Building record 14477 - Golden Gates, Town Hall, Warrington

<1> Oxford Archaeology North, 2018, Golden Gates, Warrington, Cheshire: Archaeological Watching Brief, R4264 (Client Report). SCH8618.

The Golden Gates form the entrance to Warrington Town Hall. The gates, which are Grade II Listed, were built as a contribution to the London Exhibition of 1862. The Town Hall, or 'Bank Hall', as it was formerly known, was built in 1750. Owned by the Patten family, the hall was purchased in 1872 by the borough of Warrington to use as the town hall. The Golden Gates were a late addition to the hall, erected on the site in 1894.

An archaeological watching brief was undertaken in November 2018 during groundworks in preparation for repairs to the Golden Gates, Warrington (SJ 60232 88147). The proposed work comprised the repair and conservation of the historic Golden Gates, also groundworks undertaken to assess the foundations of the structure.

The works comprised two test pits excavated up against the pillars of the gates in order to assess the foundations before repair work commenced. The test pits were approximately 1m square (although Test Pit 2 was extended 0.8m to the east), and the pits were excavated to a maximum depth of 0.9m. The test pits revealed that the foundations for the gates were not substantial. To the west, Test Pit 1 showed that the pillar was resting on a shallow brick foundation, whereas Test Pit 2 showed no structural foundation, instead the pillar was sat on made ground. (1)