The first municipal building in Bradninch was an ancient guildhall, which was erected in the 12th century, rebuilt in the 15th century, and then re-built again after a fire in 1666. The western part of the building accommodated the Green Dragon Public House while the eastern part of the building accommodated a local lock-up on the ground floor and a meeting room for the borough council on the first floor. The whole complex was destroyed in another fire in 1832.[2]
The current building was designed in the neoclassical style, built in stone with a roughcast finish and was completed in 1835. The original design involved a symmetrical main frontage of three bays facing onto Fore Street. The central bay featured a round headed doorway flanked by two segmental headed windows; the first floor was also fenestrated by segmental headed windows. At roof level, there was a parapet, which was decorated by heraldic devices, including a spread eagle in the central position.[3] Internally, the principal rooms were a lock-up on the ground floor, the use of which was discontinued in 1865,[4] and an assembly room on the first floor.[1]
A Russian cannon, which had been captured at the Siege of Sevastopol and presented by the Prince of Wales, was mounted on a gun carriage, which was presented by Prince Albert, and was installed in front of the guildhall after the Crimean War.[5] The borough council, which had met in the guildhall, was abolished under the Municipal Corporations Act 1883.[6] The assets of the borough council, including the guildhall, were transferred to the newly created Bradninch Town Trust in 1889,[2] and the building subsequently served as a venue for concerts and other community events.[7]
A war memorial, in the form of a celtic cross on a stone shaft, which was intended to commemorate the lives of local service personnel who had died in the First World War, was unveiled outside the guildhall by Brigadier-General Edward Algernon D'Arcy Thomas on 22 February 1920.[8][9][10] The building was extensively remodelled in 1921: slightly recessed additional bays containing doorways, leading to new stairwells, were added at either end; a new square headed doorway with an architrave, flanked by brackets supporting a balcony, was installed in the central bay; and new bay windows were added in the flanking bays.[1]
Following local government re-organisation in 1974, the assembly hall became the meeting place of Bradninch Town Council.[11] A major programme of works, to convert various rooms on the ground floor into a single reception room, was completed in 1989,[2] and Mid Devon Council gave planning consent for a two-storey extension at the rear of the building in August 2022.[12]
