From Wikipedia:
The Old Town Hall was built in 1807–8 by Charles Watson, and was designed to house not only the Town Trustees but also the Petty and Quarter Sessions. The initial building was a five-bay structure fronting Castle Street, but it was extended in 1833 and again in 1866 by William Flockton (1804–1864) of Sheffield and his partner for the project, Abbott; the most prominent feature was the new central clock tower over a new main entrance that reoriented the building to Waingate. At the same time, the building's courtrooms were linked by underground passages to the neighbouring Sheffield Police Offices.
Waingate in 1857: the Old Town Hall with its first clock tower on the left
The first Town Council was elected in 1843 and took over the lease of the Town Trustees' hall in 1866. The following year, the building was extensively renovated, with a clock tower designed by Flockton & Abbott being added.
By the 1890s, the building had again become too small, and the current Sheffield Town Hall was built further south. The Old Town Hall was again extended in 1896–97, by the renamed Flockton, Gibbs & Flockton, and became Sheffield Crown Court and Sheffield High Court. In the 1990s, these courts moved to new premises, and since at least 1997 to present, the building remains disused.
In 2007, it was named by the Victorian Society as one of their top ten buildings most at-risk.
Been looking forward to doing this one for ages. Explored with Tom Sherman, MSP, Will Knot and Telf. Most of these shots didn't turn out nearly as well as they could have through lack of access to a tripod on my crappy bridge camera for now although I improvised one where I could. We also found a squatter's pad with some graffiti which read " My life is not a game" - pretty moving stuff. Surprisingly, some of the building seems to have power as lights would turn on and one room even had a plug socket with Christmas lights and a small portable TV. In the basement I was confronted by the scariest thing I'd ever seen. An old pipe with it's insulation splayed out, showing the raw, crumbling asbestos.