File:Bore Street, Lichfield - Guildhall - Donegal House - Tudor Cafe - clock (3676622648).jpg

The clock is on Donegal House.

Guildhall on the left, Donegal House on the right.

The Guildhall in Lichfield has been part of Lichfield's City government for 600 years. In forme times it had been a meeting place of the Corporation, but also at various times a court, a prison, police station, theatre and fire station.

The Guildhall takes its name from the ancient Guild of St Mary and St John the Baptist. The first Guildhall may have been on this site in 1387, when Richard II had confirmed the incorporation of the Guild, even though it had existed for many years.

The old prison had existed round the back since 1553.

Major rebuilding took place in 1707 and 1741, but the building was so ruinous it could of fell down.

By 1844 the Conduit Lands Trust promised to put the Guildhall right "once and for all".

In 1846 a gothic frontage was built, with the stained glass window transfered from Lichfield Cathedral in 1891.

These day the Guildhall is used for civic events and Council meetings.

The Guildhall, Lichfield

LICHFIELD

SK1109SE BORE STREET 1094-1/8/62 (South East side) 06/03/70 The Guildhall

GV II

Guildhall. Parts probably C16 or C17 but extensively rebuilt c1707 and extended to rear 1742; early C19 alterations; hall rebuilt 1846-8, by Joseph Potter Jnr of Lichfield. Brick with ashlar facade; brick rear wing; tile roofs. Right-angle plan with earlier rear wing. EXTERIOR: Hall in Gothic style: 2 storeys. Offset plinth, cornice over ground floor; 1st floor offset buttresses and sill course, coped gable. 2 pointed-arch entrances, that to left has triple-chamfered continuous moulding and hood to heavy door with strap hinges; that to right has hood and paired half-glazed doors with studs and strap hinges. 1st floor window has 5-light plate tracery with hood and relief flower motifs, plain blind roundel above. Stair wing to left has offset ground floor and coped parapet; 1st floor has 2-light single-chamfered plate tracery window. Plaque below window commemorates Coronation of Edward VII and Alexandra and is flanked by their busts. Returns have 2-light 1st floor windows with ashlar plate tracery. Rear wing of various dates, part to rear with rubble base and early brickwork over, incorporating blocked C16 window of 3 triangular-headed lights with brick mullions; C18 and C19 brickwork above; varied fenestration; left return has 3 sashed windows to 1st floor. INTERIOR: Passage with iron grille with gate and cells to left; hall has hammerbeam roof and panelling; arch to south has glazed infill over trefoil-headed arcading and benches used by quarter sessions; fireplace has segmental-pointed arch and C16 cast-iron fireback with Royal arms; 1811 stained glass to north window taken from north transept of Cathedral in 1891, figures of founders and patrons of the Cathedral and 1891 figure of Queen Victoria. Rear staircase has simple turned balusters, square newels and moulded handrail. c1710 cells to rear range have barrel vaults, segmental-headed entrances with original doors and shuttered and barred windows, benches and latrines; outer entrance and mullioned window now in later infill wing. HISTORY: The hall was used by the Guild of St Mary and St John the Baptist until its dissolution, and by the Corporation from 1548.

Listing NGR: SK1179609481

This is a Georgian Town House on Bore Street in Lichfield calld Donegal House. It is Grade II* listed. It is sandwiched between Lichfield's Guildhall and the Tudor Cafe. It was built for local merchant James Robinson in 1730.

The Tudor Cafe is a beautiful example of Tudor architecture, built in 1510 (at the beginning of the 16th century). If you visit the house on Bore Street in Lichfield today, you will visit the Tudor Cafe and Restaurant.

It was originally called Lichfield House, now it is Tudor of Lichfield. It was built when Henry VIII came to the throne, a year before.

Donegal House

   LICHFIELD

   SK1109SE BORE STREET
   1094-1/8/61 (South East side)
   05/02/52 Donegal House (Tourist Information
   Centre) and attached railings

   GV II*

   House, now council offices. 1730. Possibly by Francis Smith of
   Warwick. For James Robinson.
   Brick with stucco and ashlar dressings; parapeted roof with
   brick stacks.
   Double-depth plan. Early Georgian style.
   3 storeys with basement; symmetrical 5-window range. Plaster
   plinth with ground floor sill band; end Doric pilasters with
   triglyph entablature blocks; top cornice and stone-coped brick
   parapet with plaster terminals and 5 sections which brake
   forward over windows.
   Entrance has aedicule with attached Doric columns, entablature
   and segmental pediment, and 8-fielded-panel (2 glazed) door up
   steps with plain iron handrails. basement has segmental-headed
   windows with keys; other windows have shaped lintels with
   keys, those to ground floor over 6/9-pane sashes, those to
   upper floors with sills and aprons, 6/9-pane sashes to 1st
   floor, segmental-headed windows with 12-pane sashes to 2nd
   floor; central 1st floor window has eared and shouldered
   architrave with triglyph 'key', frieze and pediment, window
   above has similar architrave with shaped top and key. Iron
   area railings to left have decorative heads; 1928 clock on
   enriched brackets to left.
   Rear has cogged brick frieze with datestone just below; varied
   fenestration, ground floor has pegged cross casement, some
   6/9-pane sashes and round-headed stair window with small-paned
   sash.
   INTERIOR: inaccessible due to refurbishment (1990), but has
   open-well staircase with slender turned balusters; panelled
   rooms and window shutters.
   The house was used by the Marquess and Earl of Donegal, who
   lived at Fisherwick Hall from 1761 until his death in 1799. In
   1910 the house was bought to serve as an extension to the
   Guildhall.
   (Victoria History of the County of Stafford: Greenslade M W:
   Lichfield: Oxford: 1990-: P.43, 83, 242-3; Buildings of
   England: Pevsner N: Staffordshire: London: 1974-: P.194).