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Wellington Town Hall, Somerset
Wellington Town Hall is a municipal building in Fore Street, Wellington, Somerset, England. The structure, which was previously used as a civic events venue, is a Grade II listed building.[1] HistoryThe first municipal building in the town was a market hall which was located in the middle of the street at the junction of South Street and Fore Street and dated back to the late 17th century.[2] It contained a courtroom and a lock-up but by the early 19th century it was regarded by civic leaders as an obstruction to the highway and was demolished.[2] In 1814, the lord of the manor, the Duke of Wellington, agreed to grant a long lease to a group of local businessmen who intended to erect a new municipal building.[3] Their objective was to provide proper accommodation for the farmers' stalls which continued to block the highway.[4] The new building was designed in the neoclassical style, built in ashlar stone and was completed in 1833.[1] The building was originally open on the ground floor, so that markets could be held, with an assembly room on the first floor. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto Fore Street; there was an arcade of five round headed sash windows on the first floor and, at roof level, there was a cornice, a parapet and a small sculpted pediment containing a clock. Internally, the principal rooms were the assembly hall, which was used for concerts and public events, and a smaller room, which was used as a library and reading room by the Wellington Literary Institute.[5] The assembly room also became the venue for county court hearings.[6] In 1876, the lease was surrendered to the then lord of the manor, the 2nd Duke of Wellington, and, in 1884, the freehold of the property was acquired by a newly formed entity, the Wellington Market and Town Hall Company, which carried out internal improvements to the building.[7] Following a significant increase in population, largely associated with the status of Wellington as a market town, the area became an urban district in 1894.[8] Animated pictures were first shown in the town hall in 1896.[7] The council continued to use the town hall as a venue for civic events but located its council officers and their departments at council offices further southwest along Fore Street.[9] The building became the Rex Cinema in 1938 and suffered a serious fire while being used as a cinema during the 1940s.[10] After the cinema closed in the 1950s, the condition of the building began to deteriorate and demolition was seriously considered in the 1960s.[7] Following a refurbishment the building became the offices of Wellington Weekly News,[1] but by the early 21st century it was being used as a clothes shop and as the offices of an estate agent and a firm of accountants.[11] After another refurbishment, undertaken at a cost of £2.3 million, the building re-opened as a Wetherspoons public house named as the Iron Duke, recalling the nickname for the 1st Duke of Wellington, in August 2016.[12] References
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