The

Town Hall
 

MARKET
DEEPING

 

Photographed in 1998

The town hall has been the centre of local affairs for centuries, an imposing building which usually houses the city or town council and its associated departments and their employees. It also usually functions as the official headquarters of the mayor and the place where council meetings are held together with other significant events.

Most of our larger towns have one and those which exist in the less populated areas of rural England may be regarded as a sign of the pride which the people felt in the management of their affairs which was sufficient to finance such a venture.

A town hall is recorded in Market Deeping as early as 1563 when it was also used as a court house but new premises on the same site were proposed in the early 19th century and members of the public were invited to help foot the bill. Thirty-nine substantial subscriptions were received, the biggest being £20 each from the rector, the Rev William Hillyard, and local businessman William Goodale, totalling £285 in all. Many smaller contributions were also made and the new building, described by a local newspaper as "a neat structure", was erected in 1839 at a cost of £320 [£37,000 at today’s values], a remarkable expenditure for a market town with a population then of 1,219 [1841 census].

It stands on the north side of the market place and was designed in the Tudor Gothic style by the Bourne architect Thomas Pilkington (1799-1889) and built of limestone with ashlar quoins and a Collyweston slate roof. The building also has a single gable and leaded lights while inside there is a baluster staircase with a curved handrail leading to offices situated over a ground floor waiting room.

The Town Hall has been in continual use ever since and was Grade II listed as being of architectural interest in 1987. In the early years, felons were kept in the cells below the building until the police station opened across the road in 1880.

Local organisations have also taken advantage of the premises over the years, the Market Deeping Literary Institute meeting there from 1848 and using the upper room for reading and games, while the town’s Social Club rented the same space in 1909 but most importantly, the parish council, now the town council, has been holding meetings there since it was formed by the Local Government Act of 1894.

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