If you’ve been in the High Street recently, it’s hard to miss the scaffolding around the Guildhall. Work is underway to clean and restore the building in the heart of Andover, which has been at the heart of the town since the nineteenth century. According to Test Valley Borough Council (TVBC), some areas of the building “require urgent attention” following years of erosion and decay. Here’s all you need to know about what’s taking place at the Guildhall:
What is the Guildhall? The Guildhall is a nineteenth century stone building located in the centre of Andover’s high street. It has served for many years as the political hub of Andover, with its rooms used to accommodate meetings and functions. The building also serves as an icon of Andover itself, with its image used on signs entering the town and to represent it in a variety of different settings.
Many readers will remember this imposing building that stood in Beech Hurst park, which from 1947 was the main council offices for Andover and later Test Valley. Set in extensive grounds that separate the Weyhill and Salisbury roads, the park is still largely as it was but the house was demolished in 1990 and a much larger modern building erected in its place. First called Hillside, it was built in the early 1850s for Harry Footner who was a solicitor at what is now 16 Bridge Street, today still the solicitors’ offices of Talbot Walker. Footner was born in Andover, the second generation of three who all served as town clerk for the borough between 1813 and 1885. A slightly earlier building called Hillside Cottage stood nearby on the site of the present Hillside Close.
Perhaps only the bandstand (itself now removed) provides a clue as to where this is, as everything in front has changed. This photograph was taken in the 1950s by the late Robert Vincent from the top floor of the Swan Court flats, looking out across the Vigo Road Recreation Ground. The top half of a lamp-post in the foreground marks East Street which then ran in a straight line from its junction with Vigo Road, down past the United Reformed Church, the Manse and the Georgian office buildings still extant today. Behind the lamp-post is a landscaped area and in the centre of the picture is the bowling green. Beyond that was a small putting green before reaching the path that ran alongside the bandstand, which was soon to become an aviary. Today’s recreation ground only begins at the point where the bandstand stood and it is startling to realise how much ground was lost when the large roundabout and underpass was constructed in the 1960s. Recent plans have hopes of removing th