Denbigh Town Hall

File:Denbigh Library (geograph 4696820).jpg

The first municipal building in the town was the old town hall, later referred to as the county hall, in Vale Street which was commissioned by Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester and completed in 1572.{{NHAW|desc=County Hall|num=984| access-date=22 May 2022}} In addition to being the venue for the magistrates' court hearings, it had been the regular meeting place of the borough council.{{cite web|url=https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/37934591/denbigh-town-hall-royal-commission-on-the-ancient-and- |title=Former Town Hall, Denbigh, Denbighshire|publisher=Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales|year=2008| access-date=22 May 2022}}

In the early 20th century, civic leaders decided to commission a more substantial building: the site selected was occupied by a market hall designed by Thomas Fulljames and completed in 1848.{{coflein|desc= Denbigh Town Hall; Borough Market|num=23374| access-date=22 May 2022}} The foundation stone for the new building was laid by the mayor, Thomas Lloyd Jones, on 25 March 1915.{{cite web|url= https://www.denbightowncouncil.gov.uk/en/the-council/meetings/agendas-minutes?task=download.send&id=777&catid=38&m=0 |title=Full meeting|publisher=Denbigh Town Council|page=4|date=23 March 2015| access-date=22 May 2022}} It was designed by Charles Ernest Elcock in the Arts and Crafts style, built by Morton Brown of Chester in roughcast brick with a reinforced concrete frame and was completed in September 1917.{{cite web|url=https://historypoints.org/index.php?page=denbigh-town-hall |title= Denbigh Town Hall|publisher=History Points| access-date=22 May 2022}}

The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage with seven bays facing onto Crown Lane. The central section of three bays, which was slightly recessed, featured three openings with voussoirs and keystones flanked by pilasters supporting a wrought iron balcony; there were three mullioned and transomed windows on the first floor and three sandstone panels containing oculi on the second floor. The second and third floor windows were flanked by pilasters supporting an entablature inscribed with the words "Denbigh Borough Markets", with a parapet above. The second bay on the left took the form of a curved stairwell tower with a doorway on the ground floor, a single window on the first floor and a conical roof above. The second bay on the right also took the form of a stairwell tower but with a doorway on the ground floor, lancet windows on the first and second floors and a stepped gable above. There was originally a large dome on the roof. Internally, the principal rooms were the new market hall on the ground floor and the council chamber on the first floor.

A cinema was established in the building so that silent films could be shown in March 1919. A war memorial, designed by Charles Leonard Hartwell in the form of a winged figure of peace, which was intended to commemorate the lives of local service personnel who had died in the First World War, was erected and unveiled in front of the building in 1923.{{cite web|url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/60410|title=Denbigh|publisher=Imperial War Museum|access-date=22 May 2022}}{{cite web|url= https://historypoints.org/index.php?page=denbigh-war-memorial |title=Denbigh War Memorial|publisher=History Points| access-date=22 May 2022}} After a purpose-built cinema was established in the town, film shows ceased in the 1940s and the dome was removed from the roof for reasons of safety in the 1950s. Visiting speakers included the suffragette, Leonora Cohen, who retired to Colwyn Bay and gave a talk in the town hall in Denbigh in 1970.{{cite book|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmhansrd/cm080306/debtext/80306-0010.htm|title=Parliamentary Debates |publisher=Hansard|date=6 March 2008|quote=She was 97 when she stood on a platform in Denbigh town hall; she was ramrod straight, had what must have been an 18 inch waist as well as a mass of white hair, and was dressed in black.}}

The building continued to serve as the meeting place of the borough council for much of the 20th century but ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlarged Glyndŵr District Council was formed in 1974.{{cite book|title=Local Government Act 1972. 1972 c.70|publisher=The Stationery Office Ltd|isbn=0-10-547072-4|year=1997}}{{cite web|url= https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10214361 |title=Denbigh MB|publisher=Vision of Britain| access-date=22 May 2022}} Instead, the building became the meeting place of Denbigh Town Council.{{cite web|url= https://www.wherecanwego.com/item/e1264969/open-doors-denbigh-town-hall |title=Open Doors: Denbigh Town Council|publisher=Where can we go| access-date=22 May 2022}} Works of art in the town hall include a portrait of King James I by an unknown artist.{{cite web|url= https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/james-i-15661625-179739 |title= James I (1566–1625)|publisher=Art UK| access-date=22 May 2022}}

• Grade II* listed buildings in Denbighshire

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{{Government buildings in Wales}}

Category:Denbigh

Category:City and town halls in Wales

Category:Grade II* listed buildings in Denbighshire

Category:Government buildings completed in 1917