Old Town Hall, Knaresborough
We're still in Knaresborough, the town that gave us so much history to explore within the hour we were there.
We're going back to the early 17th century when Knaresborough's first municipal building turned out to be a converted toll booth. They changed it into a sessions house with the basement acting as a prison with two cells as of 1768. You may wonder at what point a simple toll booth come sessions house complete with prison cells turned into a town hall. Well that came later, mid 19th century to be exact, when it was decided that the sessions house was no longer needed, so they knocked it down and built a new town hall over it.
The new hall was completed in 1862 after being funded by Sir Charles Slingsby, 10th Baronet who was also lord of the manor regarding Scriven Hall and so the decisions fell to him anyway. The new hall had an arcade on the ground floor making it perfect for markets and then an assembly room for hall meetings was on the first floor.
Despite this, the hall fell out of favour as the town grew. A new council was formed who still used the old hall for civic events, but their main base in terms of offices was in York Place and then later Knaresborough House. When the 20th century rolled around the arcading on the ground floor was glazed over so it could be used for retail and concerts were even held here for officers during WWII. Then later in the same century they decided to convert the hall into the Castle Courtyard which became home to a selection of retail shops while the assembly room above was drafted into use as a nightclub!
Seems to be still present just not in its original form, although we aren't sure about the nightclub! Plus with the pooch we didn't have time to stop and wander in, we we're following the plaques.
DISCLAIMER: Now for the official bit. This blog does not receive any paid promotions from the places mentioned above. We have not been approached to promote or act as spokespersons for any attraction mentioned within this post and this is simply a post intended to act as a day in the life of a couple on a cute date. All photos included are taken by ourselves and as such the rights for these images are ours, no links, brands, or companies mentioned otherwise belong or are associated with Phantom Adventures UK. We are responsible only for this blog. Opinions are our own and not influenced by any third party source..
If you have any recommendations on places to visit or somewhere you would like to see on the blog, please feel free to drop us a message on instagram under @phantomadventuresuk or email us at phantomadventuresuk@gmail.com
Comments
Post a Comment