Former Victoria Market, now Stalybridge Civic Hall

Former Victoria Market, now Stalybridge Civic Hall

This market hall was built between 1866 and 1868 to designs by Amos Lee. The building is a large rectangular structure with three parallel pitched roofs running east-west, supported internally by two rows of cast-iron columns. Two floors of inserted rooms at the east end, added in a late 20th-century refurbishment, are not of special interest. The front elevation features a central clock tower above the main entrance on Trinity Street.

The building is constructed of orange brick with sandstone and white terracotta dressings and blue and white brick dressings, with slate roofs.

The west front elevation comprises nine bays built in Flemish bond brick on a high stone plinth of banded rustication. The plinth is surmounted by an entablature consisting of a stone architrave band, orange brick frieze and moulded stone cornice with stone brackets on a white brick band. The frieze contains a series of small rectangular ventilation apertures with stone surrounds and cast-iron diamond grilles. Above rises a pierced and panelled stone parapet.

The wide central bay projects slightly and is faced in stone with rusticated quoins and giant pilasters flanking a large round-headed doorway. The doorway has a giant keystone carved with fruit and two rusticated voussoirs, flanked by relief-carved panels of fruit, flowers and leaves bearing the Stalybridge coat of arms and the motto "Absque Labore Nihil" (Nothing without Labour). Panelled double doors and a plain fanlight complete the entrance. The parapet above features panels with swagged fruit and the words "VICTORIA MARKET" in relief letters beneath a horizontal band of decorative tiling and a modillioned triangular pediment. Behind the pediment rises a square tower of polychrome brickwork with clasping stone pilasters bearing Corinthian capitals and a modillioned entablature. Each face of the tower contains a round-headed blind arch with alternating stone and brick voussoirs and a shaped stone gablet incorporating a circular clock face topped by a ball finial. The tower is crowned with a steeply pitched fish-scale slate roof with ventilation apertures and ornate cast-iron railings, canopy and finial.

The two outermost bays project slightly and feature blind, recessed panels. The three bays flanking the central bay on each side have blind round-headed arcading with giant brick pilasters, moulded stone arch heads with giant keystones and an upper row of alternating blue and white bricks. Bays two and eight contain round-headed doorways with moulded stone architraves and giant keystones, panelled double doors and plain fanlights; the doorway in bay two has three steps. The central pitched roof is hidden behind the tower; the two outer slate roofs are hipped at this end.

The south elevation is of thirteen bays, built in English garden wall bond (3:1) with a stone plinth of coursed, rock-faced stone blocks with squared stone coping. The outermost bays project slightly and are taller: the left corner bay has a stone parapet wrapping from the front elevation, while the right corner bay has a stone modillion cornice and partial brick parapet. Bays two to twelve employ pier and panel construction with white terracotta mouldings to the panel heads and eaves cornice. The central bay projects slightly and features a large round-headed doorway with a stone architrave with panelled pilasters, moulded head and giant keystone, panelled double doors and a semi-circular overlight with cast-iron diamond grille. All other bays contain large round-headed windows with stone sills and orange and white brick aprons. The aprons separate lower square-headed windows with six-pane timber frames from taller upper windows with nine-pane timber frames and fanlights.

The north elevation comprises thirteen similar bays with a central doorway and large round-headed windows with aprons separating lower square-headed windows. The basement level here is deeper, with a stone plinth and coursed rock-faced stone above with square coping aligned to the doorway impost band.

The east elevation consists of three bays with three gables. It has a coursed stone basement and plinth level with wide brick pilasters containing round-headed panels. Stone modillioned eaves cornices and panelled brick parapets separate the bays and mark the outer corners. The gable apexes have small round-headed ventilation apertures, and circular cast-iron beam end panels sit beside the pilasters at parapet height. Each bay contains a large round-headed doorway with stone architraves featuring alternating smooth and rusticated stones, panelled double doors and plain fanlights. The central bay has a small inserted round window above its doorway; the side bays each have two small square windows inserted above their doorways.

A modern circular blue plaque is mounted on the rear elevation commemorating Ada Summers, the first woman councillor in Tameside, Mayor of Stalybridge (1919) and the first woman magistrate to adjudicate on an English Bench.

Interior

The building originally housed a full-height market hall, with the space at the west end retained. Two rows of cast-iron columns with shallow segmental-arched spandrel beams support the roof structure of the three parallel pitched roofs. The beams feature decorative ionic capitals and were cast by W Milburn & Sons, Founders, Stalybridge. The pierced spandrel beams have diminishing circles towards the central key blocks, cast with the coat of arms. The roofs contain wrought-iron tie-bar roof trusses with horizontal tongue-and-groove timber boarding and continuous rows of lights. The floor is laid in stone flags. The central west clock tower has an upper round-headed former window with a bracketed sill overlooking the hall. Immediately to the right of the tower is a doorway leading to the tower stairs, with a four-panelled door and overlight featuring a shaped ventilation grille. Above and to the left of the tower is a timber moulded cornice marking the line of former small units beneath, now reconstructed in modern form.

Along the north and south sides of the hall run similar moulded cornices above the remains of single-storey shops, with modern glazed partitions inserted in front of the original units. The timber shop fronts are separated by pilasters. Many retain a doorway to one side with an overlight featuring a shaped ventilation grille and a large window with a row of transom lights and a timber panelled stallriser. The lower external square-headed windows light these units from outside.

On the modern first floor at the east end is a relocated timber board recording the names of mayors since 1857, when the Charter of Incorporation was granted.