Morley Town Hall


Morley Town Hall is a municipal facility with a clock tower in Morley, West Yorkshire, England. It is a Grade I listed building.

History

After the town secured borough status in 1885, the first Mayor of Morley, Joseph Schofield, ran a design competition for a new town hall: there were 73 entries submitted. The competition was won by Henry Holtom and George Arthur Fox from Dewsbury with a Neoclassical style design. The foundation stone was laid by Tom Clough, the then Mayor of Morley, on 8 October 1892. The building cost over £41,000 to build and featured a colonnade with a Roman frieze on the pediment and a dome which is 160 feet high. A clock, known as the "Sam Rhodes Clock" and named after Councillor Sam Rhodes, the chairman of the Town Hall Committee, was installed in April 1995. The building was officially opened by H. H. Asquith MP on 16 October 1895.
When it opened the Alexandra Hall featured three tall bas-reliefs by Ellen Mary Rope, high up above the dais.
On the morning of 18 August 1961, a fire broke out in the nearby Albert Mills which, before demolition, were used for storing paper. As the mill burned, sparks and burning paper were blown against the dome of the town hall and set alight its timber construction. Within two hours the dome was destroyed and the clock put out of action. Restoration was completed on 14 December 1962.
The ITV show Emmerdale used the hall for both interior and exterior shots in spring 2007.