Dukinfield Town Hall

To celebrate the reopening of the fully refurbished Dukinfield Town Hall completed in February 2005

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Town Hall Tale

When Dukinfield Town Hall was opened on June 15, 1901, it was the culmination of the campaign for borough status that had started almost four years before. The imposing building, constructed in Domestic Gothic style, was the embodiment of the town’s newly acquired civic status.

The decision to build a town hall was taken as soon as the petition for incorporation was sent to the Privy Council. Even before it was certain that approval would be given, a competition was organised to design a building to replace the Urban District Council offices that had been erected on King Street in 1861. A first prize of £40 (almost £3,000 today) was offered and 21 designs were received. These were quickly reduced to a shortlist of five and put on public display at the Technical School on Town Lane.

Plans submitted by J. Eaton and Sons of Ashton were eventually selected and the site chosen was that occupied by Dukinfield market. This fact was attested to by a block of houses on Hope Street that bear a tablet carrying the inscription “Market View”.

The foundation stone, which can be seen on the Hope Street side of the Town Hall, was laid by the Lady of the Manor, Mrs (later Lady) Gertrude Nicholson on Charter Day, September 23, 1899. Inside the stone is a bottle containing coins and copies of three local newspapers.

The Deputy Mayor of Dukinfield officially opened the Town Hall on June 15, 1901, Alderman James Pickup. J.R. Joyce of Whitchurch made the clock and the five bells were cast by Taylor and Co of Loughborough. Construction had cost £15,000, a little more than £1 million in today’s money.

For the following three-quarters of a century the Town Hall was home to Dukinfield Urban District Council, however following the creation of Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council, in 1974, it became home to the new Borough’s Education Department. During the 1980s, after Council services were centralised in Ashton, the Registrar of Births, Marriages and Deaths for Tameside moved to the Town Hall and is still based there. The old Council Chamber was converted into a snooker hall and the Jubilee Hall and Lesser Hall continued to be popular venues for family celebrations and other social occasions.

The £3 million refurbishment programme that has just been completed was managed by an innovative partnership involving Tameside Council, architects Taylor Young, quantity surveyors Poole Dick, EMech (Mechanical and Electrical Design) and local Dukinfield firm Bardsley Construction. The work on the building was carried out by using many local sub contractors and skilled craftsmen.

All the public rooms have been renovated, making the Town Hall one of the most prestigious venues in Tameside for a variety of events, for business, social or family occasions. The basement, previously used for storage, has been converted into offices, IT suites and teaching units. Accommodation has also been created for the Police and Tameside Patrollers.

Probably the most impressive change is the innovative use of the building’s former air wells that are spanned by a bridge linking a new side entrance to the heart of the building. Not to be missed!

The founding fathers that were responsible for the Town Hall did an excellent job but, for some reason, a full-size public hall was not included and this was quickly seen as a major shortcoming. Various schemes were drawn up to create such a facility and, in 1919, there was even an attempt to build a public hall as Dukinfield’s war memorial. The project was formally adopted by the Council but had to be dropped some months later because of a lack of public support.

Fifteen years passed before the scheme for a public hall finally came to fruition. The Jubilee Hall, so named because of the Silver Jubilee of King George V in 1935, was the pet project of Councillor Arnold Kenyon, who was Mayor of Dukinfield at the time. The Jubilee Hall quickly became famous for having one of the best-sprung dance floors in the country. It is still recognised as one the finest dance floors of its type in the North of England.

The foundation stones, which can be seen either side of the main entrance, were laid on March 21, 1936. One by Councillor Kenyon and the other by Miss Charlotte Astley-Nicholson, the Lady of the Manor. The time-capsule custom was again repeated, this one being an oak-lined casket containing an official programme and a set of 1935 coins, including a farthing and crown (25p), as well as a ten-shilling (50p) note and a pound note.

As part of this refurbishment, the Jubilee Hall’s large balcony has been converted into a lecture hall/function room for around 100 people, with an impressive glazed partition as an architectural feature. The Lesser Hall, within the Town Hall proper, has been renovated with the addition of a new food and drink servery and sliding partition, to make the room a more flexible space.

As a final touch, Dukinfield Town Hall is now home to an impressive stained-glass window showing Boudicca and other famous women. This previously stood in the former Lakes Road Girls School, which was opened in 1931. When the school closed in the 1980s it became the Education Development Centre, which will now be based in the Town Hall. The sale of the Lakes Road site has provided the funds to refurbish the Town Hall.

Many details about this fine building can be found in this brochure, however take a walk around and see how the old and new have merged in a complementary fashion. The renovation and modernisation of the building is obvious, yet it is still possible to see where some of the old Dukinfield Corporation departments were situated. The old frosted windows bearing titles such as “Borough Surveyor” still being in place.

The Town Hall is also the site of two Blue Plaques. By the Main Entrance on King Street, there is one to commemorate Colonel Robert Duckenfield (1616-1689), Lord of the Manor and a Commander in the Parliamentary forces during the Civil War. A plaque on the Chapel Street side of the building pays tribute to the musician John Golland (1942-1993).

On the Hope Street side is the foundation stone laid on Charter Day, 1899, together with the slope leading to the room where the Borough’s fire engine was once housed.

To the rear of the Town Hall is the Jubilee Hall, the main entrance to which is flanked by two foundation stones. Also on Chapel Street is a building built in 1903, which used to be the Police station and Magistrates’ Court.