Morley Town Hall
Encyclopedia
Morley Town Hall is a grand building, with a clock tower located in Morley, West Yorkshire
Morley, West Yorkshire
Morley is a market town and civil parish within the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England. It lies approximately south-west of Leeds city centre. Together with Drighlington, Gildersome, Churwell, Tingley and East/West Ardsley, the town had a population of 47,579 in...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The hall's main steps have a colonnade
Colonnade
In classical architecture, a colonnade denotes a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building....

 with a Roman frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...

 on the pediment
Pediment
A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...

. Morley Town Hall is situated on Queen Street in the centre of Morley. It bears a strong resemblance to Bolton Town Hall, being designed by the same architect. It is a Grade I listed building. The building retains a large amount of original features, including halls, a courtroom and holding cells, all of which contribute to the building being chosen often as a local filming location. ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

 shows Emmerdale
Emmerdale
Emmerdale, is a long-running British soap opera set in Emmerdale , a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, Emmerdale was first broadcast on 16 October 1972...

 and Heartbeat both use the Hall for both interior and exterior shots.

Celebrations

Morley Town Hall is often the centrepiece of local celebrations. During the run-up to Christmas the surrounding fir
Fir
Firs are a genus of 48–55 species of evergreen conifers in the family Pinaceae. They are found through much of North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa, occurring in mountains over most of the range...

 trees are usually covered in large gold baubles and the decorative Christmas lights are controlled from atop grand stairs.
Bonfire Night
Guy Fawkes Night
Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Guy Fawkes Day, Bonfire Night and Firework Night, is an annual commemoration observed on 5 November, primarily in England. Its history begins with the events of 5 November 1605, when Guy Fawkes, a member of the Gunpowder Plot, was arrested while guarding...

 is an annual celebration that takes place on November 5 in which fireworks will light up the sky above Morley Town Hall.
At these celebrations there is usually a band, a celebrity and quite a few attractions. Typically there will be trinkets on sale, a small Ferris wheel
Ferris wheel
A Ferris wheel is a nonbuilding structure consisting of a rotating upright wheel with passenger cars attached to the rim in such a way that as the wheel turns, the cars are kept upright, usually by gravity.Some of the largest and most modern Ferris wheels have cars mounted on...

 and other children's rides as well.

Clock Tower

The clock was completed on April 20 1895, and for years it would be known as "Sam Rhodes Clock" named after Councillor Samuel Rhodes who set about installing the clock.
The town's only previous clock had been blown from the top of the Local Board Offices during a gale
Gale
A gale is a very strong wind. There are conflicting definitions of how strong a wind must be to be considered a gale. The U.S. government's National Weather Service defines a gale as 34–47 knots of sustained surface winds. Forecasters typically issue gale warnings when winds of this strength are...

 some twenty years before. The people of Morley were very much in favour of the new clock, which would be seen for miles. The clock chimes the Westminster chimes made famous by Big Ben
Clock Tower, Palace of Westminster
Big Ben is the nickname for the great bell of the clock at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, and is generally extended to refer to the clock or the clock tower as well. It is the largest four-faced chiming clock and the third-tallest free-standing clock tower in the world...

 in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, and the belfry
Bell tower
A bell tower is a tower which contains one or more bells, or which is designed to hold bells, even if it has none. In the European tradition, such a tower most commonly serves as part of a church and contains church bells. When attached to a city hall or other civic building, especially in...

 still contains the wartime air raid siren
Civil defense siren
A civil defense siren is a mechanical or electronic device for generating sound to...

. Unfortunately access to the clock is no longer permitted because of health and safety reasons.
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