The Pannier Market

THE PANNIER MARKET, MARKET STREET AND NORTH STREET, CREDITON

A range of market buildings dating from around 1836, built as part of a substantial redevelopment when the market was relocated from the High Street. The complex comprises former market stalls and shops running west to east between Market Street and North Street, with matching terminal buildings (shops) at either end. The buildings are constructed in Flemish bond brick, partly roughcast, with slate roofs and rear lateral stacks featuring brick corbelled shafts and decorative detail.

The two terminal buildings are three storeys high, identical in design except for some twentieth-century alterations. The range between them stands two storeys with cellars beneath. The most complete example is No. 2 North Street. This terminal building has a gabled one-bay front to North Street with left and right pilasters, deep eaves and bargeboards, and a rendered platband at second floor level. A moulded cornice at first floor level sits on paired consoles to left and right. A 35-pane bow window with a 6-panel door alongside to the right (fitted with an overlight with lozenge glazing bars) is positioned beneath this cornice. The first floor window is surrounded by a segmental chamfered brick recess with a chamfered embrasure and segmental head; the timber segment is moulded with a roundel. The window glazing consists of a transomed 2-light casement with glazing bars and margin panes. A small bowed cast iron balcony with guilloche ornament at the top and anthemion decoration amongst the verticals is mounted above. The second floor window is similar but shallower, glazed with a tripartite sash comprising a 3/6-pane sash in the centre and 1/2-panes in the outer lights. The left return features pilasters, platbands and blind recesses matching the North Street elevation, while the right return has similar pilasters, platbands, blind first and second floor windows, and a high transomed secondary 28-pane ground floor window with top-hung lights above the transom.

No. 9 Market Street is similar to No. 2, though its bow window has been reglazed as 16 panes with an 8-pane fixed shop window alongside to the right. The window facing south on the ground floor has been replaced with a 12-pane twentieth-century bow window.

The range between the terminal buildings extends for 10 bays divided by pilasters with a platband at first floor level. The 5 western bays have a higher roofline and have been altered and rendered on the front (north) elevation. The first floor openings are original, with 16-pane sashes in chamfered embrasures with segmental heads, the timber segments moulded with the roundel moulding characteristic of the Market area development. One original first floor 2-leaf door survives, boarded with a segmental head. The ground floor has been considerably altered towards the Market Street end, where modern shop fronts have been inserted into the last five bays. The right-hand (east) end of the range is more complete on the ground floor and includes 2 original bays recessed behind cast iron columns. These retain original late Georgian shuttered openings for 2 stalls with doorways at each end, a very rare survival. Original 6-panel doors with flush panels and grilles let into the upper panels are present. The shutters are flush-panelled with bead mouldings: the left shutter operates as a vertical sliding arrangement and the other is a shallow bow. The vertical shutter has a 4-pane fixed window above it with grilles above a transom and a continuous grille above that, which extends and deepens over the door. The bowed shutter has a similar grille above and across the door to the right.

The rear elevation of the range is substantially unaltered along its length, with pilasters and a platband. The interior features attractive rear lateral stacks with corbelled caps and shafts with narrow, vertical chamfered sunk panels. The interior was not inspected but original fittings likely survive behind the original shuttered stalls.

The market was previously sited in the High Street until 1836, when it was moved to this location and the site was redeveloped, mostly in an Italianate style, alongside the Market House Inn, the Ship, and shops on Market Street. The whole development represents an interesting example of provincial late Georgian town planning on a considerable scale. Individual architectural details, such as the roundel moulding above the sash windows and the consistent use of pilasters, link the buildings together as a unified scheme.