Batley Town Hall

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Batley Town Hall

Yorkshire
West Riding


Batley Town Hall
Type: Town hall
Location
Grid reference: SE24312425
Location: 53°42’51"N, 1°37’60"W
Town: Batley
History
Built 1854
Town hall
Neoclassical
Information

Batley Town Hall stands in the Market Place in Batley in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It is a Grade II listed building.[1]

History

The building, which was designed in the neoclassical style, was paid for by public subscription and opened as the local mechanics' institute in 1854.[1] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with seven bays facing onto the Market Place; the central section of three bays, which slightly projected forward, featured a round-headed doorway with a fanlight flanked by engaged Ionic order columns; there was a balcony together with a projecting flagpole and three square-headed sash windows flanked by Ionic order pilasters on the first floor and there was a large pediment at roof evel.[1][2]

The building incorporated a public library and, like other mechanics institutes, it provided adult education, particularly in technical subjects, for working men.[3] Its activities led to the formation of the Batley Choral Society which continued to deliver performances into the early 20th century.[4]

After Batley was incorporated as a municipal borough in December 1868, the borough council initially met in a room on the first floor of the Wilton Arms Hotel in Commercial Street.[5][6] However, after finding this arrangement inadequate, civic leaders chose to lease and then acquire the former mechanics institute, which was only 350 yards away, as their new headquarters from 1874.[3]

In the 19th century the town hall defined the competition area for local sporting activities. The Heavy Woollen District Junior Cricket League Trophy was first competed for in 1883: competing teams, which came from the woollen mills and Sunday schools of the local area, were initially required to be located within a six-mile radius of the town hall: this requirement was subsequently relaxed and extended to an eighteen-mile radius of the building.[7][8]

After the town hall was badly damaged in a fire in September 1902, civic leaders initially considered a proposal to build a completely new structure but eventually decided to refurbish the existing building; the local firm of Walter Hanstock & Son, which duly carried out the works, was also responsible for an extension to the rear which included a council chamber, a mayor's parlour and council offices which opened in July 1905.[3][9]

The town hall continued to serve as the headquarters of Batley Borough Council but it ceased to be the local seat of government when a wider 'Kirklees' council was created in 1974.[10]

The assembly hall on the first floor of the building continued to be used by the local community for concerts and theatrical productions.[11] A blue plaque commemorating the history of the building was unveiled by the Batley History Group in September 2019.[5]

References