Marazion Town Hall Explained

Marazion Town Hall
Coordinates:50.1238°N -5.4727°W
Location:Market Place, Marazion, Cornwall, England
Built:1871
Architecture:French Renaissance style
Designation1:Grade II Listed Building
Designation1 Offname:The Town Hall (Barclays Bank), Market Place
Designation1 Date:9 October 1987

Marazion Town Hall is a municipal building in the Market Place, Marazion, Cornwall, England. The town hall, which currently includes a museum on the ground floor, is a Grade II listed building.

History

The current structure was commissioned to replace an old market hall which dated back at least to the mid-18th century,[1] but was substantially rebuilt in the late-18th century.[2]

The new building was designed in the French Renaissance style, built in rubble masonry and was completed in 1871. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with a two-stage clock tower facing southeast onto the Market Place; there was a doorway with a wrought iron gate flanked by brackets supporting a canopy in the first stage, a blind niche with tracery surmounted by a pair of trefoils in the second stage and, above that, a mansard roof with projecting clock faces. The tower was flanked by full-height turrets surmounted by conical roofs. Internally, the council chamber on the first floor was accessed by way of a staircase in the right hand turret. A lock-up for petty criminals was established at the rear of the building.[3]

On account of the relatively small population of the town,[4] the borough council, which had met in the town hall, was abolished under the Municipal Corporations Act 1883.[5] The building was subsequently transferred to a specially formed entity, the Marazion Town Trust, with the mayor, Thomas Lean, becoming the first chairman of the trust.[6] The building comprises the council chamber and St Thomas's Hall on the first floor,[7] [8] whilst the ground floor of the building was originally a market hall, but became the local fire brigade headquarters (from 1892)[9] and later a seed merchants, with a bank branch at the front (from 1891)[10] and the two town lock-ups at the rear (until 1927). The bank became a sub-branch of Barclays Bank.[11]

In 1992 the ground floor of the building was converted for use as a local history museum. Items included in the collection included a 17th-century cooking pot from a foundry near Taunton in Somerset[12] and an exhibition associated with the, HMS Warspite, which ran aground under tow on rocks near Prussia Cove, to the east of the town, in 1947[13] and was subsequently broken up on Marazion beach between 1950 and 1956.[14] The local parish council became Marazion Town Council in 1974, which meets in the council chamber in the town hall,[15] although it chose to use the more spacious All Saints Church Hall as the meeting place during COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, but continued to post notices of its meetings on the notice board outside the town hall.[16]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: A Church History of Cornwall and of the Diocese of Truro. 109. Wladislaw Somerville. Lach-Szyrma. 1887. E. Stock.
  2. Book: Report of the Commissioners Appointed to Inquire into Municipal Corporations not subject to the Municipal Corporations Act. 76. H. M. Stationery Office. 1880.
  3. Web site: Marazion Museum. 22 December 2021.
  4. Book: Imperial Cyclopedia. 470. Charles Knight. 1850.
  5. Book: Municipal Corporations Act 1883 (46 & 46 Vict. Ch. 18) . 1883 . 22 December 2021.
  6. Book: Noall, Cyril . Book of Penzance . 162. Barracuda Books. 1983. 978-0860230663.
  7. Web site: Marazion. Kelly's Directory of Cornwall . 1902. 22 December 2021.
  8. Web site: St. Thomas' Hall, Marazion, J.P. St. Aubyn. National Archives. 22 December 2021.
  9. Web site: Drawing, new door for fire engine shed, J P St Aubyn . 24 April 2024 . Kresen Kernow.
  10. Web site: Lease, room in Market House, Marazion . 24 April 2024 . Kresen Kernow.
  11. Web site: 21 year lease; rent £20; Marazion Town Trustees to Messrs Barclays Bank Ltd. National Archives. 22 December 2021.
  12. Web site: Marazion's cauldron. BBC – A History of the World. 22 December 2021.
  13. Larn, R. & Larn, B. (1991) Shipwrecks around Mounts Bay. Penryn: Tor Mark Press.
  14. Book: Holme, Richard . The last days of HMS Warspite in Cornwall 1947-1956 . 2023 . The World Ship Society Ltd . 2023 . 978-1-9160589-7-2 . Windsor, United Kingdom . 48–72 . en.
  15. Web site: Marazion Town Council . 24 April 2024.
  16. Web site: Council Meetings. Marazion Town Council. 22 December 2021.