Byram Arcade

Byram Arcade

This is a late 19th-century shopping arcade, built in phases between 1871 and 1881, constructed in hammer-dressed sandstone with pitched slate roof and a cast-iron glazed roof over the arcade itself. The building occupies an irregular plot set into sloping ground, with shops arranged around a central full-height galleried shopping arcade. The principal elevation faces south onto Westgate, with a return elevation to Station Street facing west, and access to the arcade from Byram Court at the rear on the northern side where the sloping ground also provides external access into the basement.

The south elevation facing Westgate is a wide facade of six bays with five gables to the roofline, including outer pairs separated by chimneys with pilaster strips running up their outer edges. The central gable is crow-stepped with traceried panelling. The ground floor incorporates a mezzanine level above and forms shop units, with two retaining their contemporary shopfronts and others with modern reproductions. The mezzanine level has timber casements with lintels decorated with contemporary glazed tiles featuring alternating Tudor roses and fleur-de-lis. Between 12 and 14 Westgate is a three-centred arched entrance into the arcade, with carved voussoirs and spandrels and a wrought iron fanlight. This is partially obscured by a cast-iron canopy with a modern glazed roof projecting across the pavement. Above the entrance is an elaborate cartouche depicting the arms of the Ramsden family, supported by gryphons holding a banner bearing the words 'Byram Arcade'. The second and third-floor windows are linked by vertical panels in pairs, separated by octagonal colonnettes. There are 13 ranges of plate-glass sashes with chamfered surrounds; those to the third floor have segmental-arched heads. The outer gables on the fourth floor have paired two-light mullioned windows containing sashes with hollow chamfered reveals, whilst the larger central gable has two sash windows.

The west elevation facing Station Street has a ground floor with three restored shop fronts flanked by two doors with pointed arches, chamfered surrounds, crenellated transoms and fanlights with cinquefoiled wooden tracery. There is a single sash in the first bay. At first-floor level at the northern end is a corner turret on an elaborately moulded corbel with a conical roof. The first floor contains four paired sashes and three single sashes. The first and second floors have windows set in tall, recessed panels, whilst above the central three bays of the paired windows are paired round-arched windows with octagonal colonnettes, cusping and quatrefoil oculi above, surmounted by coped gables. Stone brackets support a modern gutter.

The rear elevation to the north was constructed in several phases. The earliest phase (1871–1873) to the right is the original Byram Buildings, a four-bay four-storey block with four plate-glass sash windows to each floor and stone brackets supporting a modern gutter. To the left is the rear of the arcade (1880–1881), which features a projecting cast-iron canopied walkway with modern glazed roof along all three bays. The central bay on the ground floor contains the arcade's rear entrance with timber multipaned glazed doors and multipaned glazed lights above. There is a shopfront to the right. Stepped access to the left beneath the glazed canopy leads down to the basement. The basement access is below the walkway, which is supported on cast-iron columns with decorative brackets. Above the ground floor, the bays are separated by stone pilasters. Each bay contains four linked sashes of plate glass, separated from the floor above and below by timber skirts and lintels, creating the overall impression of a glazed curtain wall. Further to the east of the elevation is a four-storey one-bay projection with similar features.

The interior of Byram Arcade itself features a glazed roof and two galleried balcony levels wrapping around all four sides, supported on cast-iron brackets with simple tracery and elegant wrought iron balustrade with mahogany handrail. Shops are arranged around the central space over three floors with a further storey of commercial units on the fourth floor. The ground floor has a stone staircase within the south-east corner leading to the upper floors, featuring a wrought iron balustrade and ramped handrail. A modern lift has been inserted into the south-west corner. A number of the ground-floor shopfronts are set forward beneath the first-floor balconies, some with canted fronts. Despite later alterations, shopfronts generally retain a timber panelled stall riser above which are large shop windows (some with glazing bars) and multiple glazed lights above. Paired entrance doors with glazed upper panels are also a common feature. Unit interiors have been modernised and a number have been merged to create larger shops. A number of units retain cast-iron fireplaces.