Launceston Guildhall and Town Hall

The county assizes had been held the town since 1201.[2] Latterly, the venue for this was the old guildhall which was a medieval timber building that accommodated both the nisi prius court and the crown court.[3] It stood at the corner of Broad Street and High Street in the town centre and was completed in 1647.[3] However, after the assizes moved to the new Shire Hall in Bodmin in 1838, the old guildhall was no longer required and it was demolished in 1840.[3]

After holding meetings for around 30 years in a hall which they shared with St Mary Magdalene's Church, civic leaders decided to procure a dedicated guildhall: the site they selected was open land to the south of Launceston Castle.[4] The foundation stone for the new guildhall was laid on 30 September 1881.[4] It was designed in the Gothic style and completed in late 1883.[4] The design for the guildhall involved a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing onto Western Road; each bay contained a three-light stained glass arched window with a gable above.[1] Internally, it had an arch-braced ceiling and became lined with paintings and photographs of former mayors.[5]

The foundation stone for the new town hall was laid by the Lord Chancellor, Lord Halsbury, on 30 September 1886.[4] It was designed by Otho B. Peter and G. Hine in the Gothic style and completed in 1887.[4] The design involved a three-stage clock tower with a doorway on the ground floor, the town's coat of arms above the doorway and a clock and then a belfry above that; the tower connected on the left to the guildhall and on the right the new town hall, which itself featured a large seven-light window with a tall gable facing Western Road.[1]

The complex served as the headquarters of Launceston Borough Council but ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlarged North Cornwall District Council was formed in 1974.[6] It subsequently became the meeting place of Launceston Town Council.[5] The guildhall and town hall were both extensively refurbished in 2010.[7][8] Works of art in the complex include a portrait by Anthony van Dyck of King Charles I with M. de St Antoine,[9] a portrait by Thomas Lawrence of the Recorder of Launceston, Hugh Percy, 2nd Duke of Northumberland,[10] and a portrait by Tennyson Cole of the journalist, Sir Alfred Robbins.[11]