{{Short description|Municipal building in Looe, Cornwall, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}} {{Use British English|date=August 2023}} {{Infobox historic site | name = Looe Guildhall | native_name = | image = Looe (2023-04-08) 11.jpg | caption = Looe Guildhall | locmapin = Cornwall | map_caption =Shown in Cornwall | coordinates = {{coord | 50.3546|N| 4.4544|W|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}} | location =Fore Street, Looe, Cornwall, England | area = | built =1877 | architect = John Ford Gould | architecture = Gothic Revival style | governing_body = | website= | designation1 =Grade II Listed Building | designation1_offname = Guildhall | designation1_date =17 September 1973 | designation1_number ={{listed building England|1280863}} }} '''Looe Guildhall''' is a municipal building in Fore Street in Looe, Cornwall, England. The structure, which is currently used as a community events venue, is a Grade II listed building.<ref name=listed>{{NHLE|desc= Guildhall |num= 1280863 |access-date=9 August 2023}}</ref>
==History== The building was commissioned to replace the Old Guildhall in High Market Street which dated from around 1450.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://welcometolooe.com/explore/the-old-guildhall-museum-looe/|title=The Old Guildhall Museum, Looe|publisher=Welcome to Looe|access-date=9 August 2023}}</ref> The new building was designed by John Ford Gould of Barnstaple in the Gothic Revival style, built by Samuel Honey of West Looe in rubble masonry with ashlar stone dressings and was officially opened on 13 September 1877.<ref name=builder>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=e09OAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA989 |title= The New Guildhall at Looe, Cornwall|publisher=The Builder|page=989|date=29 September 1877}}</ref>
The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage facing onto Fore Street. The left-hand bay was formed by a four-stage clock tower which was {{convert|90|feet}} high. The first stage featured a deeply recessed arched doorway, with a shield bearing the town's coat of arms in the tympanum; the second stage contained a pair of mullioned windows, the third stage featured three small lancet windows (one set above the other two) and the fourth stage was originally blind, until a clock was installed in the tower in 1880.<ref name=listed/> The tower was surmounted by a machicolated cornice, a pyramid-shaped roof and a weather vane. The right-hand section featured two arched openings on the ground floor and three mullioned windows on the first floor with a gable above. Internally, the principal rooms were a drill hall on the ground floor, which was used by No. 2 Battery, the 1st Cornwall (Duke of Cornwall's) Artillery Volunteers for training, and the great hall on the first floor, which was also used as a courtroom. Both these rooms were {{convert|45|feet}} long and {{convert|20|feet}} wide.<ref name=builder/> The great hall contained a series of stained glass windows made by Fouracre and Watson of Stonehouse, Plymouth.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cornishstainedglass.org.uk/mgssec/building.xhtml?buildingid=378 |title=Looe Guildhall |publisher=Cornish Stained Glass| access-date=9 August 2023}}</ref> A local directory described it as "the handsomest public room in the county".<ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=iVDXFDvkgjkC&pg=PA859 |title= J. G. Harrod & Co.'s Royal County Directory of Devonshire and Cornwall| year=1878 |page=859}}</ref> The part of the building to the left of the tower contained police cells, an armoury, the harbour commissioners' office and a first-floor Council Chamber.<ref name="builder" />
After East Looe Borough Council, which had met in the guildhall, was abolished under the provisions of the Municipal Corporations Act 1883,<ref>{{cite book |title=Municipal Corporations Act 1883 (46 & 46 Vict. Ch. 18) |date=1883 |url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1883/18/pdfs/ukpga_18830018_en.pdf |access-date=23 November 2021}}</ref> the building was transferred to a specially formed entity, the East Looe Town Trust, in 1890.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.eastlooetowntrust.co.uk/trust_info.php?id=45 |title=History of the Trust|publisher=East Looe Town Trust| access-date=9 August 2023}}</ref> The building became the meeting place of Looe Urban District Council, which had jurisdiction over the communities on both sides of the River Looe, when it was formed in 1898. The new council also took over the management of the East Looe Town Trust.<ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=u45nAAAAMAAJ |title=A History of East and West Looe|first= John|last= Keast |year= 1987|page=79|publisher=Phillimore|isbn=978-0850336153|quote=in 1898 the Looe Urban District Council came into being, comprising East and West Looe and part of the parish of Talland, and taking over management of the East Looe Town Trust}}</ref>
The guildhall continued to serve as the headquarters of the urban district council for much of the 20th century,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=45702|page=7184|date=15 June 1972}}</ref> but ceased to be the local seat of government after the enlarged Caradon District Council was formed in 1974.<ref>{{cite book|title=Local Government Act 1972. 1972 c.70|publisher=The Stationery Office Ltd|isbn=0-10-547072-4|year=1997}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10002175|title=Looe UD|publisher=Vision of Britain| access-date=9 August 2023}}</ref> However, the building continued to operate as a community events venue and also became an approved location for weddings and civil partnership ceremonies.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.eastlooetowntrust.co.uk/weddings.php |title=Weddings Venue in Looe|publisher=East Looe Town Trust| access-date=9 August 2023}}</ref> Work to restore the stained glass windows in the great hall was undertaken in spring 2018,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cornish-times.co.uk/news/work-on-landmark-building-to-start-131352 |title=Work on landmark building to start|date=6 February 2018|newspaper=Cornish Times| access-date=9 August 2023}}</ref> and the building was used as a filming location for the BBC series, ''Beyond Paradise'', which was first broadcast in February 2023.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.visitlooe.co.uk/beyond-paradise |title= Beyond Paradise|publisher=Visit Looe| access-date=9 August 2023}}</ref>
Works of art in the guildhall include a painting by John Robertson Reid depicting the arrest of a smuggler in West Looe,<ref>{{cite web|url= https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/the-arrest-of-the-smuggler-in-west-looe-1820-13773 |title= The Arrest of the Smuggler in West Looe, 1820| first=John Robertson|last= Reid| publisher=Art UK|access-date=9 August 2023}}</ref> and a painting by David Wilkie Wynfield depicting Oliver Cromwell's First Appearance in Parliament.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/cromwells-first-appearance-in-parliament-13776 |title= Cromwell's First Appearance in Parliament| first=David Wilkie |last=Wynfield| publisher=Art UK|access-date=9 August 2023}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Government buildings completed in 1877 Category:Grade II listed buildings in Cornwall Category:Looe Category:City and town halls in Cornwall Category:Grade II listed government buildings