With Kind permission of Pontefract Town hall - Visited with Ant
Background;
The building was built in 1785 and was the first building ever to hold a secret ballot so is the birthplace of our modern elections. The building has many beautiful rooms one of which contains a monument to Lord Nelson. It has jail cells in it's basements the door to which can be seen on the outside of the building. The building was home to the towns police force and was the Police Station for the town over 150 years ago, when Pontefract Borough had one of the oldest established police forces in the Country. The cells were last used in the early 1960s, when the Court House in Pontefract was being renovated and the Courts were held in the Town Hall.
Unfortunately the actual police station has been converted from a victorian style house of the law into a NPT desk for the WY police and so only the holidng cell and the older cells which are almost unrecognisable due to it being used as a coal store, are viewable to the public.
As mentioned above the hall holds a little bit of fame, an original part of Nelsons collum showing Nelsons last moments at the battle of Trafalgar aboard the HMS Victory, which was brought to Pontefract via horse and cart in 6 pieces. Our guide Stan was kind enough to let us have a look around the Nelson room (Old court room);
Thanks for looking
Background;
The building was built in 1785 and was the first building ever to hold a secret ballot so is the birthplace of our modern elections. The building has many beautiful rooms one of which contains a monument to Lord Nelson. It has jail cells in it's basements the door to which can be seen on the outside of the building. The building was home to the towns police force and was the Police Station for the town over 150 years ago, when Pontefract Borough had one of the oldest established police forces in the Country. The cells were last used in the early 1960s, when the Court House in Pontefract was being renovated and the Courts were held in the Town Hall.
Unfortunately the actual police station has been converted from a victorian style house of the law into a NPT desk for the WY police and so only the holidng cell and the older cells which are almost unrecognisable due to it being used as a coal store, are viewable to the public.
As mentioned above the hall holds a little bit of fame, an original part of Nelsons collum showing Nelsons last moments at the battle of Trafalgar aboard the HMS Victory, which was brought to Pontefract via horse and cart in 6 pieces. Our guide Stan was kind enough to let us have a look around the Nelson room (Old court room);
Thanks for looking
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