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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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Accrington Town Hall
Accrington Town Hall is a municipal building in Blackburn Road, Accrington, Lancashire, England. The town hall, which was the headquarters of Accrington Borough Council, is a grade II* listed building.

History

The building was originally commissioned as an assembly hall to commemorate the life of the former Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel. The cost of construction was funded by a campaign of public subscription led by a local businessman, Benjamin Hargreaves of Arden Hall.

The new building was designed by James F. Green and T. Birtwhistle in the neoclassical style, built in ashlar stone and opened as the "Peel Institute" in 1858. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with seven bays facing onto Blackburn Road; the central section, which projected forward, featured a porte-cochère supporting a balustrade and a hexastyle portico with Corinthian order columns on the first floor with a pediment above. Internally, the principal room was the assembly hall on the first floor. The assembly hall also accommodated meetings of the local mechanics institute.

The building was acquired by the local board of health in 1864 and the area became a municipal borough with the town hall as its headquarters in 1878. The Accrington Pals Battalion of the East Lancashire Regiment was formally raised by the mayor, Councillor John Harwood, inside the town hall in September 1914; the battalion subsequently marched past the building before preparing to deploy, initially to Egypt and then to the Western Front, during the First World War.

The town hall continued to serve as the headquarters of the borough council for much of the 20th century and remained a meeting place for the enlarged Hyndburn Borough Council which was formed in 1974. Many of the council officers and their departments were based at Eagle House before moving to Scaitcliffe House, the former canteen for textile machinery manufacturers, Howard & Bullough, in June 2002. Whilst Scaitcliffe House is used for Hyndburn's committee meetings, full council meetings are still held at the town hall.

A new town square was created in front of the town hall and market hall, to commemorate the lives of the Accrington Pals, in 2017. The scheme involved the removal of a series of trees, which had been planted outside the town hall and market hall in 1962, and the installation of new paving, seating and signage recording the history of the Accrington Pals, Accrington Stanley F.C. and the impact of the Industrial Revolution on the town.

See also

References

  1. ^ Historic England. "Town Hall (1362011)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  2. ^ "The Peel Family". My Learning. Archived from the original on 5 December 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  3. ^ "Tourist guide to Accrington". Lancashire Telegraph. 29 March 2010. Archived from the original on 4 May 2022. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  4. ^ "History of town's most famous road". Lancs Live. 29 April 2011. Archived from the original on 28 October 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  5. ^ "Arden Hall ruins, Accrington". Lancashire Past. 21 June 2019. Archived from the original on 27 November 2020. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  6. ^ "Discovering Accrington" (PDF). Urbed. p. 33. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 August 2022. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  7. ^ "Façade: Accrington Town Hall". Art and Architecture. Archived from the original on 14 March 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  8. ^ "Burnley Mechanics Conservation Statement". Purcell. 1 July 2017. p. 50. Archived from the original on 24 May 2024. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  9. ^ "Discovering Accrington" (PDF). Urbed. p. 29. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 August 2022. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  10. ^ Farrer, William; Brownbill, J. (1911). "'Townships: Old and New Accrington', in A History of the County of Lancaster". London: British History Online. pp. 423–427. Archived from the original on 18 May 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  11. ^ "From the Beginning to the Present Day". East Lancashire Concert Band. Archived from the original on 23 January 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  12. ^ "Plaque to commemorate the 11th (Service) Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment". Imperial War Museum. Archived from the original on 24 May 2024. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  13. ^ Turner, William Bennett (2008). Accrington Pals: The 11th (Service) Battalion (Accrington) East Lancashire Regiment A History of the Battalion Raised from Accrington, Blackburn, Burnley and Chorley in World War One. Pen and Sword Books. ISBN 978-1473811621. Archived from the original on 16 February 2024. Retrieved 16 February 2024.
  14. ^ Local Government Act 1972. 1972 c.70. The Stationery Office Ltd. 1997. ISBN 0-10-547072-4.
  15. ^ "Council seeks title for new HQ". Lancashire Telegraph. 15 March 2002. Archived from the original on 11 October 2023. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  16. ^ "Council agenda, 30 June 2022". Hyndburn Borough Council. 30 June 2022. Archived from the original on 11 October 2023. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
  17. ^ "NMS awarded prestigious £2m Accrington Town Square Redevelopment contract". Accrington Observer. 2 August 2017. Archived from the original on 24 May 2024. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  18. ^ "Controversial plans to remove trees outside Accrington town hall met with concern". Lancashire Telegraph. 23 December 2016. Archived from the original on 24 May 2024. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  19. ^ "Artscape takes Accrington's Rich History off the Bench and under the Spotlight". Hardscape. 7 October 2018. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
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