Hyde Town Hall

File:Hyde Town Hall Interior.jpg

After significant industrial growth in the 19th century, particularly in relation to the cotton industry, Hyde became a municipal borough in 1881.{{cite web|url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/relationships.jsp?u_id=10173802&c_id=10001043 |title=Hyde MB through time. Census tables with data for the Local Government District |work=A vision of Britain through time |year=2004 |author=Great Britain Historical GIS Project |publisher=University of Portsmouth |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001002812/http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/relationships.jsp?u_id=10173802&c_id=10001043 |archive-date=1 October 2007 |df=dmy-all }} Civic leaders decided to procure a town hall: the site they selected had previously been occupied by Greenfield House,{{cite web|url=https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/394555/394547/12/100093|title=Ordnance Survey Map|year=1881|access-date=5 January 2021|archive-date=27 May 2012|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120527054604/http://www.old-maps.co.uk/maps.html?txtXCoord=530395&txtYCoord=179754#/Map/394555/394547/12/100093|url-status=live}} the former home of John Howard, a cotton mill owner who also owned Brereton Hall.{{cite news |url=http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/property/buying_and_selling/article553881.ece |title=The Tudor show home |access-date=17 March 2008 |last=Binney |first=Marcus |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716163050/http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/property/buying_and_selling/article553881.ece |archive-date=16 July 2011 |date=12 August 2005 |newspaper=The Times | location=London}}

The foundation stone for the new building was laid by the mayor, Thomas Ashton, on 30 June 1883.{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/annalsofhydedist00middiala/page/110/mode/2up|title=Annals of Hyde and district: containing historical reminiscences of Denton, Haughton, Dukinfield, Mottram, Longdendale, Bredbury, Marple, and the neighbouring townships |pages=110–111|first=Thomas|last= Middleton|year=1899|publisher= Cartwright & Rattray}} It was designed by James William Beaumont in the neoclassical style, built in red brick with stone facings and was officially opened by the mayor, Edward Hibbert, on 27 June 1885. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with eleven bays facing onto Market Street with the last two bays at each end projected forward as pavilions; the central section of seven bays featured a doorway with a fanlight flanked by pilasters and brackets supporting an entablature and a balcony; there was a window with an open pediment containing the borough coat of arms on the first floor and a clock tower with an octagonal dome above. On the first floor there was an oriel window between the two left hand end bays to illuminate the mayor's parlour and two more oriel windows in the central section on either side of the tower. The clock and the bells were a gift from the manager of a local cotton mill, Joshua Bradley;{{cite web|url=https://www.tameside.gov.uk/blueplaque/joshuabradley|title=Blue Plaque: Joshua Bradley|publisher=Tameside Council|access-date=5 January 2021|archive-date=5 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405230853/https://www.tameside.gov.uk/blueplaque/joshuabradley|url-status=live}} the clock was by Potts of Leeds{{cite book |last1=Potts |first1=Michael S. |title=Potts of Leeds: Five Generations of Clockmakers |date=2006 |publisher=Mayfield Books |location=Ashbourne, Derbyshire |page=82}} and the four bells by Taylor of Loughborough.{{cite web |title=Chimes of the United Kingdom and Ireland |url=https://warksbells.co.uk/ukchimes/ |website=Church Bells of Warwickshire |access-date=5 April 2023 |archive-date=26 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211226235326/https://warksbells.co.uk/ukchimes/ |url-status=live }} Internally, the principal rooms were the council chamber, the mayor's parlour and a large public hall.

After 23 miners were killed in an explosion at Hyde Colliery in January 1889,{{Cite book |last1=James |first1=Gary |last2=Mellor |first2=Keith |title=From Maine Men To Banana Citizens |publisher=Temple Press |location=Nottingham |year=1989 |isbn=1-870010-08-6|page=8}} the town hall was the venue for the subsequent inquiry held into the disaster in February 1889.The Times 8, 9 and 16 February 1889. A large extension to the rear, which incorporated a police station, a courtroom and additional offices, was completed in 1913.

A mural depicting local scenes painted by the local artist, Harry Rutherford, was installed across the top of a beam above the main staircase at the time of the Festival of Britain in the 1951.{{cite web| url=https://www.tameside.gov.uk/blueplaque/harryrutherford| title=Blue Plaque: Harry Rutherford| publisher=Tameside Council| access-date=5 January 2021| archive-date=19 October 2021| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019053931/https://www.tameside.gov.uk/blueplaque/harryrutherford| url-status=live}} The town hall continued to serve as the headquarters of Hyde Borough Council for much of the 20th century but ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlarged Tameside Metropolitan Borough 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}}

In November 2002, a statue of two human figures designed by Stephen Broadbent was unveiled outside the building, commemorating the role of the Chartists in bringing about parliamentary reform,{{cite web| url=https://www.tameside.gov.uk/ArtsandEvents/Hyde-Statues-Chartist-Statue| title=Hyde Statues| publisher=Tameside Council| access-date=5 January 2021| archive-date=5 April 2023| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405230854/https://www.tameside.gov.uk/ArtsandEvents/Hyde-Statues-Chartist-Statue| url-status=live}} and, in May 2007, a statue of a seal designed by Castle Fine Arts was unveiled outside the building, commemorating the achievements of the Hyde Seal Swimming and Water Polo Club which dominated water polo and swimming in England in the early years of the 20th century.{{cite web |url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/ee21b922-a3c9-43b5-b1e0-f02bb937449d |title=Hyde Seal Swimming and Water Polo Club |publisher=National Archives |access-date=5 January 2021 |archive-date=8 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210108191811/https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/ee21b922-a3c9-43b5-b1e0-f02bb937449d |url-status=live }} After a programme of refurbishment works, the local public library moved from Union Street into new accommodation in the town hall in March 2015.{{cite news|url=https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/local-news/hyde-library-reopens-new-town-8754138|title=Hyde library reopens at new town hall site|date=2 March 2015|publisher=Manchester Evening News|access-date=5 January 2021|archive-date=5 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405230852/https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/local-news/hyde-library-reopens-new-town-8754138|url-status=live}}

• Listed buildings in Hyde, Greater Manchester

{{reflist}}

{{Buildings and structures in Tameside}}

Category:Government buildings completed in 1885

Category:City and town halls in Greater Manchester

Category:Hyde, Greater Manchester

Category:Grade II listed buildings in the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside