Market House

Market House

This market house was built in 1883-4 to designs by J Chudley of Newton Abbot. It was constructed for Bideford Corporation at a cost of approximately £3000 and opened on 15 April 1884.

The building is constructed of roughly-coursed stone rubble with dressings of red and cream brick, red terracotta and limestone, beneath slate roofs. The plan comprises a front range on the east side containing the main entrance flanked by shops; a long corridor behind running parallel to this, open at each end and lined on both sides with small shops formerly used by butchers (two firms remain); and behind this a pannier market, which in 1889 was described as occupying 10,500 square feet.

The structure has one storey with shops at the front and a low upper floor. The east front is of dressed stone rubble, divided into 9 bays by cream-brick pilasters striped with red brick. Below the capitals are red-terracotta panels moulded with flowers. The pilasters support segmental red-brick arches, moulded on the underside and with scroll-keystones of limestone. The middle arch, which forms the main entrance, is taller and round, finished above eaves-level with a stone gable having a terracotta finial. The edges of the gable and the corbel-tables under the eaves are of cream brick.

The main entrance has patterned iron gates and a fanlight with 3 upright glazing-bars. The four shops flanking the entrance each have a canted display window on the side farthest from the entrance, angled towards the recessed shop-entrance. The display windows have angle-shafts with moulded caps and bases; double-doors with solid flush panels below and round-headed glazed panels above, surmounted by tall 2-paned fanlights. Upper floors have fully-glazed display windows, each with 3 upright glazing-bars.

The four outer bays contain windows with segmental red-brick arches matching those over the bays themselves. Each window has 4 lights with wooden mullions and transoms. Beneath the two right-hand windows and the second window from the left are a doorway and 2 shop windows. The doorway, half-glazed, occupies the second bay from the right and is probably original, but the latter shop windows are probably later insertions (that to the left is late 20th-century).

In the gable over the main entrance is a weathered stone plaque with date and inscription.

The right-hand end of the front range has a tall opening, now occupied by a shop front, with a round red-brick arch moulded on the underside and with a plain keystone. Above it is a gable with cream-brick edges, the centre occupied by a round window with red-brick surround. Both ends of the butchery have similar arches, surmounted by plainer gables, patterned iron gates and 3-paned fanlights.

The side elevations have segmental-headed windows and doorways with red-brick arches, those on the Pannier Market linked at sill and springing-level by red-brick bands. A moulded red-brick eaves-cornice runs along the sides. The rear elevation is similar, but with 3 round-arched windows set in the ends of 3 gabled ranges: 2 tall gables with a shorter one in the centre. The middle window has original glazing-bars with moulded intersections, matching windows at the opposite end of the Pannier Market just visible above the roof of the butchery.

Interior

The butchery originally had 12 shops on each side and most have survived intact. A larger shop at the north end of the west side is probably an amalgamation of 2 original shops. Each shop has either a 2-paned display window with a single upright glazing-bar or an opening closed by shutters, with a plank door to one side, the upper half opening separately from the lower. Above the whole shop is an open grille with iron scrollwork. The passage between the shops has a cream-brick floor. Above on each side is a row of wood-framed trusses with upright glazing-bars and diagonal braces. The exposed roof-trusses have shaped braces to the tie-beams.

The Pannier Market has 5 roof-spans carried on hollow iron columns with moulded caps and bases. The second span from each end is taller to allow for a range of windows on each side. The columns are moulded with inscriptions reading "TARDREW & SONS. IRONMONGERS & IRON FOUNDERS. BIDEFORD. 1883" and "J.H. FOADEN. CONTRACTOR. ASHBURTON." The columns support wooden roof-trusses with raking struts from tie to principal; the 2 taller spans have arch-braces under the ties. The floor is of cream brick.