Manchester Town Hall

#manchestertrips The new Town Hall is a former technical college in Library Street, Manchester, Greater Manchester which was converted into a municipal facility in 1990. The building, which was designed by Briggs and Wolstenholme in the Baroque style, was opened by the Countess of Crawford as the Wigan Mining and Technical College in 1903. The design included a porch with large Ionic order columns and frieze above with the words "Mining Technical College". The design also included four turrets with cupolas at roof level. After expanding into new areas such as building and the arts, the college became known as Wigan College of Technology. The college needed larger premises to accommodate this expansion and secured new facilities in Walkden Avenue in 1990. This enabled the vacated building in Library Street to be converted into a municipal facility to replace the aging old Town Hall at the corner of King Street and Rodney Street. The newly-converted facility was officially opened as the new headquarters of the Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council by the Princess of Wales on 25 November 1991. Close to the new Town Hall is the Wigan Mining Monument unveiled in 2020. The statue, created by sculptor Steve Winterburn, depicts a man, woman and child, probably a family, all of who worked in the pits. They’re wearing the traditional footwear – wooden clogs with clog irons and as the sculpture doesn’t have base or plinth so that they appear to be walking on the cobbled street.