Market House

The Market House, located in Newent Market Square, is a building dating from the late 16th century or early 17th century, which was restored in 1864 for R.F. Onslow. It features heavy timber posts set on stone bases at the ground floor, with close-studded timber-framing and white-rendered infill above, topped by a tiled roof. The structure comprises a three-bay hall with a small semi-octagonal extension at one end, and it stands two storeys high.

The ground floor has a slight chamfer to the posts, arranged in a row down the center of the building, with curved braces supporting the bressumers. The posts in the semi-octagonal section are of a much smaller section. The first floor exhibits close studding without a center rail, with straight braces connecting the corner posts to the bressumer. It includes a four-light timber window with a flat head and trefoil heads on the lancets.

The gable on the center of the northeast face is raised on small square panels and features curved corner decorations. Diagonal timbers create a diamond-set square pattern, complemented by carved bargeboards, a timber finial, and an iron weathervane. The extension has one lancet window on each face and a hipped roof. The right return mirrors the northeast face but has heavy jowls on the posts, with the gable close studded up to the collar and V-struts above.

External wooden steps lead up to a door on the southwest face. Inside, the space is open below, while the upper hall has a boarded, panelled sloping ceiling supported by cambered tie-beams on two trusses. A measured drawing displayed in the hall shows two pairs of angle struts, a collar, and V-struts above. The extension, added in 1864, forms a separate room. A photograph of a circa 1840 painting in the hall indicates that the exterior has remained largely unaltered since the restoration. The building is also scheduled as an Ancient Monument.