SLHS: Town Hall

Market Hall

In 1634, with their new ‘Market Town’ status, the Stratford Corporation saw that the end of the High Street was the ideal location to build a Market Hall. The ground floor was open to provide for a corn market with leasable sales pitches. It thrived and was extended.

Fire 1

During the Civil War the building was occupied by Parliamentary Forces under the command of Lord Brooke. Arms and an awful lot of gunpowder were stored here. Unfortunately on 25th February 1643 the entire place was blown to smithereens.

One of the original columns still exists. It can be seen in Archive photo 41 (bottom of the page) at the bottom the garden at New Place.

SLHS Picture & Document Archives..

1. Full set of internal pictures: Town Hall

Located on the corner of Chapel Street and Sheep Street

● These items have aspects that uniquely contribute to national or world history.

Ballroom,   present day

The interior after the catastrophic fire in 1946.

Our thanks go to Gill Cleeve (Mayor 2022-3) for pointing out that it is the Fire Wardens who are smoking !

Fire 2

During WW2 airbases near Stratford were used for training new pilots. The Town Hall ballroom was used as a meeting place and dance hall when they had time off.

In those days everybody smoked and sadly, one night, an errant cigarette end found its way to a cushion which smoldered and eventually caught the whole sumptuous place alight.

Whilst absolutely everything has now been put in order evidence of the fire can still be noticed if you know what to look for: The anteroom has original oak flooring but the Main Ballroom has Canadian Maple flooring which was a gift from the retiring Canadian airmen in memory of the good times that they had there.

There are plenty of modern pictures in the archive below.

Ballroom fire 9th December 1946

Market Hall rebuilt in 1767

Town Hall

The Market Hall lay in a sorry state until 1661 when it was rebuilt. However it slowly fell into dilapidation and became unsafe. In 1767 money was acquired to completely rebuild it (drawing below left). It too had an open ground floor for traders.

Just along Chapel Street it was clear that the old Guild Hall (underneath Shakespeare’s school room) was too small and unsuitable for the work the Council had to do so in 1863 the Market Hall’s ground floor was enclosed, large alterations internally were made and the Council and District Court moved in. This is the building that we recognise today. After 1878 the Court was moved out.

Formation Of District Council

Such was the workload of the Council that meetings concerning the wider District were moved to a new District Council in 1974. Their offices are in Elizabeth House almost opposite the old Guild Hall.

Councilors may be elected to one or both councils concurrently.

To return to Master page click on ‘Councils’ above.