Warrington Golden Gates, town hall, Sankey Street, Warrington Borough Council, Cheshire, England, UK
Warrington Town Hall The hall was designed by James Gibbs and built in 1750 for Thomas Patten, Esq. It became known as Bank Hall, and originally stood in open fields on the edge of the town, surrounded by extensive landscaped gardens and with nothing to obscure the views south to the River Mersey and the Cheshire countryside beyond. It remained like this until early in the 19th century when, because of the growth of the town and its industries, a perimeter wall was built around the estate to provide some privacy. The main hall Its front south facade has nine bays. The centre area has four large three-quarter attached composite columns with a pediment bearing the arms of the Patten family. In the middle there is also an open two-arm staircase, with a fine wrought iron balustrade, leading up to the main entrance, which is flanked by a pair of arched windows with the typical Gibbs surround. The pediments of the windows on the main floor in the side sections have alternating triangular and elliptical heads. The construction year, 1750, is shown on the rainwater-heads on the sides of the building. The north side of the hall is completely of brick and altogether simpler. As more traffic started to use Sankey Street, the Patten family built a high brick wall in front of the building to give them privacy. But when the council bought Bank Hall in 1870 and turned it into Warrington’s new town hall, local people started to complain that they were paying rates which helped to look after the building – but they couldn’t even see it! So Frederick Monks, one of the town’s earliest councillors, came up with an idea. As a local ironmaster, he could give the town hall a fitting entrance As a young man, Monks was an apprentice of P P Carpenter of Cairo Street. He worked his way up and then helped to create Monks Hall and Company, which became one of the country’s leading manufacturers of iron and steel. Through his business, he heard about a magnificent pair of iron gate
Size: 5472px × 3060px
Location: Sankey St, Warrington, Cheshire,England, UK, WA1 1UH
Photo credit: © Tony Smith / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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