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DEVIZES Town Hall opened with a grand ball 200 years ago this year and ever since has been the centre of community activities.

Another ball will take place in October to celebrate the bicentenary of the Grade II* listed building and once again the Regency style Assembly Room will echo with the sounds of baroque music and the genteel clipping of heels on floorboards.

Devizes in 1808, in its heyday of wool trade and textile manufacture, had its fair share of public buildings.

The "Old Town Hall", also known as the Clock House and now the home of C&G, was built in 1752 and only functioned as a town hall for a few years.

In 1803, the architect James Wyatt reported that the fabric of the Wool Hall in St John's Street was in a very dangerous and alarming situation and was not worth repairing.

A new town hall was planned for the site and built between 1806 and 1808.

The architect was Thomas Baldwin, designer of the Bath Guildhall, but local tradesmen were used for masonry, tiling and plasterwork, the main contractor being Benoni White, the town's leading builder of the time.

The hall was the seat of local government and the Borough Council and then the Devizes Rural District Council operated from there until 1974. The building was also the venue for events including meetings of the town council, organisations and occasionally an inquest.

Public rooms included the Assembly Room on the first floor, decorated in the delicate pastel shades fashionable during the Regency period, the Cheese Hall on the ground floor and the Grand Jury Room, which now houses the bar.

The council chamber is also on the first floor and round the walls can be seen royal decrees and other public documents from previous centuries and paintings of the town, including a rather romanticised view of Devizes Castle at its medieval peak.

In the foyer are two 17th century wooden panels, bearing the town's coat of arms, which were donated by Wiltshire Heritage Museum.

Following the end of the Crimean War in 1856, because of the connection with the Wiltshire Regiment, the town was presented with one of the Russian cannons seized at Sebastapol, but this disappeared along with the railings during the Second World War when most metal objects were taken for the war effort.

In 1995, community theatre company Theatre in the Downs mounted a spectacular production on the history of the town entitled 1810.

The plot revolved around the opening of the Kennet and Avon Canal and the production culminated in a ball at the town hall.

The present town council has invested heavily in the building fabric, largely renovating the offices, improving disabled access and installing a lift. New carpets were laid and the building is now fit to face the next 200 years.

2:32pm Monday 4th February 2008

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