Central Market

Market hall, constructed in 1938 to designs by Robert Atkinson, incorporating the frontage of the former Butter Market built in 1737.

MATERIALS: The building has a structural steel frame faced in brick and ashlar limestone, with a roof covering of pantiles and glazing.

PLAN: the building is rectangular in plan, with entrances in its north and eastern elevations.

EXTERIOR: the building is a single-storey market hall on a rectangular plan fronting onto City Square to the north, under a hipped, half-glazed roof. Its north, east and west elevation area designed in a neo-classical style to match that of the C18 façade of the former Butter Market incorporated into its north elevation. This comprises a moulded stone plinth, a rusticated limestone ashlar main section with blind arcading and round-arched openings, and an ashlar parapet with alternating balustraded and solid sections and large urns on the building’s four corners.

The principal, north elevation is symmetrically arranged across 12 bays, with the four central and two outermost bays projecting forward slightly. In the centre of the elevation is the re-used two-storey façade of the Butter Market. The ground floor is of rusticated ashlar with two round-arched entrances with wrought iron overthrows, above which is a wide, stone plat band bearing a central datestone with the inscription: JOHN LOBSEY MAYOR 1737. Above, the first floor is of C20 brown brick with rusticated ashlar quoins and containing an ashlar Venetian window. Above again is a stone pediment containing a carved cartouche with swags. The bays immediately east and west of the re-used façade and at the eastern and western end of the elevation have blind, flat-arched openings with iron-grated windows above. The four intermediate bays to either side contain blind, round arches.

The east and west elevations are symmetrically arranged over five bays and of largely matching design. The three central bays contain round-arched openings, while the two outer bays project forward and contain a smaller, flat-arched opening beneath an iron-grated window. The central arch of either elevation is open, with a double doorway beneath a glazed upper section, while the four other openings are blind; those on the east elevation are infilled with smooth-finished ashlar while those on the west elevation have been infilled with brick. A large section of the west elevation’s parapet has also been replaced in brick.

Attached to the rear (south) of the market hall is a lower element constructed of brick with a flat roof, containing ancillary spaces to the market hall and a public convenience. It is of a plainer, brick finish but with some concessions to the style of the Central Market including a moulded stone plinth, flat-arched ashlar doorway and stone parapet. The rear, south elevation of this building is concealed within the surrounding dense urban plan.