The Guildhall, Chard

The Guildhall was built in 1834-35 to replace the town's original 16th century guildhall and market house.[1] Owing to the inconvenient position of the original hall at Fore Street, the decision to erect a replacement was finalised in 1833.[2][3] The foundation stone of the new hall was laid on 20 December 1834,[4] and the building first opened on 21 September 1835.[5] Designed by the local architect Richard Carver of Taunton in the Classical style, it originally incorporated a town hall, market house and butchery, and had cost over £3,000 to build.[6] The guildhall clock was installed to celebrate the accession of Queen Victoria to the throne in 1837.[7] The building has been Grade II* listed since 1950.[2]

Much of the building's interior was remodelled around 1970,[2] with the entire building later undergoing renovation work between 1998 and 2003.[8] The weather vane on top of the building, which is 7 feet (2.1 m) high and weighs 32 stone (450 lb; 200 kg) was taken down for restoration by a local blacksmith in spring 2002.[9]

The guildhall was the meeting place of the municipal borough of Chard, formed in response to the Municipal Corporations Act 1835.[10] It ceased to be the local seat of government when, following further local government re-organisation,[11] the enlarged South Somerset Council was formed in 1974.[12] The Guildhall has housed the offices of Chard Town Council since 2009, and is also regularly used by local community groups for a variety of activities.[13]

The mechanism for the guildhall clock, weighing 200 kilograms (440 lb), was removed during the renovation of the building and returned, fully restored, in spring 2008.[7]

The Guildhall is built of Hamstone sourced from nearby Ham Hill, with slate roofs. The two-storey building has a T-shaped plan and is designed in the Classical style. The facade features a Doric portico with a double row of Tuscan columns at ground level and Doric columns on the second-storey. A domed cupola, featuring clock faces on three sides, sits on top of the facade's pediment. Both the council chamber and mayor's parlour survive unaltered.[2]