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A guildhall, also known as a "guild hall" or "guild house", is a historical building originally used for tax collecting by municipalities or merchants in Europe, with many surviving today in Great Britain and the Low Countries. These buildings commonly become town halls and in some cases museums while retaining their original names.
The building was built in the medieval style between 1340 and 1342 and much altered and extended in 1460. [1]The guildhall originally served as the headquarters of the merchant guild of St Mary, [2] and subsequently of the united guilds of the Holy Trinity, St Mary, St John the Baptist and St Katherine, [3] which merged in 1392.
The Great Hall is a timber-framed structure and was built over a five-year period. It is the largest timber-framed building in the UK still standing and used for its original purpose. The roof of the hall is of two spans supported by a row of large central timber posts. It includes complex crown posts and is held together by wooden pegs. The ...
Guildhall crypt. During the Roman period, the Guildhall was the site of the London Roman Amphitheatre, rediscovered as recently as 1988.It was the largest in Roman Britain, partial remains of which are on public display in the basement of the Guildhall Art Gallery, and the outline of whose arena is marked with a black circle on the paving of the courtyard in front of the hall.
The guildhall was created for the Guild of St George at the beginning of the 15th century. [1] [2] [3] In 1406 the Guild of St George, founded in 1376, acquired re-claimed land on the bank of the River Great Ouse to build its hall. Constructed between 1410 and 1420, the hall was in use by 1428.
The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage facing onto Higher Market Street, with the first floor originally jettied out over the pavement. [2] After East Looe was incorporated in 1587, [3] the building became the meeting place of the mayor and the local burgesses. [4] The structure was remodelled in the late 16th century.
Following the Dissolution of the Guilds in 1547, the building was converted for use as a courthouse. In 1768, the building was extensively altered to a design by Thomas Farnolls Pritchard, with the structure being encased in brick, and a second storey added. [2] A panelled courtroom survives from this period.
The building was decorated with medieval-style gargoyles and other architectural sculptures by Henry Charles Fehr. [ 13 ] Following the implementation of the London Government Act 1963 , Middlesex County Council and the Middlesex sessions were abolished in 1965, but the Guildhall continued to be used by the Greater London Quarter Sessions .