The building was commissioned to replace a
timber-framed market house which dated back at least to the 15th century. By the late 18th century, the old building had become dilapidated and the
lord of the manor,
George Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont, whose seat was at
Petworth House, decided to demolish the old building and replace it with a new structure on the same site. The new building was designed in the
neoclassical style, built in
ashlar stone and was completed in 1793. The architectural historian
Nikolaus Pevsner was impressed with the bust and described it as "one of the finest baroque sculptures in England". In the 19th century, the arcading was infilled with round headed windows, and the building became known as Petworth Town Hall; at that time the assembly room on the first floor was used as a courthouse, while the ground floor was used as a store. The court room functioned as venue for the manorial court, the
court leet, the
quarter sessions and the
petty sessions. Items in the ground floor store included the local horse-drawn fire engine; a fire bell for summoning the local firemen was placed on the top of the pediment. The building was extended to the rear in a similar style but with a rendered brick finish in 1870. A major programme of refurbishment works was carried out with financial support from a local artist,
Gwenda Morgan, and from
English Heritage in the 1990s. As part of the works, the bust of King William III was relocated to Petworth House for safe-keeping and replaced with a replica which was paid for by
John Max Henry Scawen Wyndham, 7th Baron Leconfield, 2nd Baron Egremont. The former town hall became known as Leconfield Hall on recognition of the support from the Wyndham family. A further programme of works, costing £250,000, was carried out in summer 2021. The works allowed the hall on the ground floor to function as an exhibition area while the hall on the first floor was fitted out as a cinema with
raked seating; the cinema was re-opened with a performance of
No Time to Die in September 2021. ==See also==