Stow and District Civic Society
St Edwards Hall
St. Edward's Hall
Welcome to the historic market square of Stow-on-the Wold. At nearly 800ft above sea level, Stow is the highest Cotswold town. It is located at a point where the Roman Fosse Way and several other ancient routes cross and it has evolved as an important trading centre and meeting place with a history deeply steeped in the wool trade. It has a long history dating back to an Iron Age fortified settlement on top of the hill and had a special importance in the first English Civil War as the last battle was fought here back in 1646.
St. Edward’s Hall in the centre of the town square is not as old as it looks, having been erected in 1877-78 at a cost of £4,000. It was funded partly by subscription and partly by the Stow Provident Bank. When the bank closed down in 1861 it transferred most of the accounts to the new Post Office Savings Bank, but was left with a number of unclaimed accounts. These were prudently invested by the bank directors and the funds were later used to build the hall.
It was designed by Medland of Gloucester in a typical Victorian Gothic style to ‘harmonise with the Tudor buildings of the district' and replaced a number of older buildings in the square. It soon became the centre for social functions and local government meetings, and the home of the town's library and reading room, plus an art gallery and museum.
As can be seen from the photos here, it didn’t originally have a bell tower. This wooden structure was added later to house a fire bell. Up to that point one of the bells in St. Edward’s church was used as a fire bell, until the Reverend Robert William Hippisley insisted that this was affecting the smooth running of the church. A local landowner, Mr E. T. Godman, offered to provide a bell and the hall’s trustees took steps to raise funds for the bell’s turret. This work was completed in 1894.
Today, the building houses the library, Visitor Information Centre and an upstairs hall which is home to a large collection of Civil War portraits and is available for use by the community.
