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Wakefield Town Hall

After Wakefield became a municipal borough in 1848, it became necessary to find premises for the administration of services in the town. In the early years of the borough, space was taken in the Public rooms on Wood Street, the Court House or in Crown Court, but as the Town grew and the type of services looked after by the corporation increased, it was decided that more permanent premises would be required.

 

In order to create a building that was in keeping with the grandeur of other local Town Halls, in 1877 Wakefield Municipal Corporation ran an architectural competition.

 

Thomas Colcutt, an architect from London won the competition with his designs and the building work started in October that year. Thomas would later go on to design the façade of the Savoy Hotel, and the Palace Theatre in London. The building took three years to complete, and was opened in October 1880 by the then Mayor of Wakefield, WH Lee.

 

The Town Hall bell tower is visible across Wakefield, standing over 45 metres high, and the bell, that rings every hour, weighs 2.7 tonnes.

 

The gates at the main entrance bear the Fleur de Lys, Wakefield’s original coat of arms.

Image used with permission from WMDC Libraries &Information Services

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