{{Short description|Municipal building in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Use British English|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox historic site | name = Worksop Town Hall | native_name = | image = Worksop Town Hall (geograph 4690631).jpg | caption= Worksop Town Hall | locmapin =Nottinghamshire | map_caption =Shown in Nottinghamshire | coordinates ={{coord|53.3018|N|1.1241|W|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}} | location = Potter Street, Worksop | area = | built =1851 | architect = Isaac Charles Gilbert | architecture =Italianate style | designation1 =Grade II Listed Building | designation1_offname =Worksop Town Hall | designation1_date = 13 February 1967 | designation1_number = 1045762 | website= }} '''Worksop Town Hall''' is a municipal building in Potter Street, Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England. The town hall, which was the headquarters of Worksop Borough Council, is a Grade II listed building.<ref name=listed>{{NHLE|num= 1045762|desc= Worksop Town Hall| access-date=2 April 2021}}</ref> It is used for meetings of Bassetlaw District Council, whose main offices are in an adjoining building.
==History== thumb|left|The war memorial on the façade of the building The building was originally commissioned by a group of local investors who invested £5,000 to establish a corn exchange: the site they selected had been occupied by a row of houses.<ref name=part4>{{cite web|url=http://www.worksopheritagetrail.org.uk/resources/worksop_history_4.pdf |title=History of Worksop Part 4: 19th and 20th century Worksop|publisher=Worksop Heritage Trail|page=32|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305183322/http://www.worksopheritagetrail.org.uk/resources/worksop_history_4.pdf|access-date=2 April 2021|archive-date=5 March 2012}}</ref> The new corn exchange was designed by Isaac Charles Gilbert in the Italianate style, built in red brick with stone dressings and was officially opened with an event attended by the lord of the manor, the Duke of Newcastle, in July 1851.<ref name=history>{{cite web|url= https://www.bassetlaw.gov.uk/about-us/history-of-bassetlaw/history-of-worksop-town-hall/ |title=History of Worksop Town Hall|publisher= Bassetlaw District Council| access-date=2 April 2021}}</ref>
The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto Potter Street with the end bays slightly projected forward; the central section of three bays originally featured a flight of steps leading up to three doorways with carved keystones.<ref name=listed/> The arms of the Duke of Newcastle, carved in stone, were installed on the front of the building.<ref name="history" /> There was an aediculed casement window flanked by two hooded casement windows on the first floor, above which was an open pediment containing a clock ('made by Mr Barlow'),<ref name="White1852">{{cite book |last1=White |first1=William |title=Gazetteer and General Directory of Sheffield |date=1852 |publisher=Robert Leader |location=Sheffield |page=572 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Gazetteer_and_General_Directory_of_Sheff/var5VJ2n-fAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA572 |access-date=4 April 2025}}</ref> which had been donated by the Duke of Newcastle.<ref name=listed/> The outer bays featured casement windows flanked by Ionic order colonettes supporting curved pediments and there was a central belfry on the roof.<ref name=listed/> Internally, the principal rooms included a courtroom, which was used for petty sessions, and an assembly room, which was used by the county court.<ref name=history/> On the ground floor, alongside the corn exchange hall itself, a library was established for use by the Reading Society and by the Mechanics Institute.<ref name=history/>
The year after the building was completed Worksop was made a local board district following a significant increase in population, largely associated with coal mining. From its first meeting on 16 August 1852 the board met at the corn exchange.<ref>{{cite news |title=Worksop Local Board of Health |url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/search-newspapers |access-date=20 December 2023 |work=Derbyshire Courier |date=21 August 1852 |location=Chesterfield |page=3}}</ref> In the 1870s, a collapse in corn prices caused by international competition precipitated financial difficulties for the owners of the corn exchange, and so the local board acquired the building in 1882.<ref name=part4/> Local board districts were reconstituted as urban districts in 1894.<ref name=vob>{{cite web|url=https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10026842 |title=Worksop MB/UD|publisher=Vision of Britain| access-date=2 April 2021}}</ref> The library, which became accessible by the general public, relocated to Watson Road in 1902.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://forebears.io/england/nottinghamshire/worksop |title=Kelly's Directory of Nottinghamshire |year=1904| access-date=2 April 2021}}</ref>
