Walsall Town Hall is located at Leicester Street in

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

, West Midlands, England. The building, which opened in 1903, is used for a variety of functions including wedding receptions and concerts. It was designated 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, H ...

in 1986.

History

The building was commissioned at the same time as the

Walsall Council House Walsall Council House is a municipal building in Lichfield Street in Walsall, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is a Grade II listed building. History The St. John's Guildhall in the High Street, which had been built in 1416, w ...

and was erected on a site adjacent to it. The town hall was designed by

James Glen Sivewright Gibson James Glen Sivewright Gibson (23 November 1861 – 27 March 1951) was a British architect active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Life and career Gibson was born in Arbroath the son of William Gibson and Elizabeth Sivewright ...

in the

Baroque style The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from the early 17th century until the 1750s. It followed Renaissance art and Mannerism and preceded the Rococo (i ...

, built in

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

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 ...

, and was completed in 1903. The design for the entrance includes a round archway with three

Tuscan order The Tuscan order (Latin ''Ordo Tuscanicus'' or ''Ordo Tuscanus'', with the meaning of Etruscan order) is one of the two classical orders developed by the Romans, the other being the composite order. It is influenced by the Doric order, but wit ...

columns, an

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, ...

and a tympanum above. The

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a Musical keyboard, keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single tone and pitch, the pipes are provide ...

, which commemorates the

Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria was officially celebrated on 22 June 1897 to mark the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession on 20 June 1837. Queen Victoria was the first British monarch ever to celebrate a Diamond ...

, was made by the local firm of Nicholson & Lord and installed in 1908. It was designed with 98 stops, five keyboards and 3,300 pipes. A memorial to organist and composer Charles Swinnerton Heap, sculpted by

Albert Toft Albert Toft (3 June 1862 – 18 December 1949) was a British sculptor. Toft's career was dominated by public commemorative commissions in bronze, mostly single statues of military or royal figures. The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in ...

, was installed in the building in 1905. A matched pair of pictures by Frank O. Salisbury were installed in the theatre. They were commissioned by the former local member of parliament,

Joseph Leckie Joseph Alexander Leckie (24 May 1866 – 9 August 1938) was a British Liberal, later Liberal National politician and leather manufacturer. Education and business life Leckie was born in Govan in Glasgow, the son of John and Isabella Leckie. He ...

, "to commemorate the never to be forgotten valour of the South Staffordshire Regiments in the Great War 1914 - 1918" and completed in 1920. One shows "the First South Staffordshires attacking the Hohenzollern Redoubt", the other "the 5th South Staffords storming the St. Quentin Canal at Bellingtise Sept 29th 1918".

Rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

musicians that performed at the Walsall Town Hall include ''

Slade Slade are a rock band formed in Wolverhampton, England in 1966. They rose to prominence during the glam rock era in the early 1970s, achieving 17 consecutive top 20 hits and six number ones on the UK Singles Chart. The '' British Hit Singl ...

'' in 1966, ''

The Who The Who are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup (1964–1978) consisted of lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. Considered one of th ...

'' in 1966, and

Robert Plant Robert Anthony Plant (born 20 August 1948) is an English singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band Led Zeppelin from its founding in 1968 until their breakup in 1980. Since then, he has had a successful solo ca ...

of ''

Band of Joy Band of Joy (sometimes known as Robert Plant and the Band of Joy) were an English rock band formed in 1966. Various line-ups of the group performed from 1966 to 1968 and from 1977 to 1983. Frontman Robert Plant revived the band's name in 2010 ...

'' (later of ''

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

'') in 1967. ''

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band ...

'' performed in the hall in the late 1960s, and the heavy metal band, ''

Jameson Raid The Jameson Raid (Afrikaans: ''Jameson-inval'', , 29 December 1895 – 2 January 1896) was a botched raid against the South African Republic (commonly known as the Transvaal) carried out by British colonial administrator Leander Starr Jameson ...

'', also performed there in 1980. The organist, Harold Britton, recorded a concert entitled "Organ Extravaganza" on the ASV label on the organ in 1991. An episode from series 20 of the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

programme ''

Antiques Roadshow ''Antiques Roadshow'' is a British television programme broadcast by the BBC in which antiques appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom (and occasionally in other countries) to appraise antiques brought in by local people ( ...

'' was filmed in the hall in November 1997. A memorial plaque to Walsall's three recipients of the Victoria Cross,

John Henry Carless John Henry Carless (11 November 1896 – 17 November 1917) was a Great Britain, British recipient of the Victoria Cross during the World War I, First World War. Early life Carless was born in 1896 to John Thomas Carless, an iron foundry wo ...

, James Thompson and Charles George Bonner, was unveiled there in 2009. The rock band '' Reverend and the Makers'' performed there in 2012.

References

External links

Web page
{{Authority control Grade II listed buildings in the West Midlands (county) Music venues in the West Midlands (county) Government buildings completed in 1903 Buildings and structures in Walsall Works by James Glen Sivewright Gibson City and town halls in the West Midlands (county)