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During the 16th and 17th centuries merchants not only needed corporate space to carry on business, but also sought to express civic pride in building impressive new market halls/town/guild halls. Wealthy merchants and tradesmen were starting to vie for power with the local gentry. A great percentage of town councillors and aldermen came from this class. They took pride in their new found powers, which were reflected in the civic buildings they commissioned. These market halls were usually built or rebuilt in the already existing medeval market places. [The HSMR lists 13 medieval market places.]
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The Market Hall in Hereford, also called the Old Town Hall or Guild Hall. (SMR 416) © Hereford Museum |
Herefordshire is fortunate in having several beautiful market halls, although the Market Hall in Hereford, judging by this etching, a most beautiful building, has been taken down.
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According to Pevsner, the Old Town Hall was "a sight to thrill any visitor from England or abroad. It was the most fantastic black and white building imaginable, three-storeyed, with gables and the richest, most curious decoration."
The Market Hall was supported by 27 timber columns arranged in three rows of nine.
It was 84 feet long and 34 feet wide and crowned by a lantern which was over 100 feet high. It has been said that it was the largest building of its kind in Britain.
The first floor was used for magistrate's chambers and the assize court and the second floor provided chambers for 14 craft guilds: bakers, barbers, barber surgeons, braziers, butchers, clothiers, coopers, cordwainers, glovers, joiners, mercers, tanners, tylers, and weavers. The open space between the pillars was used for the market place.
Built at the end of the 16th century in the centre of High Town, the upper storey was removed in 1792 to ease the pressure on the timber pillars. At this time it was also covered in plasterwork considered fashionable in its day.
 The Market Hall was part of a row of buildings call theButcher's Row. The entire building was taken down in 1862, as were all the other buildings in Butcher's Row, with the exception of the Old House, to allow traffic to flow more easily and because they were considered a public nuisance in that cattle was still slaughtered there. You can see an information board in the centre of the now pedestrian area across from the Butter Market. The paving stones are designed to show where the Market Hall would have originally stood. Now the Old House is the only remaining building of Butcher's Row.
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©Hereford Museum |
The twoquarter-jacks which originally stood on the east front to the Market Hall, either side of the clock, are now held by Hereford Museum. They were rotated to strike the bells every quarter hour, hence the name quarter-jacks. The origins of these figures is unknown and it is not clear how the mechanism worked. The bells were cast in 1710 by Isaac Hadley, bell-founder of Leominster.
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©Hereford Museum |
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How to find market halls on the HSMR database:
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