A war memorial to commemorate the lives of local service personnel who had died in the Second Boer War was designed and made by local sculptor, George Colton.<ref name=listed/> It took the form of a Carrara marble tablet which was installed on the right hand side of the building and unveiled by Field Marshal Lord Grenfell on 1 August 1903.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/27174 |title=Worksop: South African War|publisher=Imperial War Museum| access-date=2 April 2021}}</ref> The area was advanced to the status of municipal borough with the town hall as its headquarters in 1931.<ref name=vob/>
thumb|left|Former council offices, 36–38 Carlton Road In 1910 the council bought the local water company,<ref>{{cite web |title=Worksop Urban District Council Act 1910 |url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/Edw7and1Geo5/10/40/contents/enacted |website=legislation.gov.uk |publisher=The National Archives |access-date=20 December 2023}}</ref> and supplemented the limited office space in the town hall with the water company's old offices at 36–38 Carlton Road, which had been built in 1900.<ref>{{cite book |title=Worksop Conservation Area Appraisal |date=April 2011 |publisher=Bassetlaw District Council |location=Worksop |page=123 |url=https://data.bassetlaw.gov.uk/media/7726/worksopcaaapril2011revised.pdf |access-date=20 December 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title="Housing" of Worksop Council |url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/search-newspapers |access-date=20 December 2023 |work=Sheffield Daily Telegraph |date=11 July 1911 |page=13}}</ref>
In the 1970s a two-storey, 18th century house to the east of the town hall on Potter Street was remodelled with an archway for vehicles replacing the old shopfront.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://data.bassetlaw.gov.uk/media/7726/worksopcaaapril2011revised.pdf|title=Worksop Conservation Area Appraisal|page=30|date=1 April 2011|publisher=Bassetlaw District Council| access-date=2 April 2021}}</ref> At the same the steps leading up to the town hall were removed and the doorways replaced with three round headed windows – access to the building was then obtained through the new archway.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.inspirepicturearchive.org.uk/image/15447/Redevelopment_of_Worksop_Town_Hall |title=Redevelopment of Worksop Town Hall| access-date=2 April 2021}}</ref> Following local government reorganisation 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> the enlarged Bassetlaw District Council initially used both the town hall, 36–38 Carlton Road and the former Worksop Rural District Council offices at Highfield House on Carlton Road, supplemented by other offices in Bridge Street and Victoria Square.<ref>{{cite news |title=Bassetlaw District Council: Movement of offices |url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/search-newspapers |access-date=20 December 2023 |work=Retford Times |date=17 April 1981 |page=8}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette|issue=48172|page=6398|date=29 April 1980}}</ref> New council offices were built on Potter Street, immediately adjoining the east side of the town hall. The new building was opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 5 June 1981 and became known as the Queen's Building.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://picturethepast.org.uk/personalised/photo-prints/design/landscape-photo-print-large/poster/ptpn001335/posterid/ptpn001335.html?action=cookie|title= Queen's Visit to Worksop, 1981|publisher=Picture the Past|date=5 June 1981| access-date=2 April 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.worksopguardian.co.uk/heritage-and-retro/retro/16-photos-take-you-back-worksop-1980s-1889054 |title= The Queen going on a walk about around Worksop 5 June 1981|date= 25 February 2020|publisher=Worksop Guardian| access-date=2 April 2021}}</ref> The council holds its meetings both at Retford Town Hall and in Worksop Town Hall.<ref>{{cite web |title=Council minutes, 7 December 2023 |url=https://bassetlaw.moderngov.co.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=151&MId=849&Ver=4 |website=Bassetlaw District Council |access-date=20 December 2023}}</ref> A major programme of refurbishment works to the town hall was completed in August 2007.<ref name=history/>
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Government buildings completed in 1851 Category:City and town halls in Nottinghamshire Category:Worksop Category:Grade II listed buildings in Nottinghamshire Category:Corn exchanges in England