Salford Town Hall - Bexley Square Richard Lane was the architect of
the old Salford Town Hall, that was built between 1825
and 1827.
  It sits in Bexley Square just off
Chapel Street. The purple arrow on the map below
shows its location.
 It was originally built
as a Market Hall, a fact revealed by the information on
the map below. It is my version of one drawn in
1849 by which time it was indeed the Town Hall but
around it were East & West Market Streets and The
Market House Tavern.
 This was Lane's first
major commission and he went on to design other
buildings in Manchester that were variations on a theme,
as you can see below. The wreath motif that he had
used on Salford Town Hall was repeated again in
Chorlton-on-Medlock. Lane was responsible for the
facade and first bay of the Salford building.
Borough engineers were responsible for the rest.
 As you can see from the
1849 map the building was home to the business of the
Town Hall but also included a police station, fire
station and a court house. Today the business of
the City of Salford is conducted in the Civic Centre on
Chorley Road, in Swinton. The old Town Hall was
used as a Magistrates Court for many years but in
December 2010 an article appeared in the Salford
Advertiser that spoke to its future.
"A
campaign to save Salford magistrates courts from
closure has failed. The government has announced the
Bexley Square building will shut under its budget
cuts. The plan to close it was condemned earlier
this year by a union leader as an ‘outrageous attack
on the citizens of Salford and our justice
system’. But yesterday in the House Of Commons
parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Ministry
Of Justice, Jonathan Djanogly, justified its closure
by saying it was only ‘1,000 paces’ from the modern
Manchester magistrates court. The ageing Salford
landmark was to be replaced by a new £20m justice
centre in Eccles. But those plans were shelved
this year by the then justice secretary Jack Straw
because of the economic climate. The Grade II-listed
courts are in urgent need of modernisation. Parts of
the building, formerly Salford Town Hall, date from
1825." **********************
More View of the building  Above & Below - Ford Street  ************************  Above and Below - Browning Street  *****************  Above and Below - East Market Street    Note: The building doesn't curve like it appears to above - it's a trick of the camera. ********************* Bexley Square was the site of a
major confrontation on October 1st 1931. A
protest march organized by the Salford Branch of the
National Unemployed Workers Movement turned to
violent chaos when the estimated 10,000 marchers
were confronted by police on foot and on horses in
the square. The incident is commemorated by a
plaque on the front of the town hall. The
libcom.org website has an account of the events
reported by Wilf Grey, one of the participants in
the march. "
Orders passed. Mounted Police appeared at the
trot, and, on a sudden, a swarm of plain-clothes
men descended from nowhere and began to snatch
the placards from the hands of the
demonstrators, flinging them to the ground and
trampling them underfoot.
All around was a crush of shouting, bellowing,
screaming, angry and bewildered men and women.
They were pushing, pulling, trying to avoid the
swinging batons of the police and the terrifying
hooves of the horses. Some desperately tried to
shove their way out of the ambush while others
pushed forward.
A note of fierce hatred, deep and vengeful was
heard as the marchers broke through the
barricades. Alex Armstrong passed by holding his
large brass bell above his head like a Town
Crier. There was a lull for a few moments and
then, from behind the Town Hall dozens of
mounted police suddenly appeared followed by
foot police brandishing their clubs. They
charged and the first engagement was fierce. But
when the police tasted blood, they started
lashing out at anyone in their path."
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