Former Market House, 1 Scarva Street, Banbridge, Co Down, BT32 3DA

Former Market House, 1 Scarva Street, Banbridge, County Down

Built in 1833 to designs by the architect Michael McGavigan (also recorded in historical sources as Gavigan, McGarrigan and Gaffikin), this detached, symmetrical two-storey three-bay stone former market house and town hall stands prominently on the brow of the hill at the junction of Bridge Street and Scarva Street in Banbridge town centre, directly east of the former Post Office. It is square on plan with a breakfront entrance to the south, and was completed in 1834 at a cost of £2,000 to the Marquess of Downshire. Designs were also submitted by Thomas Duff, but McGavigan's were preferred. McGavigan has no other known architectural credits to his name, though he was consulted about Rosemary Street Presbyterian Church in Belfast in the early 1830s.

Architectural Description

The roof is hipped natural slate, topped by a square timber cupola clock tower. The cupola is pedimented with a leaded roof and finished with a weathervane. Cast-iron ogee rainwater goods are carried on projecting eaves. The walls are roughly coursed squared blackstone on an ashlar granite plinth, with granite quoins, granite impost mouldings and red-brick dressings. A sandstone cornice and parapet run around the building, advanced on the east face over the breakfront and decorated with the Downshire coat of arms. Windows are replacement 6-over-6 timber-framed sliding sash set in recessed segmental-headed sandstone reveals with red-brick dressings and projecting sandstone sills to the first floor. At ground floor level there are large plate-glass segmental-headed windows, also in sandstone reveals with red-brick dressings.

The principal elevation faces east, with the granite plinth responding to the slope of the hill, and is three windows wide at each floor. The central bay projects slightly, is flanked by granite quoins, and is topped by the sandstone parapet carrying the Downshire coat of arms and inscribed "1833". The entrance elevation faces south and has three evenly spaced windows to each floor. To the right is a recessed entrance bay with a window to the first floor and a modern double-leaf nine-panelled door surmounted by a transom light, all set in a sandstone reveal with red-brick surround. The west elevation has a timber-framed round-headed stairwell window to the first floor and a window at ground floor right, flanked on either side by smaller uPVC windows. A modern fire door sits to the right of centre at ground floor, and to the far left is a projecting bay with modern double-leaf fire doors opening to the south. The north rear elevation is almost entirely abutted by adjoining buildings. The building is abutted to the north by an early 19th-century terrace.

The Clock Tower

The clock tower stands higher than the spire of the parish church by virtue of the building's position on the crest of the hill. The four clock faces are glazed in plate glass to the north and south, which allows the dials to be illuminated from within the turret at night, while the east and west faces are constructed of an opaque lightweight metal and are dark after nightfall. The original timepiece behind the four dials was made by Sharp of Dublin, and the bell above it was cast by J. Sheridan of Dublin in 1835. The clock bell formerly struck the hours and was tolled to mark events of national importance such as coronations, the deaths of sovereigns and major military victories. At the turn of the 20th century it was also pealed to call out the fire brigade, which at that time consisted of a handcart with buckets and hose. Between the wars the clock was electrified by Sharman D. Neill of Belfast, though the old mechanical timepiece remains in the turret. The solid iron clock weights, the size and shape of biscuit tins, hang in the clock well behind the wall panels in the main hall. The initials of tradesmen who carried out maintenance on the clock are to be found in the turret and stretch back to 1888. The name of A. Sands, the master carpenter believed to have built the housing around the clock, is recorded there dated 4th May 1942.

John McFadden was appointed custodian of the clock in 1927 at a salary of £8 per year. He was assisted by his son George McFadden, who took over the post in 1947 and was responsible for winding and maintaining the clock until at least 1977. Winding the clock was an arduous procedure: it took half an hour to hoist the weights to the top of the clock well, and the narrow space between the timepiece and the wall of the turret meant that winding had to be performed with the left hand.

