| Much Wenlock Guildhall | |
| Coordinates: | 52.596°N -2.5572°W |
| Location: | Much Wenlock, Shropshire |
| Built: | 1557 |
| Designation1: | Grade II* Listed Building |
| Designation1 Date: | 24 October 1950 |
| Designation1 Number: | 1053794 |
The Much Wenlock Guildhall is a guildhall located on Wilmore Street in Much Wenlock, Shropshire. It is a Grade II* listed building.
In the aftermath of the dissolution of the monasteries, which saw the powers of Wenlock Priory suppressed, civic leaders sought a new meeting place to conduct the business of the town.[1] The new half-timbered building which they commissioned was completed in two phases, the south end (the court room) in 1540 and the north end (the council chamber) in 1557.[1]
The design for the main frontage on Wilmore Street featured three large gables.[1] On the ground floor, at the north end there was initially a prison (it was dismantled in 1869), in the central section there was arcading to allow markets to he held[2] and at the southern end there was a passageway for carriages to pass through. At first floor level, the design involved tall mullion windows below each of the three gables. A new cupola was erected on the roof in 1720.[1]
Internally, the principal rooms are the courtroom and the council chamber, both on the first floor.[1] The courtroom was the venue for the Quarter sessions where the more serious offences were considered, and also the venue for the Petty sessions where more trivial offences were considered.[1] The Royal Coat of Arms, which is that of Queen Elizabeth I, was erected in the courtroom in 1589.[3] An "inner room" for the storage of court records was created in 1616.[1] The last quarter sessions were held in the courtroom in 1951 and the last petty sessions, by then known as magistrates' courts, were held there in 1985.[1]
The council chamber was the meeting place of the municipal borough of Much Wenlock which was incorporated under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835; it was fitted out with ornate Jacobean style panelling which had been retrieved from a local country house and installed at the expense of the educationalist, William Penny Brookes in 1848.[1] The council chamber ceased to be the local seat of government when Much Wenlock was absorbed into the Bridgnorth Rural District in 1966.[4] [5] However, it still remains the meeting place of the local town council.[6] The chamber contains a memorial board topped by a clock in memory of 16 Allied airmen - British, Canadian and American - who were killed in aircraft crashes in the territory of Wenlock Borough during the Second World War.[7]
The principal rooms are open to visitors free of charge for entrance from April to October.[8] The stocks and the whipping post can both be seen on the ground floor.[1]