More information : [ST 32130857] Chapel [N.R.] (Site of). (1)
The so-called "New Work" in Chard blocked the intersection
of the four main streets. It was removed in June,1834. (2)
It was also called the Guildhall and was no doubt used as such,
as it certainly was for municipal purposes. It had the appearance
of an ecclesiastical building in the late Perpendicular style
of the half century preceding the Reformation, and is described
in a deed dated 1570 as a building "considered to have been a
chapel of ease, but there is no evidence to prove it.." (a)
Two paintings of the former Shire Hall, known as "New Work" hang
in the Town Hall. (b) There is a print of the Old Guildhall in
Taunton Museum Library. (c). (3-4)
The New Work is mentioned in 1652 when the Chard Baptists,
having no place of worship, petitioned Cromwell for the use of
the building. The petition describes it as the Town Hall in
Chard and it was then vacant and unoccupied. It was demolished
in 1821. (5)
An entry in the accounts of Chard Corporation, dated 1821,
refers to the removal of certain sheds called the 'New Work'
erected in 1722, around the Guildhall. The same entry refers to
repairs to the Guildhall.(a) (6)
The Corporation Minute Book has entries dated 1833 resolving
that the Guildhall be taken down and erected in a more convenient
place. (7)
From the recorded information it is evident that the 'New Work'
demolished in 1821 was only an appendage to the Guildhall and
that the main structure survived, as Pulman says, until 1834.
Photogroph of picture of old Guildhall. AO/60/72/4. (8)
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