{{short description|Municipal Building in Flint, Wales}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Use British English|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox historic site | name = Flint Town Hall | native_name = Neuadd y Dref Y Fflint |native_language=cy | image = Flint - Flint Town Hall - Jul 2025.jpg | caption= Flint Town Hall in 2025 | locmapin =Wales Flintshire | map_caption =Shown in Flintshire | coordinates ={{coord|53.2500|N|3.1337|W|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}} | location =Market Square, Flint | area = | built =1840 | architect = John Welch | architecture =Gothic Revival style | designation1 =Grade II Listed Building | designation1_offname = Town Hall | designation1_date =5 December 1972 | designation1_number = 14891 | website= }} '''Flint Town Hall''' ({{langx|cy|Neuadd y Dref Y Fflint}}) is a municipal structure in the Market Square, Flint, Flintshire, Wales. The town hall, which is the meeting place of Flint Town Council, is a Grade II listed building.<ref name=listed>{{NHAW|num=14891|desc= Town Hall|access-date=20 August 2021}}</ref>
==History== thumb|left|View of the current town hall shortly after it was built in 1840 The first municipal building in Flint was a half timbered town hall which was completed in the early 16th century.<ref name=slater>{{cite web|url= https://forebears.io/wales/flintshire/flint |title=Flint|publisher= Slater's Directory of North and Mid Wales |year=1895|access-date=20 August 2021}}</ref> After the old building became dilapidated, civic leaders decided to demolish it and to erect a new town hall, financed by public subscription, in its place.<ref name=slater/>
The new building was designed by John Welch in the Gothic Revival style, built in ashlar stone at a cost of £1,734 and was completed in February 1840.<ref name=ages>{{cite web|url= http://www.fflint.co.uk/townhall.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20050811020811/http://www.fflint.co.uk/townhall.html |url-status= usurped |archive-date= 11 August 2005 |title=The Town Hall|publisher=Flint Through The Ages| access-date=20 August 2021}}</ref> The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing onto the Market Square; the central bay, which was projected forward, originally featured an arched doorway on the ground floor; there was a Venetian window with a balcony and a wrought-iron balustrade on the first floor, and an archway, a stepped gable and a stone finial above.<ref name=listed/> The central bay was flanked by full-height castellated turrets.<ref name=listed/> The outer bays were represented by the side elevations of two lean-to wings.<ref name=listed/> Internally, the principal rooms were the council chamber, which featured a hammerbeam roof made from timbers recovered from the first town hall, and the mayor's parlour.<ref name=listed/> The mayor's parlour was decorated at the expense of one of the burgesses, Ross Mahon, by fifteen panels, painted by Joseph Hall and depicting the Fifteen Tribes of Wales.<ref name=listed/>
Flint was an ancient borough. Like most such boroughs it was reformed under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 to become a municipal borough. The town hall served as the borough council's headquarters.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10019448|title=Flint MB|publisher=Vision of Britain| access-date=20 August 2021}}</ref> The building also continued to be used for judicial purposes: both the county court and petty session hearings were held there.<ref name=slater/> Six stained glass windows, designed by a Mr Drewitt depicting the six monarchs who had granted the town its charters, were installed in the council chamber in 1886.<ref name=slater/> Representatives of the 384th (Royal Welch Fusiliers) Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery attended the town hall to receive the freedom of the borough in August 1947.<ref name=ages/>
When Flintshire County Council was established in 1889, it initially held its meetings in rotation between Mold, Rhyl and the town hall in Flint until the early twentieth century, before deciding to base itself solely in Mold.<ref>{{cite news |title=First meeting of the Flintshire County Council |url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3636542/3636543/1/ |access-date=5 November 2022 |work=Rhyl Record and Advertiser |date=6 April 1889 |page=1 |quote=...two meetings be held at Mold, and the other two at Flint and Rhyl alternately... carried, 20 voting for and 17 against...}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Conservatories of the Fishery District of the Rivers Elwy and Clwyd and their several tributaries |url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3626260/3626263/35/ |access-date=5 November 2022 |work=Rhyl Journal |date=22 December 1900 |page=3 |quote=...at a Quarterly Meeting of the Flintshire County Council, held at the Town Hall, Flint, in the County of Flint, on Wednesday, the 12th day of December, 1900...}}</ref>
