page_title: Architecture of Wales
section_title: Market malls and town halls
hierarchical_section_title: Architecture of Wales / Market malls and town halls
caption_attribution_description: English: TOWN HALL. The last remaining Georgian Town Hall in Montgomeryshire. The red brick Town Hall forms a striking termination to Broad Street, although the centre of the building is offset to the north of the line of the street. Built by William Baker of Audlem, 1748-51,&#160;for Henry Arthur Herbert,&#160; 1st Earl&#160; of&#160; Powis,&#160;for whom, Baker had&#160; also in 1745 provided designs for a new Town Hall at Bishop’s Castle. The original design of the Town Hall is shown in a drawing of 1784 by the Rev. John Pridden in the National Library of Wales . This shows the ground floor market space of the Town Hall open with five bay arcades.&#160; Pridden&#160; shows the central bay, facing Broad Street projecting forward&#160; with a larger arcade arch and above this a lunette window. The upper floor which housed the Council Chamber and Court of Great Sessions and Quarter Sessions. In 1828 Thomas Penson, at the expense of Lord Clive, raised the roof level over the first floor and introduced sash-windows, rebuilding the pedimented&#160; gable, but without the coat of Arms.&#160; An extension was added at the&#160; rear&#160; with rounded quadrant corners and was tied in by extending the string courses around the building&#160; and adding a matching pediment to that at the front. The arcade arches were infilled with glazing in 1887, The clock tower was added in 1921. The predecessor of this building was probably a&#160; half-timbered structure,&#160; which the Speed map of 1610 shows was sited, lengthways,&#160; in the middle of Broad Street
context_page_description: Architecture of Wales is an overview of architecture in Wales from the Medieval period to the present day, excluding castles and fortifications, ecclesiastical architecture and industrial architecture. It covers the history of domestic, commercial, and administrative architecture.
context_section_description: Market halls and town halls are a prominent feature in most Welsh Towns. Early market halls were placed in the market area with an open area below for the market traders and an upper area that was used as a court room and council chamber. In the major County towns these buildings would also have been the meeting place of the Court of Great Sessions which as well as holding the Assizes supervised the county administration, and these halls were often known as the Shire Hall. 
   Many were timber framed, but the only surviving example of this type is at Llanidloes in Montgomeryshire. The Court House in Ruthin, now the National Westminster Bank, probably served a similar purpose and Dendrochronological dating has recently shown that this building is earlier and the timbers used for its construction were felled in 1421 The Llanidloes Market Hall is known to have been constructed from trees felled between 1611 and 1622
  A slightly earlier town built of stone is the Shire Hall at Denbigh of 1572, with an open colonnaded Market Hall on the ground-floor and a council and court room on the first-floor.  In the 1780s with a new roof, rusticated entrance and new fenestration, including Venetian windows were added. The colonnades have been enclosed
  In the Georgian period much more impressive town halls started to be built and the Shire Hall at Monmouth is a particularly good example. It is in a classical style of Bath stone by Fisher of Bristol with giant Ionic pilasters
  In Montgomery, the earlier timber framed town hall was replaced by a red brick Town Hall by William Baker of Audlem in 1748–1751, for Henry Arthur Herbert,  1st Earl of Powis. The original design of the Town Hall shows the ground floor market space was open with five bay arcades. The upper floor housed the Council Chamber and Court of Great Sessions and Quarter Sessions. In 1828 Thomas Penson, at the expense of Lord Clive, raised the roof level over the first floor and introduced sash-windows, rebuilding the pedimented gable, but without the coat of Arms.  An extension was added at the rear with rounded quadrant corners and was tied in by extending the string courses around the building, adding a matching pediment to that at the front. The arcade arches were infilled with glazing and bricks in 1887, and the attractive clock tower was added in 1921.
  An important building, although altered,  in Palladian style is Sir Robert Taylor's Guildhall at Carmarthen, built between 1767 and 1777.  This has a trio of giant first floor windows which are over-arched over large Palladian windows with Ionic columns and with blind panels above. Taylor used similar windows to light the Court Room of the Bank of England
  In the 19th century the design of Market Halls changed, they were now single storied and larger areas were made available for trading. A particularly notable example now houses the Nelson Museum and local history centre in Monmouth. This was built in Bath stone in the Greek Doric style by the architect George Vaughan Maddox of Monmouth in 1837–1839
caption: Montgomery Town Hall from Broad Street
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