Town Hall and Corn Exchange

The Town Hall and Corn Exchange, located at 865 Market Place, is a Grade I listed building designed by the architect Bastard and completed in 1734. The front is made of Portland stone ashlar and features a frieze, a two-storey façade with three windows, an enriched cornice, and a pediment. The pediment is adorned with draped stone vases and quoin parapets, and there is a clock set in the tympanum. The three first-floor windows have moulded architraves, enriched pulvinated friezes, and pediments, with the central window having a segmental shape. Moulded strings run along the building. The ground floor includes three semi-circular arches with moulded imposts and archivolts, leading to an open portico that was formerly used as a market. Inside, the front room on the first floor retains some original fittings and portraits of the Bastard family. At the back, there is a mid-Victorian Corn Exchange featuring interesting elliptical roof trusses. Gates are present at the semi-circular arches in the portico. The Town Hall and Corn Exchange is part of a group of listed buildings in Market Place, which includes Nos 59 to 73 (odd) East Street, Conyer's Filling Station, Nos 1 to 7 (odd), Nos 2 to 8 (even), No 12 West Street, and the Church of St Peter and St Paul.