Meltham Town Hall is a municipal building in Carlile Street in

Meltham Meltham is a town and civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. It lies in the Holme Valley, below Wessenden Moor, south-west of Huddersfield on the edge of the Peak District National Park. It had ...

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 building, which formerly operated as the offices of Meltham Urban District Council, is now The Crossroads Centre, which operates the local foodbank.

History

Following significant population growth, largely associated with the development of a large cotton mill known as Meltham Mills, 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. The senior partner of the firm operating Meltham Mills, Jonas Brook and Bros., was Edward Brook, who offered to commission a town hall at his own expense: the site he selected was a small piece of land facing the Carlile Institute in Carlile Road. The building was designed by the town clerk, William Carter, in the

Gothic Revival style Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

, built by John Moorhouse and Sons in

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

with

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 ...

finishings at a cost of £2,882 and was officially opened by the benefactor's son, Charles Brook, on 5 February 1898. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing onto Carlile Street. The central bay, which slightly projected forward, featured an arched doorway surmounted by a

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 flanked by

lancet window A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a sharp pointed arch at its top. This arch may or may not be a steep lancet arch (in which the compass centres for drawing the arch fall outside the opening). It acquired the "lancet" name from its rese ...

s set in a rusticated surround; there was a two-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 on the first floor and a

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 ...

with a

finial A finial () or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature. In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a dome, spire, tower, roo ...

above. The outer bays were fenestrated by three-light mullioned windows on both floors. At roof level, there was a central clock tower with a

pyramid A pyramid () is a structure whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be of any polygon shape, such as trian ...

-shaped roof and 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 ...

; the hour-striking clock was by Potts & Sons of Leeds. Internally, the principal rooms were the council chamber, which was decorated with Tynecastle tapestry, the committee room and offices for council officials. A portrait of Edward Brook by Henry Mawdsley was hung in the council chamber and unveiled in March 1913. The town hall continued to serve as the headquarters of the urban district council for much of the 20th century, but 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. The building instead became the local library and also the offices of Meltham Town Council until services and staff moved across the road to the Carlile Institute in 2016. The town council acquired the town hall from Kirklees Council in October 2018, and part of the building was subsequently converted for use as The Crossroads Centre, which operates the local foodbank.

References

{{City and town halls in West Yorkshire Government buildings completed in 1898 City and town halls in West Yorkshire Buildings and structures in Kirklees