The Baker family coat of arms is carved in relief on the former town hall building located in Albert Square.
The Baker coat of arms is carved in relief on the right wing on the front of the building.
Fenton Town Hall is a former municipal building located in Albert Square and is now occupied by local businesses, a café and an art gallery.
The building designed by Robert Scrivener & Son, was commissioned by a local pottery proprietor, William Meath Baker, who also laid out the town centre.
It was built in the Gothic Revival style, in red brick with stone dressings, on a large site that he owned.
The foundation stone was laid by William Meath Baker on 5th July 1888, and was officially opened in December 1889.
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"The design of the building involved a near-symmetrical main frontage with ten bays facing onto Albert Square; the bays were all flanked by full-height pilasters, supporting a cornice, a parapet and finials. The central section of six bays was fenestrated with tripartite mullioned and transomed windows on the ground floor and tall arched windows with tracery on the first floor. The central two windows on the first floor, which were taller than the others, were surmounted by a gable containing a tripartite window and, above that, a coat of arms. The side wings were each of two bays, not as tall as the central section, but also gabled. The outer bay in the left-hand side wing featured an arched four-part mullioned and transomed window with tracery on the ground floor and an oriel window with by a cone-shaped roof on the first floor. The outer bay in the right-hand side wing featured a doorway with an architrave and a keystone on the ground floor and an oriel window with a cone-shaped roof on the first floor. There was originally a central belfry with a spire on the roof.
Internally, the principal room was the ballroom which featured a fine vaulted ceiling.
The architectural historian, Nikolaus Pevsner, commented favourably on the "little originalities which help to relieve the portliness of the building". SOURCE: (
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The Baker Family Coat of Arms.
The coat of arms has decorative surround with foliate motifs.
The arms have a crest in the form of a goat.
The shield is divided into four quarters, separated by a cross.
A goat in the top left quarter and three clay pots in the top right.
A spread eagle in the bottom left and in the bottom right quarter a goat.
Motto:'ABS BONA VIOLENTA'.
The Fenton Town Arms that were adopted in about 1840, have the crest in the form of a goat, that was part of the arms of William Baker, the Chief Bailiff of Fenton in 1840 and a prominent pottery manufacturer in Fenton.
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