Old Town Hall 1842 - 1883, Newport

Photo reference number: 1556

From 'Historic Newport' by James Matthews, 1910.

This was Newport's first town hall. It was situated in Commercial Street and accommodated the police station. Building work commenced in 1838, but the Home Office stopped construction work while they decided if Newport needed a town hall! It was completed in 1842 and opened officially on January 31st 1843. However it soon was found to be too small for the needs of a town growing at the rate that Newport was and a new town hall was built in 1884. This also became too small for Newport's needs and in 1935 the decision was made to build the present Civic Centre.

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The town hall in 1874

The second town hall 1883