IT is one of Warrington's most famous buildings.

But how much do you know about Warrington Town Hall?

Today it is the home to the council.

But when built in 1750, it was a home for businessman Thomas Patten.

The home stayed in the family for more than 120 years until then owner, Colonel Wilson Patten, later Lord Winmarleigh, sold the building to the council and it became Warrington Town Hall.

The name of Patten of course dominated the industrial and social history of Warrington up to the late 19th century. It is still well known today on streets, pubs and halls.

The hall was designed by James Gibbs and built in 1750 for Thomas Patten, Esq. It became known as Bank Hall, and originally stood in open fields on the edge of the town, surrounded by extensive landscaped gardens and with nothing to obscure the views south to the Mersey and the Cheshire countryside beyond.

It remained like this until early in the 19th century when, because of the growth of the town and its industries, a perimeter wall was built around the estate to provide some privacy.

The father of the builder of Bank Hall, Thomas Patten, realised the river was important to make Warrington a key distribution point for inland trade. He made it navigable from Runcorn to Bank Quay, meaning copper could be brought by boat from Ireland, Cornwall and Anglesey right to the family's smelting works at Bank Quay. The Patten fortune was largely built on the horrific slave trade as their works produced copper bangles traded for slaves in Africa and great coppers used to boil sugar and distil rum in the West Indies.

This industry was so successful that by the mid-18th century, the Pattens weren’t just local merchants, but important and landed gentry. And so in 1750, James Gibbs was commissioned to build a fine country house. Dr Richard Pocock, the well-known 18th century traveller who was later Bishop of Ossory, wrote that as he was passing through Warrington on 14 July 1750, he saw Thomas Patten Esq. busy building this house.

The name Wilson was linked with Patten when Mary Patten married the Rev Thomas Wilson DD. in 1698.

Thomas Wilson became Bishop of Soder and Man, and in recognition of his services to the island's sovereign, the Earl of Derby, he acquired considerable lands in Lancashire and Cheshire which, on the death of his only son, passed to the Patten family on condition that the additional surname was used.