:Council Offices, Caernarfon

File:The Cofeb Llywelyn Memorial and the Staff Canteen of the Gwynedd County Offices, Castle Street - geograph.org.uk - 289169.jpg]]

The current structure was commissioned as the county prison to replace an earlier gaol on the site which had been designed by Joseph Turner and completed in 1793.{{Coflein|num=23238 |desc=Caernarvon Gaol;old Prison Buildings;council Offices;swyddfa'r Cyngor, Shire Hall Street |access-date=29 September 2021}}{{cite web|url=https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/b0fca9a7-96ff-34d6-a760-d7099244b02d|title=Caernarvonshire Quarter Sessions County Gaol Records|publisher=Archives Hub|accessdate=29 October 2020}}{{cite book|last1=Colvin |first1=Howard |year=1995|isbn=978-0300060911 |title=A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600–1840 |publisher=Yale University Press |edition=3rd|page=998}}

The new building, which was designed in the Gothic style, was completed in 1869. The design for the entrance block involved a short frontage of just three bays facing Shirehall Street; the central bay, which was slightly recessed, featured a doorway flanked by lancet windows with a tympanum containing a quatrefoil above the doorway; there was a triple mullioned window on the first floor and a double window on the second floor; to rear of the entrance block was a short prison block which ran east-west and stretched back to meet a much longer prison block which ran north-south. Located to the north of the prison buildings was a 19th century residential property known as Gwylfa.{{Coflein|num=26557 |desc=Gwylfa - Part Of Caernarvon Gaol |access-date=29 September 2021|fewer-links=yes}}

The site incorporated a medieval tower (known as the Hanging Tower) that once formed part of the town walls.{{cite web|url=https://www.dailypost.co.uk/whats-on/family-kids-news/caernarfon-guide-pulls-back-curtain-11231920|title=Caernarfon guide pulls back the curtain on ancient town's dark secrets|date=24 April 2016|publisher=Daily Post|accessdate=14 November 2020}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o8NCt_7hltwC&pg=PP77|title=The Hidden Places of Wales|first= Joanna|last= Billing|page=71|publisher=Travel Publishing|year=2004|isbn=978-1904434078}} The last execution in the prison, the hanging of the labourer, William Murphy, for the murder of his girlfriend, Gwen Ellen Jones, was carried out by Henry Pierrepoint at the Hanging Tower on 15 February 1910.{{cite web|url=http://www.britishexecutions.co.uk/execution-content.php?key=226&termRef=William%20Murphy|title=William Murphy|publisher=British Executions|accessdate=29 October 2020}}{{cite web|url=https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/crime-files-reopened-william-murphy-10397060|title=Crime files reopened: William Murphy the last man hanged in Caernarfon|date=7 November 2015|publisher=Daily Post|accessdate=14 November 2020}} The building closed as a prison in 1921 and was subsequently converted to create additional offices for Caernarvonshire County Council which was based immediately to the south in the old County Hall.

After the implementation of the Local Government Act 1972, the offices, by then known as the "County Offices", became the headquarters of Gwynedd County Council in 1974.Whitaker's Almanack 1979, p. 677 A tower with an archway for vehicles, displaying the brightly painted new coat of arms of Gwynedd County Council and topped with a mansard roof, was subsequently erected at the north end of the long north-south prison block; this created a link, at first floor level, with the office facilities in Gwylfa.{{cite web|url=https://encircleworldphotos.photoshelter.com/image/I0000rjzdbU8lv6I|title=Gwyneed Council Coat of Arms in Caernarfon, Wales|accessdate=29 October 2020}}

A modern office block providing additional facilities was built between Castle Street and Shirehall Street in the 1980s. A sculpture of an eagle by Glen Hellman and Jonah Jones, which was commissioned by the county council in 1982 to commemorate the 700th anniversary of the death of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, the last Prince of Wales before the conquest of Wales by King Edward I, was unveiled in a small courtyard on the east side of Castle Street in 1987.{{cite web|url=https://statues.vanderkrogt.net/object.php?webpage=ST&record=gbwa128|title=Llywelyn Our Last Leader Memorial|publisher=Hither and Thither|accessdate=29 October 2020}}

On 1 April 1996, following implementation of the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994, the complex became the local seat of government for the new local authority in the area, Gwynedd Council.{{cite web|url=https://www.carehome.co.uk/local-authorities/profile.cfm/id/Gwynedd|title=Gwynedd County Council Social Services|publisher=Carehome.co.uk|accessdate=20 October 2019}}

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{{Government buildings in Wales}}

Category:County halls in Wales

Category:Grade II listed buildings in Gwynedd

Category:Government buildings completed in 1869

Category:Caernarfon