| Old Town Hall, Faringdon | |
| Coordinates: | 51.6583°N -1.5839°W |
| Location: | Market Place, Faringdon |
| Built: | 1650–1660 |
| Architecture: | Neoclassical style |
| Designation1: | Grade II* Listed Building |
| Designation1 Offname: | Old Town Hall |
| Designation1 Date: | 12 February 1958 |
| Designation1 Number: | 1048440 |
The Old Town Hall is a municipal building in the Market Place in Faringdon, Oxfordshire, England. The building, which is used as an exhibitions and events venue, is a Grade II* listed building.
Following the Battle of Faringdon in 1645, a skirmish in the English Civil War at which many of the town's buildings were damaged or destroyed by the attacking roundhead forces, civic officials decided to build a new market hall.[1] The new building was designed in the neoclassical style, built using timber frame construction techniques with a stucco finish and was completed by 1660.[1] The ground floor was arcaded, so that butter markets could be held, with an assembly hall on the first floor. On the ground floor, there were twelve Tuscan order columns,[2] while the first floor was fenestrated by two sash windows on each of the east and west sides and by a single sash window on the south side. Above, there was a modillioned cornice surmounted by a hipped roof with a weather vane. The architectural historian, Nikolaus Pevsner, described the building as "smaller and more provincial" than the other town halls in the area.[3]
A metal hoop was attached to the southwest column to bind petty criminals for whipping and a lock-up was established in the north east corner for incarcerating them.[1] In the 19th century, an extension was built to the west to accommodate a larger lock-up.[4] After a police station, with proper cells, was established in Swan Lane in the 1880s, the western extension was converted to accommodate the equipment used by the local street sweeper.[4] By the mid-19th century, the assembly room was being used as a public reading room[5] but by the 1880s it was not used at all.[6] The local horse-drawn fire engine, which had been stored in Church Street, was moved to the ground floor of the town hall in the early 20th century.[4]
In 1918, the lord of the manor, Lord Berners of Faringdon House, who had recently inherited the town hall along with the estate and, with it, a significant liability for backlog maintenance on the town hall, decided to give the building to the town.[4] May Morris of Kelmscott Manor led a successful campaign to refurbish the building and to install a series of oak panels on the south side of the building to commemorate the lives of local service personnel who had died in the First World War.[1] The oak panels were unveiled by Lord Faringdon on 6 February 1921.[7] [8]
During the Second World War, the assembly hall was used as sleeping accommodation for officers of the armed services and after the war it was used as a public library. After the library service moved to The Elms in Gloucester Street in the late 1980s, the assembly room became a Red Cross charity shop.[4] A new staircase was installed, and the assembly room was converted for use as an exhibition and events space in 2000.[4] Fabrics designed by William Morris were used in later refurbishment work to honour the work of his daughter, May, in saving the building.[9] The assembly room was also subsequently used for as a venue for parish meetings.[10]