PUBLIC BUILDINGS
BOOTHALL. (fn. 1)
A building on the south side of
Westgate Street, in the block between Berkeley
Street and Upper Quay Lane, was the original
seat of the government of the town as well as
playing an important role in its commercial life. A
building on or near the site was recorded as the
guildhall in 1192 when the burgesses were licensed to use it for buying and selling, (fn. 2) and the
Boothall was named in 1216. (fn. 3) A lease of land at
the site c. 1230, granted on behalf of the guild
merchant, suggests that separate parts of the same
group of buildings were then known as the guildhall and the Boothall (fn. 4) but later the two names
were used indiscriminately until the term guildhall lapsed altogether in the late Middle Ages.
Described as 'the Boothall of the community of
the town of Gloucester' in 1349, (fn. 5) the building was
used for the sittings of the hundred court (fn. 6) and as
a market hall; it was apparently the principal
leather market in 1273, (fn. 7) and by 1396 wool was
sold there and weighed on the official weighing
beams. (fn. 8) In 1455, and apparently by the early 14th
century, the buildings included an inn. (fn. 9)
In 1529 the corporation decided to rebuild the
Boothall, using £80 of a bequest made to the town
by Thomas Gloucester (d. 1447) for loans to
tradesmen; the sum was to be repaid over the
succeeding years out of the rents of the site and
the profits of the weighing beams. The rebuilding
was evidently completed before 1536. (fn. 10) Later the
Boothall and the Boothall inn were granted on
long leases by the corporation, which reserved the
use of the main hall for sittings of the hundred
court and the city assizes and quarter sessions and
the use of a great chamber called the election
chamber for the election of the city officers at
Michaelmas (and perhaps also for the election of
the M.P.s). By 1558, and perhaps from much
earlier, the Boothall was also being used as the
shire hall for Gloucestershire, the county assizes
and quarter sessions being held there. (fn. 11) A new
place for the sale of yarn was apparently provided
in the building in the mid 1580s, (fn. 12) and work
carried out in the years 1593–4 involved the
building of a 'new hall'. (fn. 13) In 1607 the Boothall was
to be rebuilt and enlarged and separate
courtrooms created so that the assize courts for
city and county could sit at the same time without
disturbing each other. (fn. 14) In 1613 the rooms used
for official purposes were the great hall and the
election chamber, both described as newly built,
and two other chambers, one used by the grand
jury. The chambers, entered from a gallery, (fn. 15)
apparently formed an upper storey at one end of
the great hall, which occupied the full height of
the building, its roof supported by a double row
of wooden posts. (fn. 16) The south end of the hall was
rebuilt in brick in 1761 following a fire, (fn. 17) but the
rest of the building remained of close-studded
timber-frame construction. (fn. 18) The Boothall inn,
occupying the street frontage of the site, (fn. 19) was also
a basically timber-framed building, but in the
18th century, apparently in the years 1742–3, it
was refaced as seven bays with a central pediment,
containing the city arms. (fn. 20)
From the mid 16th century the Boothall was
used by visiting companies of players, (fn. 21) and
concerts, plays, and performances by travelling
showmen were regularly staged there in the 18th
century and the early 19th. (fn. 22) The hall continued
to house the wool and leather markets until at
least the 18th century. (fn. 23) As courtrooms, however,
the Boothall was found increasingly inadequate;
by the 1770s the city quarter sessions had been
moved to the Tolsey (fn. 24) and in the early years of the
19th century some of the business of the county
sessions was done at the King's Head inn on the
other side of Westgate Street. (fn. 25) The Boothall
finally lost its role as a seat of justice in 1816 with
the opening of the new Shire Hall on an adjoining
site. The old hall was later used as a coach house
and stables for the Boothall hotel, (fn. 26) and, following
its sale by the corporation in 1868, it housed at
various times a music hall, skating rink, theatre,
and cinema. (fn. 27) It was largely rebuilt c. 1850 (fn. 28) and
again, following a fire, in the mid 1870s, (fn. 29) though
sections of timber-framed walling survived the
rebuildings. (fn. 30) The hall and the Boothall hotel
were demolished in 1957 (fn. 31) and the site was later
incorporated in the extended Shire Hall.
SHIRE HALL.
The Shire Hall, east of the
Boothall extending from Westgate Street through
to Bearland, was begun in 1815 and opened the
following year. (fn. 32) The cost was met by a county rate
and the building was vested in the county magistrates but, as the city assizes and quarter sessions
were also to use the new courtrooms, the corporation was made responsible for buying the houses
that had to be cleared from the site. (fn. 33) The new
building was designed by Robert Smirke. The
front part, opening on Westgate Street by a tall
Ionic portico said to be inspired by the temple on
the river Ilissus in Greece, included a grand jury
room, the office of the clerk of the peace (who had
previously occupied a nearby house), and a large
public room which was used for concerts during
the Three Choirs festival. The rear part of the
building comprised two semicircular courtrooms
linked by offices and retiring rooms for the judges
and counsel. (fn. 34) The front part was internally
remodelled in 1896 to provide a county council
chamber and new offices for the clerk of the peace,
county treasurer, and county surveyor, and a
substantial addition was made on its east side in
the years 1909–11. (fn. 35) Various temporary buildings
were put up on the west side of the Shire Hall after
1938. (fn. 36) During the early 1960s the front part of the
original building was rebuilt except for the portico (fn. 37) and the whole complex was massively enlarged by blocks of offices added on the west side and
extending over Bearland to connect with another
new block which incorporated the county police
headquarters. In the early 1970s another block was
built south of Quay Street on the site of the old
county militia barracks.
