History

The County Hall was built in 1572 by Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, infamous favourite of Queen Elizabeth Ist and one of the most colourful personalities of his age. Leicester had been created Baron Denbigh in 1563 and was granted the castle and lordship of Denbigh as a gift from the queen. In this capacity he became virtual governor-general of north Wales with his power-base centred on the seat of his lordship. His apparent ambition was to elevate the town of Denbigh from its position as a prosperous market town and regional centre to that of the seat and capital of the most powerful man in the realm. Two buildings, the County Hall and Leicester's Church, survive as testimony to Leicester's short-lived interest in the town. The church, the largest contemporary Protestant building in England and Wales, was apparently intended as a replacement for the cathedral of St Asaph, the intention being to transfer the see to Denbigh.

Leicester's overbearing and autocratic style soon alienated him from the majority of the gentry of north Wales and from the burgesses and townspeople of Denbigh who raised petitions and protests against him. All goodwill and support he might have initially gained was soon lost; it was replaced with acrimony and hostility and not long after Leicester sneeringly turned his back on 'ungrateful' Denbigh.

The County Hall was built to serve as the new town hall, with council and justice chamber on the first floor above a colonnaded covered market, in the manner popular for such municipal buildings in the C16 and C17. The hall was remodelled in simplified form c1780 at which time it received a rusticated entrance and new fenestration. The (primary) Renaissance colonnade, with its fine Tuscan columns, has been enclosed with glazed screen-walls in recent years, to create a museum and exhibition space; the upper floor now serves as the public library.

Exterior

Large rectangular hall building in simple Renaissance style. Of limestone rubble construction with limestone and sandstone dressings. Slab-coped gables to the front and rear with slate roof and two square slatted louvres with pyramidal roofs; squat end chimney to the rear gable, with simple cornicing. Symmetrical main, gabled elevation, with corbel-course forming a thin pediment at the top. Large central entrance with rusticated, round-arched surround of dressed limestone; projecting keystone. This has a broad stringcourse flanking it at low level which returns around onto the sides and rear of the building. To the R of the entrance is a late C19 limestone wall fountain with projecting semi-circular basin and finialled, gabled back-stone. Above the entrance is a large Venetian window with plain projecting surround and plain C20 glazing; evidence of primary windows (now blocked) flank this. Above this, in the centre of the corbel-course, is a circular clockface in a moulded oculus; relieving arch expressed above. Surmounting the gable is an aedicular rusticated bellcote with moulded pediment, round-arched bell opening and surmounting stone dome; decorative weathervane.

The N side faces Vale Street which descends steeply from the High Street on the L. The hall's rear gable end is correspondingly taller than the front and contains a basement, the entrance to which is at the L on the N side. The raised ground floor has a 5-bay arcade, presently glazed and with concrete lintels supported on (primary) Tuscan sandstone columns. Formerly there were six open bays; that to the L was subsequently blocked up and now has a 2-light window with plain raised architrave. Dividing the bays in the centre is a tall sloping buttress. To the L, beyond the 2-light window, is a similar 3-light window. Three further 3-light windows to the first floor, of which that to the L is of Venetian type.

The S side has a lower storeyed addition to the front (W) half, with flat roof and rounded front corner. A modern rubble-faced lift shaft addition rises from this to the roof-line.

Interior

The interior has been heavily-modernised, though a row of 7 primary Tuscan sandstone columns have survived to the (formerly partly-open) ground floor.

Reasons for Listing

Listed Grade II*, notwithstanding alteration, as an imposing public hall with good Georgian character in a prominent town-centre location, and for the special interest of its origins as an Elizabethan Renaissance town hall, built under the patronage of the Earl of Leicester, Baron Denbigh; as such an important testimony to his ambitions in North Wales.

Group value with other listed items in High Street and Hall Square.

Scheduled Ancient Monument. (AM 139)

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q17741069

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.

Recommended Books

• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)