Municipal Buildings, Taunton

Municipal building in Taunton, Somerset, England

The Municipal Buildings are historic buildings in Corporation Street, Taunton, Somerset, England. The buildings, which were the home of Taunton Grammar School before becoming the headquarters of Taunton Borough Council, are Grade II* listed.

The east end of the current building, which was commissioned as a school, dates back to about 1480. Foxe gave the school an endowment in the shape of a small manor near Chard. In the late 18th century this was producing an income of some £40, enough to pay a schoolmaster but little more. On Foxe's instructions, the mastership of the school was to be in the gift of the Warden of New College, Oxford "for ever". The school was badly damaged by the Parliamentarian forces commanded by Robert Blake in the Sieges of Taunton between September 1644 and July 1645 during the English Civil War. In 1818 a writer on schools was puzzled to note that although the school had fine buildings, including a school room "of vast dimensions", it had had "no scholars" for many years. The school moved to South Road in 1870 but, after getting into financial difficulties, it returned to Corporation Street in 1880, before closing completely in 1885. opened in the former Roman Catholic Church on The Crescent in 1890: this evolved to become known as Bishop Fox's School.

After Taunton became a municipal borough in 1885, civic leaders decided to acquire the vacant grammar school building in Corporation Street and to convert it for municipal use in 1887. However, the council eventually moved to modern facilities at Deane House on Belvedere Road in spring 1987. Queen Elizabeth II, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, visited Taunton and saw the work being undertaken to convert the Municipal Buildings for future use on 8 May 1987. The building was re opened as a voluntary service centre by Princess Margaret on 12 June 1987.

The building was designed in the Tudor style and it was built with rubble walls and ashlar stone dressings. The design involves an asymmetrical main frontage of eleven bays facing onto Corporation Street. The eastern section features five light mullioned windows while the western section features gablets containing two light mullion windows. There is a bellcote in the centre of the roof. Internally, the main rooms are the council chamber (originally a boys' dormitory), the main hall (originally the schoolroom) and the mayor's parlour.