Oxford Inscriptions: Foundation stone of Town Hall
THIS STONE WAS LAID
ON THE SIXTH DAY OF JULY, 1893.
BEING THE WEDDING DAY OF
H.R.H. THE DUKE OF YORK
AND H.S.H. PRINCESS VICTORIA
MARY OF TECK
BY
THOMAS LUCAS ESQUIRE MAYOR
THOMAS W. TAPHOUSE,
ESQUIRE SHERIFF
JOHN PARNELL & SON BUILDERS
HENRY HARE ARCHITECT
The foundation stone of the present Oxford Town Hall can be seen at the junction of St Aldate’s and Blue Boar Street. It weighed half a ton and was ceremonially laid by the Mayor Thomas Lucas on 6 July 1893, the wedding day of the Duke of York and Princess Victoria Mary of Teck, as recorded on the inscription. A full description of the ceremony appeared in Jackson's Oxford Journal on 8 July 1893: most of the members of the Corporation and members of the University attended in their robes, and the architect Henry Hare and the expected builder Chappell were also present.
At this point the text at the bottom left read JOHN T. CHAPPELL, BUILDER. He suddenly stopped work just three months later on 9 October 1893 and filed for bankruptcy. No other builders who had submitted tenders were prepared to lower their price to that which had been submitted by Chappell (£51,380), and so they accepted the tender of Messrs Parnell & Son (£56,876).
The lettering on the foundation stone therefore had to be changed to read JOHN PARNELL & SON BUILDERS. The Town Hall was opened nearly four years later on 2 May 1897.