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Dewsbury Town Hall is a Victorian town hall that stands in front of the old marketplace in the centre of Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, England. It is a Grade II listed building.[1]
| Dewsbury Town Hall | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Renaissance Revival |
| Classification | |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
| Designated | 18 November 1977 |
| Reference no. | 1134707 |
| Town or city | Dewsbury |
| Country | England |
| Construction started | 1886 |
| Completed | 1889 |
| Cost | £40,000 |
| Client | Dewsbury Council |
| Technical details | |
| Structural system | Ashlar, Sandstone |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | Henry Holtom George Arthur Fox |
| Engineer | Chadwick & Sons |
The site chosen for the town hall had previously been occupied by a hotel, a forge, a blacksmith and some other small businesses.[2] The foundation stone was laid by Thomas Bateman Fox JP, mayor of Dewsbury, on 12 October 1886.[3] The building was designed by local architects Henry Holtom and George Arthur Fox.[3] The Cambridge quarter-chiming clock in the tower, which was financed by a gift from Alderman Mark Oldroyd, a later mayor, was supplied by William Potts and Son of Leeds and installed on 2 April 1889.[3] The five bells, the largest of which weighed 35cwt, were supplied by Taylor of Loughborough.[4] The building itself was built by Chadwick & Sons at a cost of £40,000 and was officially opened by Alderman John Walker JP, the next mayor, on 17 September 1889.[3][2]
King George V and Queen Mary visited the town hall in July 1912 and returned in early 1918 to thank the people of Dewsbury for their efforts during the First World War.[2][5]
In 1928, Charles Brook Crawshaw, a local colliery proprietor, left a collection of important paintings to the town hall including "Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still upon Gibeon", painted by John Martin in 1848,[6] and "Stocks Closed Firmly with an Upward Tendency", painted by William Strutt in 1889.[7] During the Second World War a bomb fell close to the town hall killing five residents[2] and blowing out one of the stained glass windows in the building.[3]
In January 1981, Peter Sutcliffe, the "Yorkshire Ripper", was held in the cells in the town hall following his arrest and he then appeared in the magistrates' court there.[8] The magistrates' court in the town hall closed in the late 1980s.[8]
More recently the building has been used in various television productions including the BBC series Spanish Flu: The Forgotten Fallen in August 2009,[9] the ITV series Emmerdale in July 2011,[10] the ITV series Eternal Law in May 2011[11] and the BBC series Love, Lies and Records in March 2017.[12]
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The town hall contains a 700-seat concert hall, function and meeting rooms, and an old court room.[13]
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