:Shire Hall, Llangefni
{{short description|County building in Llangefni, Wales}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox historic site
| name = Shire Hall, Llangefni
| native_name =
| image = Record office and war memorial, Llangefni - geograph.org.uk - 1735084.jpg
| caption= Shire Hall, Llangefni (the five gabled bays on the left formed the original structure)
| locmapin =Wales Anglesey
| map_caption =Shown in Anglesey
| coordinates ={{coord| 53.2543|N| 4.3113|W|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}}
| location =Glanhwfa Road, Llangefni
| area =
| built =1899
| architect = Lloyd Williams
| architecture =Jacobethan style
| designation1 =Grade II Listed Building
| designation1_offname = Shire Hall
| designation1_date = 16 June 1989
| designation1_number = 5752
| website=
}}
The Shire Hall is a municipal structure in Glanhwfa Road, Llangefni, Anglesey, Wales. The building, which served as the headquarters of Anglesey County Council, is a Grade II listed building.{{NHAW|num=5752|desc= Shire Hall |access-date=22 October 2021}}
History
Following the implementation of the Local Government Act 1888, which established county councils in every county, it became necessary to find a meeting place for Anglesey County Council.{{cite web|url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/51-52/41|title=Local Government Act 1888|publisher=Legislation.co.uk|accessdate=30 October 2020}} Meetings of the county council were initially held in the county courthouse, a single-storey neoclassical style building on the west side of Glanhwfa Road dating back to the 1860s.{{cite news|url=https://hdl.handle.net/10107/3563349|title=Anglesey County Council|newspaper=The North Wales Express|date=19 July 1889|hdl=10107/3563349 |accessdate=22 October 2021}} After finding this arrangement inadequate, the county leaders decided to procure a purpose-built shire hall: the site they selected was open land on the opposite side of Glanhwfa Road.{{cite web|url= https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/245653/375750/12/100703 |title=Ordnance Survey Map|year=1889| access-date=22 October 2021}}{{NHAW|num=5753|desc=County Court|access-date=22 October 2021}}
The new building was designed by Lloyd Williams of Denbigh in the Jacobethan style, built by O. M. Roberts & Sons of Porthmadog in rubble masonry at a cost of £4,453 and was completed in 1899. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five gabled bays facing onto the Glanhwfa Road with the end bays slightly projected forward; the central bay, which also slightly projected forward, featured a round headed doorway with a fanlight flanked by pilasters supporting a segmental moulded surround with a keystone; there was a Venetian window on the first floor and the gable above contained a roundel with the county coat of arms. The recessed bays, on either side of the centre bay, contained sash windows on the ground floor and narrow round headed windows on the first floor. The outer bays were fenestrated by three sash windows on the ground floor and Venetian style sash windows on the first floor. Internally, the principal room was the council chamber.{{cite web|url= http://llangefni.org/town-mayor-2018/ |title= Town Mayor 2018|date= 16 May 2018|publisher= Llangefni Town Council|access-date=23 October 2021}}
The building was extended to the south by a link passage and two extra bays to a design by the county architect, Joseph Owen, in 1912. The shire hall continued to serve as the headquarters of Anglesey County Council until local government reorganisation in 1974 when the shire hall was re-designated the "Borough Council Offices" and became the headquarters of the new Ynys Mon Borough Council.{{London Gazette|issue=48503|page=1089|date=23 January 1981}}{{cite web|url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F251599|title=Isle of Anglesey Borough Council|access-date=22 October 2021}} At county level Anglesey was incorporated into Gwynedd in 1974 and the county council headquarters moved to Caernarfon.{{cite book|last1=Jones|first1=Geraint|last2=Rowlinson|first2=Gwenllian Jones|title=Anglesey Towns & Villages|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xOhiCgAAQBAJ|edition=Internet|year=2015|publisher=Amberley Publishing|chapter=Llangefni|isbn=978-1445651538|accessdate=2 January 2021}} Brand new council offices were built at Llangefni in the 1990s for the new unitary authority, Isle of Anglesey County Council, formed in 1996. However, the shire hall continued to serve as the local registry office as well as the meeting place of Llangefni Town Council.{{cite web|url=http://media.llangefni.org/2019/12/MINUTES-4.11.2019.pdf |title=Council Meeting|date=4 November 2019|publisher= Llangefni Town Council|access-date=23 October 2021}}
Isle of Anglesey County Council marketed the shire hall for sale in June 2018.{{cite web|url=https://www.northwaleschronicle.co.uk/news/16272155.anglesey-councils-former-headquarters-put-sale/ |title= Anglesey Council's former headquarters put up for sale|date=6 June 2018|newspaper=North Wales Chronicle| access-date=23 October 2021}} The registry office moved to the Anglesey Business Centre in September 2019,{{cite news|url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-48851732 |title= Llangefni Register Office to move near abattoir|newspaper=BBC|date=3 July 2019| access-date=23 October 2021}} and a developer, Chief Properties, acquired the property later that year.{{cite news|url=https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/angleseys-shire-hall-could-transformed-17206610 |title= Anglesey's Shire Hall could be transformed into pod hotel and business centre|date=5 November 2019|newspaper=North Wales Live| access-date=23 October 2021}} A fire, very likely started deliberately, started in the building in December 2023.{{Cite web |date=2023-12-18 |title=Llangefni fire ravages ex-Anglesey council headquarters |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6p1w6g97v0o |access-date=2023-12-18 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}}
References
{{reflist}}
{{Government buildings in Wales}}
Category:Government buildings completed in 1899