Tetbury Market House, also known as Tetbury Town Hall, is a municipal building in the Market Place, Tetbury, Gloucestershire, England. The building, which was used both as a market house and as a town hall until the late 19th century, is a Grade I listed building.[1]
| Tetbury Market House | |
|---|---|
 Tetbury Market House | |
| Location | Market Place, Tetbury |
| Coordinates | 51°38′12″N 2°09′34″W / 51.6368°N 2.1594°W |
| Built | 1655 |
| Architectural style(s) | Neoclassical style |
Listed Building – Grade I | |
| Official name | Market House |
| Designated | 6 September 1954 |
| Reference no. | 1303914 |
  Shown in Gloucestershire | |
History
editThe current building was commissioned by the local feoffees to replace a medieval market house: the new building was designed in the neoclassical style, built with a timber frame and a stucco finish and was completed in 1655.[2] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with seven bays facing onto the Market Place; it was arcaded on the ground floor, so that wool and yarn markets could be held, with an assembly room on the first floor.[3] On the ground floor, there were three rows of seven Tuscan order columns which supported the first floor, which was fenestrated by two-light mullioned windows and surmounted by a central pediment with a clock in the tympanum.[1]
The building was extended by an extra bay to the south sometime in the 18th century. The south elevation featured a stone staircase leading up to a first-floor doorway with a keystone and a hood mould. The staircase was flanked by small doorways on the ground floor and by two-light mullioned windows on the first floor, and there was a central pediment with a clock in the tympanum on this side as well.[1] Internally, the principal room was the assembly room on the first floor which featured a central row of wooden Ionic order columns.[1]
In the 18th century, the assembly hall on the first floor was used by the feoffees as a town hall and as a courtroom for the manorial court hearings.[4] In 1817, alterations were carried out to a design by William Porter:[5] these included the infilling of the south bay to create accommodation for a horse-drawn fire engine and the removal of an extra floor on the east side of the building.[1]
The assembly room continued to be used as a courthouse, and part of the ground floor continued to be used as a lock-up for the incarceration of petty criminals, until a purpose-built courthouse and police station was erected in Long Street in 1884.[6] A cupola with an ogee-shaped copper roof and a weather vane depicting dolphins was erected on the roof to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887.[1] The feoffees continued to administer the town from the assembly room until Tetbury Urban District Council was formed in 1894.[7][8] The assembly room was subsequently used as a classroom for the teaching of technical subjects[9] and ground floor continued to be used as the venue for markets on Wednesdays.[10]
The annual Tetbury Food and Drink Festival, held in September each year with a farmers style market in the market hall, was first held in September 2007.[11] The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall stood outside the market hall to turn on the Christmas lights in December 2012.[12]
See also
editReferences
edit
- ^ a b c d e f Historic England. "Market House (1303914)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
- ^ Lee, Alfred Theophilus (1857). "The History of the Town and Parish of Tetbury, in the County of Gloucester". John Henry and James Parker. p. 35.
- ^ "The Market House". The Feoffees of Tetbury. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
- ^ Cleaver, Lynne (2009). Tetbury Through Time. Amberley Publishing. ISBN 978-1445631387.
- ^ Graham, Clare (2017). Ordering Law The Architectural and Social History of the English Law Court to 1914. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1351913577.
- ^ Historic England. "Former police station and petty sessional court, now known as Tetbury Council Offices and Police Museum (1415897)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
- ^ "Tetbury Feeoffees". And Anyways. 26 June 2020. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
- ^ "Tetworth UD". Vision of Britain. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
- ^ "Calendar History and General Summary of Regulations of the Department of Science and Art". H. M. Stationery Office. 1893. p. 166.
- ^ "Kelly's Directory of Gloucestershire". 1897. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
- ^ "Cotswold Towns: Tetbury". Cotswold Life. 1 September 2011. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
- ^ "Prince Charles and Camilla switch on Tetbury lights". BBC. 7 December 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2022.