The building continued to serve as the headquarters of the Flint Borough Council until 1966, when a new building called Guildhall was built at the corner of Chapel Street and Church Street.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Flint's new Guildhall |journal=Municipal Journal |date=20 January 1967 |page=151 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jeDnAAAAMAAJ&q=%22new+guildhall%22+flint |access-date=5 November 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Pamphlet issued at the opening ceremony of the New Guildhall, Flint |url=https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/dab28981-19ef-31db-890f-d3beb0bc7223?component=7008ae2c-c574-3e64-a0c9-04fc7664be88 |website=JISC Archives Hub |access-date=5 November 2022}}</ref> Following local government reorganisation in 1974, the new guildhall passed to the successor Delyn Borough Council.<ref>{{cite book|title=Local Government Act 1972. 1972 c.70|publisher=The Stationery Office Ltd|isbn=0-10-547072-4|year=1997}}</ref> The town hall became the meeting place of Flint Town Council, a lower-tier community council.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.flinttowncouncil.gov.wales/person-category/all-councillors/ |title=All Councillors|publisher= Flint Town Council| access-date=20 August 2021}}</ref> An extensive programme of refurbishment words, which included restoration of the façade of the building, to a design by Donald Insall Associates, was completed in 2015.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.donaldinsallassociates.co.uk/projects/flint-town-hall/ |title=Flint Town Hall|publisher= Donald Insall Associates| access-date=20 August 2021}}</ref>
A purple plaque commemorating the life of Eirene White, Baroness White, the former member of parliament for East Flintshire, was unveiled outside near the entrance on 10 June 2022.<ref>{{cite news |title=Purple plaque to honour one of the first female MPs for Wales to unveiled in Flint today |url=https://www.deeside.com/plaque-to-honour-woman-one-of-the-first-female-mps-for-wales-to-unveiled-in-flint-today/ |access-date=13 June 2022 |work=Deeside.com |date=10 June 2022 |language=en}}</ref>
Works of art in the town hall include portraits by Thomas Leonard Hughes of King Richard II,<ref>{{cite web|url= https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/richard-ii-13671400-180590 |title= Richard II (1367–1400)|first= Thomas Leonard |last=Hughes|publisher=Art UK| access-date=20 August 2021}}</ref>{{efn|The portrait of Richard II is based on a similar depiction of the king in Westminster Abbey.<ref name=ages/>}} and of Sir Roger Mostyn, 1st Baronet.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/colonel-sir-roger-mostyn-the-gallant-defender-of-flint-castle-1643-180591/search/venue:flint-town-hall-6876/page/1/view_as/grid |title= Colonel Sir Roger Mostyn, the Gallant Defender of Flint Castle (1643)| first= Thomas Leonard |last=Hughes|publisher=Art UK| access-date=20 August 2021}}</ref> Richard II surrendered to Henry Bolingbroke at Flint Castle in August 1399, promising to abdicate the throne if his life was spared,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/richard2.htm|title=Richard II, King of England (1367–1400)|publisher=Luminarium.org|access-date=20 August 2021}}</ref> while Mostyn defended Flint Castle on behalf of the Royalists against the besieging Parliamentary forces in August 1646 during the English Civil War.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.castlesfortsbattles.co.uk/north_wales/flint_castle.html|title=Flint Castle|publisher=Castles Forts Battles|access-date=20 August 2021|archive-date=30 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201130233107/http://www.castlesfortsbattles.co.uk/north_wales/flint_castle.html}}</ref> There is also a painting by Hector Giacomelli of a scene from William Shakespeare's play ''The Merchant of Venice''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/the-merchant-of-venice-act-ii-scene-8-180589/search/venue:flint-town-hall-6876/page/1/view_as/grid |title='The Merchant of Venice', Act II, Scene 8|first= Hector |last=Giacomelli|publisher=Art UK| access-date=20 August 2021}}</ref>
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Government buildings in Wales}}
Category:Government buildings completed in 1840 Category:City and town halls in Wales Category:Flint, Flintshire Category:Grade II listed buildings in Flintshire