A car bomb in 1971 blew in one face of the clock and knocked the turret five degrees off the perpendicular. Following this, the striking of the clock was suspended for fear that vibration might further weaken the leaning turret walls. Renovation was subsequently carried out using parts supplied by Thwaites and Reed of London, who also maintain the clock mechanism of the Palace of Westminster. A millwright straightened the clock hands and new parts were welded in by electrician John Williamson, the total cost of renovation amounting to £120.

Historical Background

An 18th-century brown linen market had previously stood in Banbridge on the summit of the hill where the four principal streets intersect, as illustrated in Hincks's engraving of 1783. The site of the present market house was at that time occupied by a hotel called the Bunch of Grapes. In 1819 a new broad road was constructed between Dublin and Belfast, and the Post Office authorities threatened to bypass Banbridge to avoid the steep hill at the town's centre. The inhabitants, fearing the economic consequences, obtained a grant of £500 from the Marquess of Downshire and opened what became known as "the Cut" at a total cost of £1,900. The old market house had to be demolished in the process, but a new and "much more commodious" one was built on the site of the former Bunch of Grapes hotel.

The drawings of the new market house by Michael McGavigan survive among the Downshire papers. The market house bears the date 1833 but was not completed until 1834. Contemporary observer Samuel Lewis, writing in 1837, described it as "large and handsome," though some later Victorian commentators found it lacking in architectural elegance.

As was common in smaller market towns, a court room and market house were combined in a single building, with an open lower floor providing covered space for the exchange of produce in wet weather and an upper floor containing a court room and assembly room. Court-and-market houses of this type in Ireland constitute a recognisable indigenous building type with no exact counterpart elsewhere; those built between 1790 and 1850 reflect the increasing attention that improving landlords were beginning to pay to architectural quality and civic dignity, stimulated in part by the public buildings of Dublin — particularly those designed by James Gandon.

The market system in Ireland grew up through royal grants of monopoly, in this case to the Marquess of Downshire, and these monopolies were valuable by virtue of the right to levy tolls on all who brought goods to market. Organised resistance eventually led to the abolition of market tolls in many parts of Ulster, including Banbridge, in around 1830. The Fairs and Markets Commission of 1853, which investigated the operation of the toll system, found that markets were held in Banbridge on Monday and Tuesday — Monday for butter, fowl, beef, pork, meal, flax and potatoes, and Tuesday for grain, hay, straw, turnips and green crops. In 1852 alone the market handled 7,000 sacks of oats, 439 sacks of meal, 815 casks of butter, 2,800 casks of pork and 4,000 loads of hay and straw. In the market place to the rear of the building stood two beams and scales for weighing butter, pork, potatoes and seeds, as well as a weighbridge for cartloads of hay, oats and straw.

Griffith's Valuation of 1856–64 lists the market house and the market place to the rear as a single holding valued at £100, along with sheds, stores and "market tolls." The stores were used for grass seed and flax seed, both significant trading items in Banbridge at the time. The occupier of the property was Stewart Craig, "weighmaster and butter-taster," appointed in 1825 to weigh goods and taste and examine butter for quality branding. Craig did not receive a salary but was paid a fee under the terms of the Butter Act by those wishing to have their produce branded. Banbridge was synonymous at the time with high-quality butter, though Craig encountered some difficulty in sourcing adequate casks or firkins for packing it. He was thought to clear between £300 and £400 a year from the markets and was responsible for maintaining the market place, expending what was considered "a large sum" in fitting doors and windows to the sheds and stores. The market rent was £32 10s. 8d.

The upper floor served as a petty sessions court room, valued at £20, which also acted as a place of worship for congregations without a permanent home and as a venue for public meetings at a nominal annual rent of £10. An 1856 directory records the rooms over the market house as being used as news and reading rooms and as a petty sessions court on alternate Thursdays. A further room to the rear of the upper floor served as a reading room, while caretaker's quarters comprising a kitchen and two bedrooms were situated towards the rear of the building. The caretaker at this time was Margaret Savage.

