Former Chadderton Police Station, Chadderton, Oldham

Summary

Former police station and court building, Jacobean Revival, designed for the Lancashire Constabulary, 1901.

Description

MATERIALS
Red Accrington brick, mainly laid in English garden wall bond, sandstone dressings, slate roofs.

PLAN
Complex. Front range is parallel to Victoria Street with the original Inspector's house forming the left end extending into a rear wing; the court chambers to the centre on the first floor with the courtroom behind the front range in the centre of the building. The police station facilities were originally mainly on the ground floor with the extended custody suite to the rear left and dormitory and other facilities in wings and cross wings to the rear right.

EXTERIOR
Victoria Street frontage:
Two storeys, seven unequal bays topped by four tall, stone-banded ridge stacks, that to the left gable being truncated. The odd bays have Dutch gables surmounted and flanked by ball topped finials. The even bays are narrower, each originally with an entrance with an ornamented lintel, that to the centre carrying the date 1901, but converted into a window at the time of survey. The end bays each have a ground floor canted bay window topped with a shaped parapet with ball finials. The bay to the right of centre is the widest and projects forward. This includes projecting stone sculpture incorporating the text "County Police" between the ground and first floor windows and a cartouche to the centre of the gable. The elevation is unified by a stone plinth course, ground and first floor sill bands, and a ground floor lintel band. First floor windows have individual drip courses rather than a continuous lintel band. Openings are all stone framed with chamfered reveals, the windows having stone mullions and transoms which are similarly chamfered. Joinery and glazing appears to be later replacements.
Rear:
Plainer and more domestic in character, generally with brick arched window openings with sash windows, although a number of windows have been altered with inserted stone lintels. To the very rear of the building there is a stone door surround matching those to Victoria Street, although this entrance has been bricked up. Later C20 alterations/extensions are not of special interest.

INTERIOR
Most of the interior has been re-ordered with the loss of original features such as fireplaces, joinery and plasterwork; however a group of original features survive which are of special interest: This includes the principal staircase which is Jacobean in style featuring oak splat banisters. This is lit by a stained glass stair window and leads to a first floor landing serving a set of oak architraved doors exhibiting a hierarchy of forms. The principal doorway is pedimented and has a six panelled door leading to the Magistrates' retiring room, another doorway has a panelled reveal and leads to the former courtroom whilst a third doorway has a door that is part glazed with stained glass. The Magistrates' retiring room is a large, high ceilinged room occupying the largest bay in the front range. It has oak panelling and a Jacobean Revival ornamented ceiling. At the time of survey, the courtroom was partially subdivided with a stud partition and the ornamental kingpost roof structure was concealed by a suspended ceiling. The custody suite on the ground floor includes an original set of four cells, but the general layout and fittings of the suite is mainly a product of the later C20 alterations.

History

Chadderton developed as a town in the second half of the C19, mainly prompted by the growth of the cotton spinning industry. Its first police station was converted from a pair of terraced houses on Middleton Road in 1875, two years after the establishment of the Local Board of Health which became Chadderton Urban District Council in 1894. The growth in population (more than tripling between 1861 and 1901) to about 25,000 prompted the need for a purpose built police station and court. This building was the second purpose built civic building in the town (following the original public baths of 1894), and went on to form the original civic core of Chadderton. The building included a house for the inspector, dormitory provision for six constables, and a Police Court (these courts becoming Magistrates' Courts after 1949) in addition to typical police station facilities. The Magistrates' Court was discontinued in about 1969 and the building as a whole was refurbished and altered internally in 1994 when it is understood that a number of stained glass windows were removed and given to the local Historical Society for safe keeping. The police station remained in use until closure in 2009.

Reasons for Listing

The former Chadderton Police Station, a small town police station and court building of 1901, is designated at grade II for the following principal reasons:

* Architecture: For its well composed and detailed Jacobean Revival frontage to Victoria Street.

* Group value: With other civic buildings within the Old Town Hall Conservation Area, particularly the adjacent former Central Library.

* Local history: As one of the earliest purpose built civic buildings forming the original core of Chadderton, displaying the civic pride and confidence of this newly developing town.

* Interior features: For retaining a coherent group of features associated with the Police/Magistrates' Court including good quality joinery, plasterwork and stained glass.

External Links

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.