TOLSEY.
A building which stood on the south-west corner of the Cross was presumably in use
for town business by 1455 when it was owned and
occupied by the stewards. (fn. 38) It was mentioned by
the name Tolsey in 1507 in a context which
suggests that it was the place where property
deeds were filed. (fn. 39) It was rebuilt in the mid 1560s (fn. 40)
and again in 1603. By the latter date it had
become the venue for the meetings of the common
council; (fn. 41) in 1509 and until at least 1594 the
council held its meetings in a room at the east
gate. (fn. 42)
In 1622 a new room was made in the Tolsey as
an office for the town clerk who had previously
worked from an adjoining building. (fn. 43) In 1648
there was a major rebuilding of the Tolsey when
All Saints' church, which adjoined its north side,
was incorporated within it. The upper floor of the
new building was used for the council chamber
and the ground floor for the sheriffs' court. (fn. 44) The
former, in which sash windows were inserted in
1724, was jettied out over a colonnade and
surmounted by a wooden balustrade. (fn. 45)
The Tolsey was rebuilt in 1751 as a two-storeyed classical building of brick with stone
dressings, having a parapet surmounted by urns
and, over the main front to Westgate Street, a
pediment with a carving of the city arms and
insignia. (fn. 46) By the later 19th century the building
had become unsuitable for the increasingly
complex city administration; by 1889 the town
clerk and other city officers were housed in part of
the nearby corn exchange, (fn. 47) and traffic noise from
the streets was disturbing the councillors' meetings. (fn. 48) In 1892 the Tolsey was replaced by the new
Guildhall. Sold by the corporation the following
year, it was demolished and new premises for the
Wilts and Dorset Banking Co. built on the site. (fn. 49)
From 1843 until its sale part of the Tolsey had
been used as the city post office. (fn. 50)
GUILDHALL.
The new city hall, named the
Guildhall, was begun in 1890 and opened in 1892
on the site on the north side of Eastgate Street
formerly occupied by Sir Thomas Rich's school.
The building was designed by G. H. Hunt. It
extended back from Eastgate Street, on which it
had a stone front in Renaissance style, as far as
New Inn Lane and included offices for the town
clerk, accountant, surveyor, and other officials on
the ground floor and council chamber, committee
rooms, mayor's parlour, and public hall on the
first floor. (fn. 51) It remained in use for council meetings
and as the chief executive's offices until 1985
when the council sold it to the Cheltenham and
Gloucester Building Society and began moving its
headquarters to a converted warehouse at the
docks. Most of the city council administration was
then housed in two modern office blocks, the
planning and environmental departments in Spa
Road and the treasurer's and housing departments
on the north side of Barton Street.
CROSSES.
A cross stood at the main crossroads
in the centre of Gloucester by the mid 13th
century. (fn. 52) In 1455, when it was known as the high
cross, it was depicted as a structure with an
octagonal plan and two storeys, surmounted by a
spire; the upper storey had crocketed niches. The
lower storey had by then been adapted as a
conduit for the water supply brought by pipes
from Robins Wood Hill. (fn. 53) The cross is said variously to have been rebuilt in the reigns of Henry
VII and Henry VIII. (fn. 54) In 1635 it was repaired and
railed off at the instigation of Bishop Godfrey
Goodman who gave £20 towards the cost, and it
was repaired and regilded in 1694 and 1712. (fn. 55) It
was depicted in 1750 as a substantial structure,
rising to over 34 ft. in height, with a lower storey
of blind crocketed arches, an upper storey of eight
crocketed niches containing statues of sovereigns,
and an elaborate top stage with castellations and
pennants. Apart from the top stage, the cross
appears to have been mainly 14th-century work,
though the details of the two lower storeys are
difficult to reconcile with sketches made in 1455. (fn. 56)
The statues on the cross were listed c. 1710 as
those of King John, Henry III and Eleanor his
queen, Edward III, Richard II, Richard III,
Elizabeth I, and Charles I. (fn. 57) The original statue of
the last sovereign, removed from the cross in 1650
or 1651 after some soldiers had defaced it, had
been replaced by a new one at the Restoration. (fn. 58)
The choice of John, Henry III, Richard II, and
Richard III was presumably dictated by the
charters of liberties granted by those kings, and of
Queen Eleanor by her tenure of the lordship of
the borough during her widowhood. The cross
was demolished in 1751 as part of measures taken
for clearing obstructions from the streets. (fn. 59)
Other medieval crosses in the town included
one with a stepped plinth which stood by St.
