Bridgnorth Town Hall gets facelift

Bridgnorth Town Hall has suffered from the weather, particularly following torrential downpours at the start of the year.

It has meant urgent work is needed to make it watertight again.

And that provides the chance to see parts of the hall not normally exposed to the public gaze – together with one of the best views in Shropshire from the top.

Bridgnorth builder Ian Nash and his team have been given the task of repairing the hall before winter.

The two rotting bell towers are being renovated and work on the roof's ridge tiles will begin soon.

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"We're splicing the towers with new oak timbers and a resin repair system," said Mr Nash, who was born and bred in Bridgnorth.

"Everything we use has been conversation-approved for listed buildings and we're very proud to have been given the chance to work on the town hall.

"We're also installing new lead flashing around the bottom of the bell towers, and using lime render panels.

"Once the work is complete we'll wrap the towers in hessian to stop it drying too quickly and cracking.

"If it gets wet we could also be back to square one.

"We've been fairly lucky with the rain so far because if it comes from one direction we just work on the other side of the tower."

Work on the building, which could remain surrounded by scaffolding well into the New Year, is expected to cost in the region of £46,000.

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The hall, which dates back to 1650, has been leaking water due to poor lead flashing in both of the hall's bell towers, as well as suffering from severe woodworm and a rotting ceiling.

Mr Nash, 48, a former Bridgnorth Endowed School pupil, with 30 years' experience renovating on listed buildings, has been working on the hall for five weeks.

The job on the north facing tower, towards Northgate, has been finished and Mr Nash expects the first stage of renovation to be finished in another three weeks' time.

"We've had a lot interest from the public who are always asking about what's going on," he said.

"Having been born and brought up the town it was a project that interested me straight away.

"We're working on the most iconic building in Bridgnorth and it's a real honour to be given the contract."

Mr Nash has been joined by 23-year-old David Brown, a carpenter who also went to Bridgnorth Endowed School.

"It's nice to be involved in something like this, especially as this is the first job we have worked on together," he said.

The hall was once a court and when a person was found guilty they would be held before being transferred to the old prison in Northgate.

Bridgnorth's Theatre on the Steps has since moved into the town hall, opening up a new ticket office in a former holding jail cell, after electrics inside the building were upgraded.

Barry Ince, Bridgnorth Town Council's outdoors and properties manager, said: "Some work was carried out on the town hall about 10 years ago but this is a big, extensive job.

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"Subject to the weather, we hope to get some of the decorating done inside the town hall but a final decision hasn't been made about that.

"It would involve bring the scaffolding down to the next level but we may have to wait until next before starting that.

"The priority is to get the ridge tiles in place on the roof to make sure everything's water tight.

"The lightning conductor will also have its annual inspection while the scaffolding is up.

"Once work on the bell tower is finished we'll start moving down, preparing surfaces and looking at repairing the stained-glass windows on the south end."

The town hall was constructed in 1652 from a redundant tithe barn donated by a Lady Bertie from Much Wenlock.

A time line on the wall of the hall charts Bridgnorth's history from 895 AD.

A Victorian coat of arms can be seen both inside and outside on the ends of the building.The hall has stained-glass windows depicting monarchs and a carpet, which was made in Bridgnorth in 1887.

The building is still used for coffee mornings, occasionally for town council functions and now houses the Theatre on the Step's booking office.