Market Square, New Street, Randalstown, Antrim, Co Antrim

Market Square is a late Victorian courtyard built in 1892 to replace an earlier market yard destroyed by fire sometime before 1857. The previous buildings, which dated from the 1840s or early 1850s, occupied the same site behind the former market house, now a public library.

The courtyard comprises a rectangular yard surrounded on three sides by one and two-storey buildings forming a large tarmac surface. It is accessed from New Street to the west through a pair of gateways flanking the former market house.

The north and south sides are bounded by an L-shaped building constructed in red brick with a roof of Bangor blue slates laid in regular courses. The main elevations feature a series of wide elliptical brick arches to the ground floor, containing timber sheeted double doors or partly blocked in red brick with smaller segmental arched windows or doors. Moulded brick string courses mark the piers, though these are substantially damaged with broken sections and crude cement patches. The first floor contains alternating doorways and smaller windows in each bay, mostly with segmental heads except for one rectangular door and one rectangular window. These feature timber sheeted double doors, some of which have been replaced with flush timber, and include some original small-paned windows, though most have been altered. A moulded gutter, apparently PVC or light metal, with tin downpipes runs along the elevation. The west end of the north wing has a tall upstand or parapet, while the gable at the south end of the east wing has flush verges.

Projecting from the west gable of the north wing is a single-storey outbuilding of basalt rubble painted and finished with synthetic slates and PVC rainwater goods. This contains rectangular window and door openings, some of which are blocked.

The rear elevation facing east displays basalt rubble walling to the basement storey with red brick above, and a slated roof. Rectangular metal-framed windows are fitted throughout.

The south side of the yard is bounded by a low range of sheds or garages in two blocks. One block comprises six garages with original circular cast iron posts and shaped timber brackets now embedded in later brick piers. These have timber sheeted double doors and Bangor blue slates to the roof. A lower block of three garages is built of basalt rubble with concrete lintels and a slate roof. Both blocks have PVC gutters and downpipes.

The gateways are linked to the front boundary railings of the former market house and adjacent buildings on the west side. The piers are square, constructed of coursed rhyolite, though caps are missing from all except the extreme north one, which is embedded in the single-storey buildings on that side. The gateway at the south end is open with gates missing from a pair of rhyolite piers. The gateway at the north end retains a pair of original cast iron gates, though they are in damaged condition.

The courtyard is set within the built-up area of town, positioned behind the former market house which now serves as a public library. Two large semi-circular roofed corrugated iron sheds with rendered gables occupy the central part of the yard, with entrances to the north.

During the Second World War, the courtyard was occupied by the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and the American Army. The building facades to the courtyard demonstrate uniformity and definite architectural rhythm, and have group value with the adjacent former market house.