Selby Town Hall

Selby Town Hall is a municipal building in York Street in Selby, North Yorkshire, England. The structure, which was built as a Methodist chapel, is now the home of Selby Town Council.

1. History

The local board of health in Selby, which was established in 1851, established its first purpose-built offices on the corner of Gowthorpe and New Lane. These offices were designed in the Gothic Revival style, built in red brick with stone dressings and were completed in the late 19th century. The building featured a turret with a conical roof on the corner with New Lane, arched openings on the ground floor, mullioned windows on the first floor and attic windows in the gables above. The offices became the headquarters of Selby Urban District Council when it was formed in 1894 and were converted for use as a branch of the York County Savings Bank after the council moved to modern premises in Park Street in the 1960s. Meanwhile, the Primitive Methodist Church, which had been established by William Clowes in the early 19th century, decided to establish a chapel in Selby in 1840. The church initially operated from a small chapel in a yard off Gowthorpe but, in the 1850s, Lord Londesborough donated a site in York Street to create a more substantial building. The foundation stone for the new building was laid on 4 April 1862. It was designed in the Italianate style, built in brown brick with stone dressings and was officially opened on 10 October 1862. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing onto the corner of Gowthorpe and Brooke Street; the central bay, which slightly projected forward, featured two round headed doorways separated by a Corinthian order column and flanked by Doric order pilasters; there was a two-light mullioned window on the first floor with an oculus in the gable above and there were finials and urns at roof level. It was renovated in 1926 but, following a reduction in religious attendances, it was decommissioned as a chapel in August 1956. The building served as a health clinic in the late 1950s and then operated as a tyre depot under the management of Moss Tyres and then ATS Group in the 1960s and 1970s. It then fell vacant in the 1980s and remained derelict until it was acquired by Selby Town Council in 1990. After an extensive programme of refurbishment works, which involved the creation of an events venue as well as offices for the town council, the building was reopened in 1996. The building received a Good Design Award from the Selby Civic Society, for the quality of the refurbishment works, in 1998. Performers at the town hall since then have included the singer songwriters Boo Hewerdine and Brooks Williams in December 2012, and the singer songwriter Ralph McTell in February 2019.

1. References

Nearby Places View Menu

St James' Church, Selby

St James' Church is a parish church in Selby, a town in North Yorkshire, in England. The church was paid for by James Audus. He may have had a role in its design, which is also ascribed to Newstead and Low. It was completed in December 1867, and was given its own parish later in the month. In May 1944, a Handley Page Halifax crashed into the spire, the crew and eight people in nearby houses being killed. The tower was rebuilt, but the spire was not. The building was grade II listed in 1980. The church is built of stone and has a slate roof with tile cresting. It consists of a nave with a clerestory, north and south aisles, north and south porches, north and south transepts, a chancel with a vestry, and a west tower. The tower has five stages, buttresses, string courses, an arcade of four pointed arches in the fourth stage with circular windows above, three-light bell openings, and a stepped embattled parapet with corner crocketed pinnacles. Inside, there is a wood and brass lectern described by Historic England as "exceptional", a marble reredos, extensive 19th-century woodwork, and an iron communion rail.

Church Historic Site

Selby Almshouses

Selby Almshouses are a historic building in Selby, a town in North Yorkshire, in England. The building, comprising ten houses in three ranges around a courtyard, was constructed to house poor widows or elderly people. They were designed and funded by James Audus and were completed in 1833. The building was grade II listed in 1980, and is now run by the Audus charity. The almshouses are built of brown brick with hipped slate roofs. They have two storeys, three bays on the east side, and four on the west and south sides. The windows are casements with channelled voussoirs. In the middle of the south range is a low tower with an embattled parapet and crocketed corner pinnacles. It contains an entrance with a pointed head, a moulded surround, a crocketed ogee head, and an elaborate finial. Above the entrance is an inscribed and dated plaque.

Charity Historic Site

King's Church Selby

King's Church Selby is a historic church in Selby, a town in North Yorkshire, in England. Andrew Reed was sent by the Hackney Academy to preach in Selby in July 1808. His sermons proved immediately popular, and although he left in August, a Mr Seaton came to replace him in October, and began construction of a rectangular chapel, which opened in March 1809. The congregation continued to grow, and in 1812, galleries were added. In 1842, a vestry and schoolroom were added to the south of the chapel. The capacity of the chapel eventually grew to 500. In 1866, James Pigott Pritchett refronted the chapel and renovated the building, which by then was part of the Congregational Union of England and Wales. In 1972, this became part of the United Reformed Church (URC), which in 1977 renovated the building, removing the choir stalls and installing a kitchen. By 2009, the building was shared with the King's Church, and in 2012 the URC moved out, leaving the building entirely to the King's Church. The church has been grade II listed since 1980. It has a front of polychrome brick with stone dressings, it is rendered elsewhere, and has a Welsh slate roof with grey ridge tiles. The main block has three bays divided and flanked by stock brick piers, on a chamfered and rendered plinth. The middle block is gabled, and contains an arcade of four round arches with colonnettes, and above is a large rose window with a central quatrefoil. Each outer bay contains a round-arched doorway with colonnettes, and above is an oculus. To the left is the former schoolroom, with a three-bay arcade on the ground floor and a two-bay arcade above.

Church Landmark

256 m

Battle of Selby

The Battle of Selby occurred on 11 April 1644 in North Yorkshire during the First English Civil War. In the battle, the Parliamentarians led by Lord Fairfax attacked and captured the strategic Royalist garrison of Selby under the command of John Belasyse.

Historic Site Landmark