Hanley Townhall

And now for the grandest (at least in my humble opinion) and most frequently used building in this collection, Hanley Town Hall. It is now an administrative building and is where I personally officially registered the birth of my son back in 2010. This amazing building started life in 1869 as a hotel. What a place to stay in those days. Even today it’s an impressive building so imagine how fancy it must have felt almost 200 years ago. It gets its name from the fact that it was indeed a town hall between 1884 and 1888. After that it was converted to courts and offices for the council for which it is still used today. Inside there are a number of courts that have changed very little since Victorian and even Edwardian times.  

You can also see in the night-time photograph the statue in front of the building. This was unveiled in 1922 to commemorate the dead of World War 1. You might just be able to make out the snake at her feet symbolising the defeat of evil. A