The Market House, a distinctive black
and white building, stands on 16 wooden stilts, with narrow steps
leading up to the entrance. It dominates the main street and is
generally regarded as the jewel in the town's architectural crown –
and when you see how impressive all the other buildings are you
realise this one has to be pretty special.
Timber framed, with brick infill, it
was built in the 17th century as a corn warehouse: the grain was
stored inside the raised structure, where it was protected from the
weather and was safe from rats, mice and other vermin, while traders
sold their wares from stalls and shops in the covered area below. A
market is still held there twice a week, which is a nice link with
the past I think.
Work started in 1617, but was not
completed until 1668 because somewhere along the line cash (raised by
public subscription) ran out. Eventually the trustees took money from
legacies set up to provide clothing for the poor, and in return were
supposed to provide 12 sets of garments each year, paid from the
profits made by renting out the Market House. It sounds a pretty fair
deal to me, but I've no idea whether the promise was ever carried
out!
At that stage the house itself had two
floors, and it's possible one was use for storage, and the other for
meetings. But when the Turnpike Act was levied in the early 18th
century, traders couldn't afford to pay the toll gate taxes, so they
brought samples of corn to the market, and the building where they
had previously paid to store grain got emptier and emptier, and had
to be used for wool, hops and acorns for the local tanning industry. I knew very little about the Turnpike Act, or its effect on people, but that's what I like about local history - you like at a building, and think how gorgeous it is, then discover a whole social history attached to it!
It brought in little money and was
rarely full. However, the enterprising Victorians stripped out the
inside, leaving the outer shell intact, and created space for
meetings, exhibitions, sales and performances by travelling theatre
companies. It was also been used as a Town Hall. Today it still
provides a venue for meetings, sales and exhibitions and, more
recently, weddings were held there, but the Disability Access law put
paid to that.
It's thought much of the construction
was undertaken by John Abel, who was appointed King's Carpenter by
Charles I. He was a local man, and a number of Herefordshire
buildings are attributed to him, but there is no evidence to support
the theory that he was involved with Ledbury's Market House. The
wooden supports are made of oak, and were repaired and strengthened
in 2006, when the entire building, including the posts, was raised
into the air with the aid of hydraulic jacks. It was a tremendous
feat of modern engineering, and somewhere I have a photo showing it
surrounded by scaffolding, and perched on metal framework, but I
can't find it anywhere, although I have searched and searched.
For more Saturday Snapshots see Alice's blog at
