1 and 1a Market Place, Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim, BT38 7AW

An attached two-storey former market house dated 1755, located at the corner of Market Place and North Street in Carrickfergus town centre, with views across the harbour towards the castle. The building is rectangular in plan, facing south, and represents one of the three oldest surviving public buildings in the town after the castle and St. Nicholas's Church of Ireland.

The structure was designed as a multi-functional building with an arcaded ground floor market beneath a first floor capable of accommodating court sessions, typical of mid-eighteenth century practice. The principal south elevation is symmetrical with a slight central bend. The pitched pantile roof has gutters concealed behind rendered parapets with rectangular cast-iron downpipes. Walls are painted smooth-rendered over a chamfered plinth. The ground floor features round-headed entrances at both ends with two segmental-arched windows between, topped by a moulded cornice over straight-channelled rustication. The first floor contains six windows and carries an entablature with modillioned cornice and parapet over quoins. A central pediment surmounts the elevation, containing a round clockface with metal hands and a moulded architrave with keyblocks to the cardinal points. Although the building lacks strict Palladian proportions due to its even number of bays, it is characterised by this distinctive central front elevation bend and pediment with clock. A metal date plaque is affixed to the right end of the ground floor, with a street lantern attached to the right end of the first floor. Ground floor windows display painted signage to the tympanum, with square-headed display windows over plinth-level rendered stall-risers; doors are square-headed three-panelled double-leaf with painted timber tympanums, the right door having modern sidelights. The east gable at ground floor is two windows wide; the remainder is blank, with windows lacking architraves and fitted with metal security grilles, the left window being taller than its neighbour. Current windows are replacement square-headed three-light casements with moulded architraves and sills, mostly metal, though the ground floor retains timber examples.

The arcaded ground floor has been blocked and interior features largely removed, yet the building remains easily recognisable as a former market house and retains a commanding presence in the historic streetscape. The building served as a town hall from 1843 until 1935, when this function transferred to the Old Courthouse. Subsequently it has served various commercial uses, including as a branch of the Ulster Bank, and since the late 1990s as a ground floor gallery shop with first floor offices. The first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1836 depicts the building approximately in its current form, though without a rear extension. The 1836 Townland Valuation records a Market House valued at £24, whilst Valuation Revisions from 1894 to the 1920s record it as a 'town hall' valued at £20. The building is situated within a conservation area.