Kyneburgh's chapel at the south gate in 1455, (fn. 60)
one recorded from the 13th century in the Island
below St. Bartholomew's Hospital, (fn. 61) and one,
mentioned in 1370, marking the borough boundary in the middle of Over causeway. (fn. 62) The cross
by St. Kyneburgh had been removed by 1551,
and in 1550 or 1551 two other crosses, at Alvin
gate and at one of the abbey gates, were pulled
down. (fn. 63) In 1647 a cross in the cathedral close,
evidently a fairly large one, was demolished. (fn. 64)
KING'S BOARD.
A structure known as the
King's Board which stood in the middle of
Westgate Street above Holy Trinity church was,
according to tradition, given to the town by
Richard II (fn. 65) and on architectural grounds can be
assigned to that period; the earliest documentary
record found is in 1455. (fn. 66) The small size of the
structure has led to the suggestion that its original
function was as a preaching cross (fn. 67) but by the
1580s it was used as a butter market. (fn. 68) In 1693 its
top was altered to accommodate a cistern for
storing water pumped up from the Severn by the
new water works built at Westgate bridge. (fn. 69) The
King's Board was taken down under the improvement Act of 1750 (fn. 70) and re-erected in the ornamental garden of the Hyett family on the castle
grounds. When the site was taken for building the
new county gaol in the 1780s the King's Board
was moved to the garden of a house in Barton
Street, from which it was moved by W. P. Price
to the grounds of Tibberton Court in the mid
19th century. (fn. 71) In 1937 it was brought back and
placed in the public gardens at Hillfield in
London Road. (fn. 72)
The King's Board is decagonal on plan, having
five bays of open arcading, the spandrels of the
arches being carved with scenes from the life of
Christ. (fn. 73) Effigies of heraldic beasts on the parapet
and a pyramidal roof, surmounted by a cross,
were taken down to make way for the cistern in
1693 (fn. 74) and it is possible that further alterations to
the form of the structure occurred during the later
removals and reconstructions.
SCRIVEN'S CONDUIT.
An elaborately carved
conduit was put up in Southgate Street in 1636 at
the cost of John Scriven and supplied with water
from the Robins Wood Hill pipe. (fn. 75) It was taken
down in 1784 or 1785 and moved to a garden in
Dog Lane on the east side of the city. In the 1830s
when that area was developed as the new Clarence
Street it was moved by Edmund Hopkinson to the
grounds of his house, Edgeworth Manor. (fn. 76) It was
returned to Gloucester at the same time as the
King's Board in 1937 and placed in the Hillfield
gardens. (fn. 77)
Scriven's Conduit is an open octagonal structure in a mixture of Gothic and classical styles,
having carved medallions, depicting the resources
of the Vale of Gloucester, on the entablature. The
top, which may not be original, as it is said to have
been rebuilt in 1705, (fn. 78) comprises an ogee-shaped
open canopy, the finial carved with allegorical
figures, one representing the river Severn.
STATUES.
Several statues of sovereigns once
adorned the main streets of the city. A statue of
Charles II was set up in a niche on the north end
of the wheat market house in Southgate Street in
1661 or 1662. (fn. 79) After the demolition of the market
house in the 1780s, it was moved to the garden of
a house at Chaxhill, Westbury-on-Severn. (fn. 80) In
1960 it was returned to Gloucester, damaged and
badly weathered, and was set up in a new housing
estate south of St. Mary's Square. (fn. 81) In 1686 the
Catholic mayor John Hill set up a statue of James
II on the conduit by Holy Trinity church, but
after the Revolution of 1688 it was broken up and
thrown into the Severn by soldiers quartered in
the town. (fn. 82) In 1711 or 1712 a statue of Queen
Anne, carved by John Ricketts, was put up near
the top of Southgate Street. (fn. 83) About 1780 it was
moved to the grounds of Paddock House, north of
the later Pitt Street, and in 1839 to College
Green. (fn. 84) In 1865 it was moved to the park at the
Spa, (fn. 85) where it remained, much weathered, in
1986. A statue of George I in Roman dress, also
by Ricketts, was put up in Westgate Street in 1720
and was moved to Eastgate Street near the barley
market house in 1766; (fn. 86) its later history has not
been traced.
In 1826 the place outside St. Mary's gateway
where Bishop Hooper was burnt at the stake in
1555 was marked by a monument in the form of a
small tomb, put up at the cost of J. R. Cleland of
Rathgael House, co. Down. (fn. 87) A more substantial
monument, paid for by public subscription, was
begun in 1861 and completed in 1863. Designed
by Medland and Maberly, it has an effigy of the
bishop by Edward Thornhill (fn. 88) under a crocketed
and pinnacled canopy. A statue of Robert Raikes,
a replica of one on the Thames embankment in
London, was set up in the park in 1930 to mark
the third golden jubilee of the Sunday School
movement. (fn. 89)