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Description: | Decorated to celebrate Mansfield's incorporation as a Borough.
The building of the Town Hall was begun in 1835. It was built by the Town Hall Company, which offered shares for sale at £50 each, raising the sum of £6,650. The foundation stone was laid on Tuesday 21st July 1835 when 5,000 people were thought to be present.
The Town Hall fulfilled many purposes. There was a Corn Exchange under the portico outside the entrance. inside the entrance and on the left-hand side was a reading room and library. The Improvement Commissioners, who managed the town and were responsible for its development, much like a modern new town corporation, had a small office upstairs. Behind the Town Hall were houses for the caretaker and Constable and a Lock-up with ten cells. These continued in use until the Police Court was built, when they were demolished and shops erected. To the rear was a Market Hall extending to Queen Street, on the site of the present one.
The large room upstairs in the Town Hall, now the Council Chamber, was an Assembly Room for the whole of North Nottinghamshire. Shortly after the opening of the Town Hall, a ball was held in the room on 23rd December 1936.
Perhaps the most distinguishing feature of the Town Hall in those days was the clock. It had long been felt that Mansfield needed a public clock in the centre of town, the one at St Peter's Church being too far away to be of any use. The Town Hall Company not only provided a clock, but arranged for it to be illuninated by gaslight at night - an event which caused much interest when it happened for the first time on Thursday 4th February 1837. | Format: | JPEG/IMAGE | License: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/uk/ | Publisher: | North East Midland Photographic Record | Subjects: | select Please | Source: | Picture the Past OAI feed | Identifier: | http://www.picturethepast.org.uk/fronten... | Language: | EN-GB | Format: | JPEG/IMAGE | Go to resource |
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