History
About the Hall
History
The present building was constructed in 1866 as a Market House to replace a smaller facility which dated from around 1760, Fore Street and the surroundings having been a market site from much earlier in Dulverton's history.
A distinctive feature of the building are the seven arches forming the lower hall originally closed by gates on non-market days, these can be clearly seen in the upper pre-1930 photograph. The first floor hall being used by the magistrates and for entertainments.
Dulverton market declined in the face of competition from the cattle market at Brushford after 1873 and the building became of greater value as a Town Hall. The open arches were glazed and the former market hall became shops.
In 1930 the architect Sir A.E. Richardson converted the building further adding the very elegant freestanding double external stair with wrought iron rails and lamps and canopied entrance porch.
The upper hall was fitted with a stage for plays and lectures with a proscenium arch designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. In the early 1940s the hall became a cinema used extensively by American troops stationed nearby and it was with their aid in 1944 that the projection box, still in use today, was built. Its usage as a cinema was re-established in 2010 by Jan Ross and Christine Dubery with the creation of Dulverton Films.
The current Town Hall committee continues to enhance and develop the venue with modern facilities.
The Town Hall and its steps has become the prime location for all the town's occasions and probably its most photographed building.
