Architecture

The new Commemorative Hall was completed by Spring 1888. The fashionable 1880s ‘Jacobethan’ style blended early seventeenth-century forms with late Gothic features, including ornate facades and rich interior woodwork. Originally, the Town Hall was enclosed by iron railings.

The distinctive red bricks came from Christmas Hill Brickworks in Moreton. After a chequered history, the brick works finally closed in 1939, when it was no longer economically viable.

Christmas Hill Brickworks, east of Rycote Lane (A329), relied on the railway (now closed) for transport. Image: https://astonrowant.wordpress.com/

The Town
Hall’s new turret clock was a gift from Samuel Lacey, Chair of Thame Urban District Council (1887-1893).
You can see the mechanism in the main museum.