It will soon be 70 years since Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone opened Kingston's new Guildhall, the building that had just changed the face of the town centre more than any other single building before, and which is still one of the handsomest of its kind in Britain.

So it's an appropriate time to look afresh at the headquarters of Britain's oldest Royal borough and to recall that, though July 3 is officially its 70th birthday, we could, if we chose, regard it as a millenary or more. For Kingston has had a guildhall or its equivalent for more than a thousand years.

A "Moot Hall" is said to have been built in the 9th century but, according to printed sources in Kingston Museum's local history room, was burnt down late in the 13th century and replaced with a "Vill Hall."

This in turn gave way to a new "Guildhall" in about 1500, after King Edward 1V granted the town the privilege of incorporation, plus the right to hold a Saturday court of law. Thus the new building served the dual purpose of Guildhall and Court Hall referred to as "le Corte Hall" in old documents.

In 1703 there was a gigantic storm, which wrought more than £2million worth of havoc in central London, and destroyed the steeple of Kingston Parish Church, together with the upper part of the tower. (the steeple was never replaced, but the top portion of the tower was rebuilt in brick as we see it today).

The timbered medieval Guildhall, sited a few yards from the church gates in Market Place, must also have suffered. At any rate, the following year Kingston Corporation decided the old building must be restored, modernised and enlarged. As a finishing touch, the gilded statue of Queen Anne that still gazes over the Market Place was commissioned from sculptor Francis Bird.

It took two years to raise the money for this great undertaking, the corporation resorting to such desperate measures as selling off trees, wood and old iron.

Their efforts were crowned in 1706 with a "rearing dinner" to celebrate the raising of the Queen's statue to its alcove over the south door of the refurbished Guildhall. Fourteen shillings (70p) was spent on liquor from The Bull in Thames Street and nearly 16 shillings (80p) on beef, veal, bacon, butter and tobacco for the feast.

By the start of the 19th century this once-splendid Guildhall was so shabbily outdated that demolition was the only sensible option. It is wryly typical of old Kingston that 30 years of procrastination preceded the new building, and bitter arguments accompanied its construction.

The building committee was dissolved in acrimony and at one point the architect, Charles Henman, threatened to abandon the scheme altogether.

Civic incompetence was probably the reason. An act passed by Parliament as early as 1808 had given the corporation authority to sell certain lands, and use the cash to improve or rebuild the town hall. Even so, when the work eventually got under way, three decades later, there was still so little cash in hand that much of the £3,800 had to be raised by subscription.

The new building proved an excellent bargain. It was (and, in its present role as the Market House, still is) distinctively attractive. It was also versatile, providing market accommodation below and, on its first floor, a court room, and a council chamber described by a Victorian chronicler as "presenting an appearance seldom met with in chambers devoted to the meetings of municipal bodies, even in boroughs of the highest pretensions."

When the building opened in 1840, Kingston had a population of just over 8,000. By 1883 that figure had increased four-fold and a new, larger civic centre was demanded and discussed by council members.

However, nothing happened for the next 50 years, during which time the local population soared to 106,000.

At last, in January 1934, contractors began creating the building that, the following year, was to remove Kingston's local government power base from the Market Place for the first time in its history.

The architect was Maurice Webb and the official opening by Princess Alice took place on July 3, 1935.

The Mayor, Sir Alfred Woodgate, summed up the corporation philosophy behind the new landmark: "It is hoped that the building will be considered as a simple and direct solution of modern needs, with no waste in size and decoration, but with some dignity to assist in the due development of the responsibilities of the Royal Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames."

Since then, Kingston has been merged with the neighbouring boroughs of Malden and Coombe and Surbiton, losing its hyphens in the process, and civic responsibilities have so vastly increased that a second Guildhall was built behind the first in 1981.

  • To be continued next week.