Old Shire Hall, Cardigan Explained

Old Shire Hall, Cardigan
Native Name:Hen Neuadd y Sir Aberteifi
Native Language:cy
Coordinates:52.0821°N -4.6615°W
Location:High Street, Cardigan
Built:1764
Architecture:Neoclassical style
Designation1 Number:10488
Designation1 Date:16 June 1961
Designation1 Offname:Old Shire Hall
Designation1:Grade II* Listed Building

The Old Shire Hall (cy|Hen Neuadd y Sir Aberteifi) is a former judicial building in the High Street in Cardigan, Ceredigion, Wales. The structure, which is now used as a British Red Cross shop, is a Grade II* listed building.

History

The building was commissioned as a courthouse for the county of Cardiganshire, to replace the inadequate judicial facilities in Cardigan Castle.[1] The site the justices selected, on the west side of the High Street, had been occupied by the Church of the Holy Trinity.[2]

The shire hall was designed in the neoclassical style, built in rubble masonry with an ashlar stone frontage and was completed in 1764.[3] The design involved a narrow main frontage facing onto the High Street with long side elevations stretching back behind the main frontage. It featured a two-storey arch formed by two piers with imposts supporting a series of voussoirs and a raised keystone. Above the arch, there was a band which was surmounted by two rectangular attic windows in a recess. At roof level, there was a frieze, a cornice and a parapet, and there was originally also a small bell turret. Internally, there was a corn exchange on the ground floor and a courtroom on the first floor.

The courtroom was used twice year for the quarter sessions, which were also held once a year at Aberystwyth Town Hall and at the Lampeter Town Hall.[4] [5] [6] The building was enlarged to create a room for the grand jury in 1829.[7]

The courtroom ceased to be used for judicial purposes once Cardigan Guildhall was completed in 1860,[1] and the use of the ground floor as a corn exchange declined significantly in the wake of the Great depression of British agriculture in the late 19th century.[8] The building was therefore sold for commercial use: it served as a garage and motor repair shop, operated by S. T. Jones, from 1926 to 1947,[9] and then served as a furniture shop operated by a firm of drapers, David Jones Watts.[10] It was later used as a warehouse and then as a bookshop, known as Bookend.[11] Since 2015, it has served as a charity shop for the British Red Cross.[12] [13]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Cardigan Trail. Visit Cardigan. 22 August 2024.
  2. Book: Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion (Buildings of Wales Series). Thomas. Lloyd. Julian. Orbach. Robert. Scourfield . 2006. Yale University Press. 445. 978-0-300-10179-9.
  3. Web site: Cardigan. Dyfed Archaeology. 22 August 2024.
  4. Web site: Early improvements. Aberystwyth Town Council. 22 August 2024.
  5. Web site: Lampeter Town Hall History. Welsh Quilts. 22 August 2024.
  6. Book: Fourteenth report of inspectors of prisons. UK Parliament. 1849. 70.
  7. Web site: Samuel. Lewis. 'Cardigan - Carew', in A Topographical Dictionary of Wales . London. 1849. British History Online . 22 August 2024.
  8. Book: Fletcher, T. W. . 'The Great Depression of English Agriculture 1873-1896' in British Agriculture 1875-1914 . London. Methuen. 1973. 978-1-136-58118-2. 31.
  9. Book: Davies, Donald. Those Were the Days: A History of Cardigan, The Locality and its People . 1991. The Cardigan and Tivy-Side Advertiser. 978-0-9517607-0-3.
  10. Web site: Complete bedroom suites available for £46.13.3 at Shire Hall. 18 March 1949 . 22 August 2024.
  11. Web site: "Bookend", Shire Hall High Street, Cardigan, SA43 1HQ. 22 August 2024.
  12. Web site: Red Cross charity shop in Cardigan. British Red Cross. 22 August 2024.
  13. News: 'Concern' as tenth charity shop opens in Cardigan . 25 August 2015. Tivy-side Advertiser. 22 August 2024.