wooden plaque commemorating the contribution of local service personnel who had served in the war was unveiled inside the building by Lady Cunnliffe Lister in April 1929. By the time of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the town hall was mainly operating as a cinema but, in the second half of the 20th century, the building began hosting a broader range of community activities again. In 1965, the first of a series of annual steam rallies was held in the outskirts of Masham, raising funds towards the upkeep of the town hall. Fundraising to support the cost of operating the building was undertaken by the Masham Town Hall Association from 1967, and by the Masham Town Hall Community Charity from 2012. In May 2015, the town hall hosted the

folk rock Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music re ...

band, ''

Lindisfarne Lindisfarne, also known as Holy Island, is a tidal island off the northeast coast of England, which constitutes the civil parishes in England, civil parish of Holy Island in Northumberland. Holy Island has a recorded history from the 6th centu ...

'', with

Rod Clements Roderick Parry Clements (born 17 November 1947) is a British guitarist, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He formed the folk-rock band Lindisfarne (band), Lindisfarne with Alan Hull in 1970, and wrote "Meet Me on the Corner", a UK To ...

fronting the group for the first time. As of 2025, Masham Parish Council hold their monthly meeting in the Committee Room.

References

{{Reflist Government buildings completed in 1913 City and town halls in North Yorkshire Masham Grade II listed buildings in North Yorkshire

History

See also

References