1841.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



.33 



NEW TOWN HALL, ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE. 



Architects, Messrs. Young and Lee. 

 With an Engraving, Plate II. 



A brief dfscription of this building appeared in the No. for hist 

 July. It is in the Roman style of architecture, and consists in front 

 of "an attached Corinthian colonnade in antis, surmounted by a balus- 

 trade of the same order, which forms a parapet to the centre of the 

 facade, and is crowned liy a group of sculpture. The wings consist of 

 a single interpilaster, and terminate above with a plain parapet. The 

 two flanks of the building are alike ; and consist simply of three win- 

 dows in length, each similar to those in front, with antK at the corners 

 only. The attic wall with its cornice is also continued round the flanks. 

 The internal arrangements, it will be seen, demanded that the front wall 

 sliould form an uninterrupted line, and be pierced with windows along 

 its entire length ; and it was therefore considered preferable to have 

 attached columns — an arrangement adopted in tlie Erectheium at 

 Athens. The order itself is divided into two stories, and is elevated 

 upon a loflv stylobate. Its proportions are chiefly taken from the 

 Pantheon at" Rome. A dentil cornice, instead of one with modillions, 

 is used to save expense. 



The design although making no pretensions to originality, is in keep- 

 ing with the style adopted, and does credit to the architects, Messrs. 

 Y'oung and Lee of Manchester. 



This building, erecting from designs by one of the architects en- 

 gaged, Mr. William Young, of Manchester, is now on the point of 

 being roofed in. It stands on the north side of the new market-place, 

 Ashton-under-lyne ; a town which, compared with its size, may be 

 said to be rich in public and private biuldings of importance. Many 

 of these are of a very tasteful character, and certainly reflect great 

 credit on the spirit of the inhabitants. The main portion of the edi- 

 fice before us, being that shown on the plan, is entirely faced with 

 tooled Ashlar, from the quarries of Saddleworth, in Lancashire, and 

 the remainder of the building faced throughout, with stone from the 

 neighbourhood, neatly hammer-dressed. 



Ground Plan. 



Scale 30 feet to an inch. 



A, Area. P, Piazza, 33-0 x 8-G. E H, Entrance Hall, 33-0 x Sl'O. S, 

 part of Staircase. C K, Committee Rooms, 26-0 x 24-0. C 0, Collector's 

 Office, 13-0 X 24-0. W R, Waiting Room, 246 x 13-0. 



The plan will describe the principal floor, which is IG feet Iiigh 

 in the clear, and comprises an entrance hall, approached by a piazza 

 in front, and arranged as a triple colonnade of the Ionic order. A 

 handsome geometrical stone staircase, •24'x21' leads from this to the 

 first floor of the building, whose principal feature is a large public 

 room extending over the entire space shown in the i)lan, s3 ft. in 

 length by 4U ft. in width, and 2s feet high to tlie cove. The ceiling, 

 as will be seen by the accompanying section, is divided longitudinally 

 into a centre and two side compartments, the former of which is a 

 segmental core with double panels or lacunars, the upper ones being 

 enriched with open rosettes, screening the ventilators in the roof. 

 To aftbrd light and give eflfect to these and the members of the ceiling 

 generally, a circular or wheel vv'indow of an ornamental character is 

 placed in eacli tympanum or plane extremity of the cove. The 

 cornice and fascia round the room are entirely plain, and where the 

 latter crosses the ceiling transversely, dividing the three compart- 



ments before mentioned, ornamental brackets or cantilevers are intro- 

 duced, connecting the soflit with the opposite walls. The doors and 

 windows of the room are finished with architraves and cornices with 

 plain consoles. Attached to if is a suite of ante and retiring rooms. 

 It is intended for the use of ]iublic meetings, assemblies, N:c., as well 

 as for holding petty sessions; fortius latter purpose it communicates 

 on one side by a circular stone staircase with the police office on the 

 ground floor, and a range of stone lock-ups in the basement. All the 

 doors in the entrance hall and staircase, have architraves and cornices 

 in keeping with the finishings of the large room. The whole of the 

 timbers thi-oughout are Kyanized. This building will be erected for 

 less than the sum specified in the architects' estimate. 



