Sheffield Old Town Hall stands on Waingate in central Sheffield

Sheffield

Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, opposite Castle Market

Castle Market

Castle Market is an indoor market in Sheffield, England. It lies in the north east of the present city centre, by the River Don, and is built on top of the remains of Sheffield Castle, which can still be seen via guided tours....

.

The building was commissioned to replace Sheffield's first town hall, which had opened in 1700 to a design by William Renny. This first structure stood by the parish church

Sheffield Cathedral

Sheffield Cathedral is the cathedral church for the Church of England diocese of Sheffield, England. Originally a parish church, it was elevated to cathedral status when the diocese was created in 1914...

, on a site with little prospect for extension.

The Old Town Hall was built in 1807–8 by Charles Watson, and was designed to house not only the Town Trustees but also the Petty and Quarter Sessions

Quarter Sessions

The Courts of Quarter Sessions or Quarter Sessions were local courts traditionally held at four set times each year in the United Kingdom and other countries in the former British Empire...

. The initial building was a five-bay structure fronting Castle Street, but it was extended in 1833 and again in 1866 by William Flockton (1804-1864) of Sheffield and his partner for the project, Abbott; the most prominent feature was the new central clock tower

Clock tower

A clock tower is a tower specifically built with one or more clock faces. Clock towers can be either freestanding or part of a church or municipal building such as a town hall. Some clock towers are not true clock towers having had their clock faces added to an already existing building...

 over a new main entrance that reoriented the building to Waingate. At the same time, the building's courtroom

Courtroom

A courtroom is the actual enclosed space in which a judge regularly holds court.The schedule of official court proceedings is called a docket; the term is also synonymous with a court's caseload as a whole.-Courtroom design:-United States:...

s were linked by underground passages to the neighbouring Sheffield Police Offices.
The first Town Council was elected in 1843 and took over the lease of the Town Trustees' hall in 1866. The following year, the building was extensively renovated, with a clock tower designed by Flockton & Abbott being added.

By the 1890s, the building had again become too small, and the current Sheffield Town Hall

Sheffield Town Hall

Sheffield Town Hall is a building in the City of Sheffield, England. The building is used by Sheffield City Council, and also contains a publicly displayed collection of silverware. The current building, Sheffield's fourth town hall, is located on Pinstone Street. It was designed by the...

 was built further south. The Old Town Hall was again extended in 1896-7, by the renamed Flockton, Gibbs & Flockton, and became Sheffield Crown Court and Sheffield High Court. In the 1990s, these courts moved to new premises, and since at least 1997 to present, the building remains disused.

In 2007, it was named by the Victorian Society as one of their top ten buildings most at-risk

External links

• BBC South Yorkshire feature "Sheffield's old and derelict Town Hall"