Town Hall

Make sure your volume is on: "Garstang's Town Hall"

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The town hall that you see is a replacement for a much older building, which dated from 1680, but sadly in the 1750s it was burnt down and the present building was erected in its stead. However, the poor building suffered a second fire in January, 1939, and the sad thing for people like me who are interested in local history is that a great deal of the old documentation and records pertaining to the town were destroyed in the fires. However, a great deal has survived and that is an important source of information about the town's past.

The town hall we see at Garstang is thought to have been designed by the Gillow family of Lancaster, who, as is well known in these parts, designed the very famous customs house at Lancaster Quay in 1764. Our town hall dates from about 1755, and it is without doubt the jewel in Garstang's crown because towns like Garstang do not always have a civic building of this design and quality. The town hall at Garstang, came under the administration in 1883 of the Garstang Town Trust, whose task is to maintain the upkeep of the town hall and also to administer Garstang's weekly markets on Thursday.