The Market Court

The Market Court is a market court house, now used as offices, built in 1828 and renovated around 1975. It is constructed of brown-coloured local sandstone rubble with green-grey sandstone detail, featuring a chimney stack rendered in brick and a slate roof.

The building is rectangular, situated on an east-west axis within a cobbled yard surrounded by pannier market buildings. Originally, the ground floor was open, with the court held on the first floor, accessible by steps at the east end; it is now enclosed. The exterior features a ground-floor arcade of 4 bays on each side, a 2-bay west end, and a 3-bay east end, all with plain round-headed arches. These arches have projecting keystones and rest upon plain projecting imposts on square columns. A projecting band marks the first-floor level, with blind rectangular panels along the sides. There is a C20 replacement casement window with glazing bars at the west end, and a doorway at the east end accessed by a double flight of granite steps. The roof is gable-ended with deep eaves supported by shaped brackets, and the gables feature richly carved bargeboards with apex pendants. Most of the ground-floor arcade is now filled with C20 full-height windows, although two bays on the north side are blocked with masonry. An early painted board fixed to the north side prohibits leaving mules on public highways, market places, or slips, by order of the mayor, Daniel Codner, dated 1839. The interior is plain with no visible carpentry. The building was constructed on land reclaimed from the medieval tidal mill pond, and the work was supervised by the Rev. Charles Holdsworth, using family money; the interest was to be paid from borough income.