ENGINEERING HONOURS AND REWARDS. 



It seems to be an admitted fact that England is, of all countries, that 

 in which the fewest and most trifling honorary distinctions are con- 

 ferred upon men of science — a proposition in which our readers are 

 doubtless fully prepared to express their acquiescence, as one which 

 they have always heard uncontroverted and deplored. For this cause 

 our men of science have complained, and the policy of our government 

 has been called in question, for certainly all history and experience 

 attest to us that honorary distinctions are those rewards which are 

 most grasped at, and most fiercely contended for. It was for a perish- 

 able crown of leaves from the neighbouring t. ees that kings entered 

 the lists at Olympia, and Grecian heroes exerted all their powers. It 

 is with such feeling that the man of science looks forward to a dis- 

 tinction which is to herald him in society, and to be perhaps the only 

 reward of the labours of years, and of the greatest triumphs of the 

 mind. — The astronomer, the geologist, the mathematician, the natu- 

 ralist has few golden premiums to look forward to, a scanty profes- 

 sorship or a death-bed pension is the limit of his hopes, and he clings 

 the more to a recompense which is but an acknowledgment of services, 

 for which he can obtain no pay. The system is good, and we do not 

 wonder that our countrymen strive for its extension, we are only sur- 

 prised that they should make invidious comparisons as to their native 

 land, when a little consideration would teach them that their lot is not 

 so much to be contemned. Napoleon gave, it is true, his counties and 

 his baronies, his grand crosses and his stars pretty liberally — the same 

 may be said of other governments — now we have to ascertain what 

 our own authorities have done in this respect. M. Arago complains 

 most truly that we did not make Watt and others peers, but both he 

 and most" others seem neither to have reflected upon the reason for 

 this omission, nor to have noticed what really has been done. Politi- 

 cal power is one thing, honorary distinction another, and in no country 

 that we are aware of, although isolated instances occur, is it a recog- 

 nized principle to invest scientific men with political functions, fo.- 

 (with exceptions of course) no class perhaps could be found less adapted 

 for their competent exercise. The special world of the student is not 

 the great world of the politician, it is a sphere brilliant, but inferior, 

 having its own laws, and pursuing its own revolutions. The chemist 

 has been educated for his laboratory, the astronomer for his watch- 

 tower, the naturalist for his cabinet, and so also must the politician be 

 educated for his duties, and accustomed to their performance. This 

 certainly is one reason why in England the peerage is not to be reck- 

 oned among scientific rewards, but there is also another, which how- 

 ever it may arise from prejudice, is equally authorised by precedent — 

 the peerage of England is a rank, which whether it be held by the 

 duke or the baron, in the scale of courts is received as princely, which 

 coequalizes with the grandeeship of Spain, and the principality of the 

 Roman empire — a rank similar in fact to Napoleon's dukes. Now, 

 however it ought to have been — we know that Monge, Cuvier, and 

 the other illuminati of the empire never were created dukes, but re- 

 ceived a lower title, and were not, except in extraordinary cases, invest- 

 ed with political power. The ranks which they received, in the com- 

 parative scale of French and English society, are very little more than 

 our knighthood, if so much, for although the counts and barons of the 

 empire were few in number, yei France so swarms with counts and 

 barons of other kinds that they form a very squirearchy for multitude. 

 The same may be said oi the Prussian barony and councillorship of 

 state. Admitting then that knighthood is by precedent a competent 

 reward, we think it will be found that England has not been behind 

 hand, but has rather gone farther by giving, as in the case of baronet- 

 cies, an honorary title of even a higher kind. If we look only at the 

 last half century, we shall find a multitude of distinctions given which 

 in our t.t,inion 'far outbalance any exertion of other nations. The law 

 part. ' ' -" much of a political profession that we need scarcely allude 