Subsequent History and Changes of Use

During the period of Annual Revisions from 1864 to 1930 the building's use changed considerably. In 1873 the reading room was removed to elsewhere in the town. A new court house was built in 1872–74, and in 1882 new public markets were opened in Victoria Street. The former market house became the Town Hall, though a butter and egg market continued to be held in the adjoining market place. The 1901 census records that 58-year-old James Savage, an unemployed labourer, occupied seven rooms in the Town Hall with his wife Mary, who served as caretaker. The 1911 census lists Sarah Gault as a 41-year-old widow occupying four rooms. Joseph Gault had become caretaker from 1907 and Sarah Gault from 1908, with Sarah Giffen taking over the role in 1919.

Around the turn of the 20th century the ground floor arcades were boarded up and the space put to storage and charitable uses. A newspaper account from around 1900 recalls the scene outside the building on a Saturday morning as a busy market where farmers sold potatoes at fourpence per stone, and describes the lower portion being used by Thomas Gillespie as a store for flour and meal, while the upper floor hosted concerts, lectures and parliamentary election meetings. The butter and egg market to the rear was enclosed by high iron railings, and farmers paid toll money at the gate to access merchants named as John Harvey, James Gracey and Bell of Hillsborough, who occupied separate compartments. A photographer named Mr Trimble occupied premises at the far end of the yard.

During World War II a siren known as "Moanin' Minnie" was installed on top of the building as part of the air-raid warning system, and this continued to be used to call the fire brigade into action into the 1970s. The fire siren was still present behind the Downshire coat of arms in 2007 but does not appear to have survived the subsequent renovation.

Banbridge Urban District Council became absolute owners of the building in 1914 but vacated it in 1918 for premises elsewhere, not returning until 1954. From 1918, a business identified as Walsh — whose successors still trade in Scarva Street — rented the ground floor and used it for storage, subletting two thirds of it to the Temperance Union, also known as the "Catch-my-Pal" movement, who used it as a billiard hall. The council retained rooms on the first floor, which were also used by a Soldiers' Club billiard room, later taken over by the British Legion. In 1924 the rooms retained by the Urban District Council were taken over by the Commissioners of Public Works, and from 1933 by the Ministry of Finance as a valuation office for assessing rateable valuations in the local area. In 1930 the ground floor store was taken over by John McCaldin and run as a grocery shop. From 1935 the British Legion billiard hall was taken over by David W. Chambers, architect and surveyor to the council.

In 1938 the entire ground floor was converted into a shop for the Electricity Board for Northern Ireland. Modern rectangular show windows were installed and a corner of the building was heavily rendered. The accommodation at that time comprised a shop, general office, two private offices, two small stores, a large store, a workshop and lavatories. The Catch-my-Pal club moved into the former Ministry of Finance offices on the first floor, and from this point there was no longer a caretaker living in the building. The former market place to the rear became the site of the town's new Post Office in 1939.

Banbridge Urban Council returned to the Town Hall in 1954 and remained until 1971, when the town clerk and staff transferred to new offices in Avonmore House, Church Square. The council's engineer and surveyor James McKinney then took over the vacated offices. Through the 1970s and into the early 1980s the council's works, recreation and building control departments were all housed in the Town Hall, but when the new Civic Building was constructed in 1982, all these functions moved to the new premises. In 1989 renovation work was carried out on the building, and in subsequent years it was used as offices by the Citizens' Advice Bureau, the Town Centre Manager and the "Source" youth drop-in project, with an exhibition space on the upper floor.

Restoration

A major renovation was carried out in 2010–11 under the supervision of architects WDR and RT Taggart. Works included removing the render applied to the building in the 1930s, reinstating gates to the arcades in the positions they would originally have occupied, and a thorough overhaul of the fabric. The existing Downshire coat of arms was found to be unsalvageable and a new replacement has been carved. The mechanical clock has been restored and is in working order, and the interior has been fully refurbished for commercial use. This has involved some alteration to the internal layout and has resulted in some loss of character and historic fabric, though the building retains quality and character throughout.