THE SOUTH DEVON 



MONTHLY MUSEUM. 



PLYMOUTH, APRIL 1, 1833. 



No. 4.] PRICE SIXPENCE. [VOL. I. 



THE PERAMBULATOR, No. IZZ. 



THE OLD GUILDHALL. 



THE old Guildhall, as the present generation call the 

 edifice which was taken down in 1800, was erected in 

 1606, in the early part of the reign of James 1st. ; and 

 then probably not on the site of a former building, but 

 on one adopted as a vacant place in the Town, and in 

 a more central situation than Southside Street, where 

 the preceding Hall was situated. In February, 1607, 

 it appears, in one of the books of the Corporation, 

 that the Worshipful body had not counted the cost be- 

 fore they commenced the work, for by a bye-law it is 

 stated, " That a parcel of the Guildhall had been of 

 ' late new builded for the keeping and holding of 

 * the King's Majesty's Court, and Courts of the said 

 1 Borough, and that the said Town was greatly in- 

 ' debted for the building thereof, and were not able to 

 ' clear the same without selling some part of the re- 

 ' venue thereof, to the great discredit of the Town and 

 ' Corporation ; " an assessment was therefore made on 

 all the Inhabitants of the Town, by the Mayor, twelve, 

 and twenty four, to raise a sum of money towards 

 the building of the same . It might afford some 

 amusement if we could state the expence of erect- 

 ing this Edifice, but as the entry of the charge is mixed 

 with other buildings, the separate cost of the Guildhall 

 cannot be ascertained. The entry is as follows, " The 

 " charges of building the Guildhall and Flesh Sham- 

 VOL. i. 1833. " Q 



