Denbigh Town Hall

Denbigh Town Hall

This is one of few civic buildings in Britain constructed entirely during the First World War. It stands on the site of an earlier market hall and originally had a domed roof. It was designed as a combined town hall, market hall and fire station. The town council previously met in the 16th-century County Hall.

The council received permission to borrow £12,500 for the hall’s construction shortly before the war. Otherwise, the project would have been delayed by years. The construction contract was awarded to Morton Brown Ltd of Chester in July 1914, weeks before the outbreak of war. The war caused interruptions to the work.

The town hall opened in September 1917. Three months later a “shrine” in honour of the local war dead was attached to the front of the new building. The shrine was later superseded by the nearby war memorial, partly funded by the takings from the opening night of the “Town Hall Cinema” in March 1919.

In October 1919 the press praised the cinema’s new manager for imposing order on young people who previously crowded the seats nearest the screen. Films screened that month included Those Love Pangs, starring Charlie Chaplin, and Captain Kidd Junior, starring Mary Pickford.

An old Russian cannon was displayed outside the town hall before the Second World War. In July 1940 the town council decided to hand over the cannon for scrap, to aid the war effort. Also donated was a large shell which had commemorated the town’s fundraising during the First World War.

In January 1954 the town hall was filled for the premiere of the first colour film with commentary in Welsh. Hwn Yw Fy Nyffryn I ("This Is My Valley") followed the course of the river Clwyd from source to sea. It was filmed, to a high standard, over three years by Denbigh Amateur Film Society as a local contribution to the Festival of Britain. The narrator was Ifan Williams of the BBC.

Today the town hall is a fully accessible venue for events, and the ground floor hosts markets and tabletop sales. The council chamber is still used by the town council.

Postcode: LL16 3TB    View Location Map

Website of Denbigh Town Hall

Watch Hwn Yw Fy Nyffryn I – BFI website