The Guildhall & Markets

The Guildhall and Markets are an early 19th-century building constructed of coursed blue lias stone with some red brick banding and ashlar dressings, the ashlar now painted white, and banded slate roofs. The architecture is Gothic, drawing from Italian and North European styles and influenced by Ruskinian principles, emphasizing structural colour and maintaining the integrity of the wall face with minimal moulding and flush-set window tracery.

The main hall is a five-bay, two-storey structure. Below is a polychrome Gothic arcade, formerly part of the Corn Exchange and now a library. Above are tall mullion-and-transom stone windows with linked pointed hoodmoulds. A coved ashlar eaves cornice with carved bosses tops the building, supporting a steep hipped roof with ornamental iron cresting.

To the left of the main hall, a recessed entrance features a pointed doorway, a tall stair light, and a clock turret added in 1892 by R Thomas of Cardigan. The turret is lead-clad with a pyramid spire. A crossing adjoins the hall, with a single window below and two above, featuring pointed red brick relieving arches and timber mullion-and-transom windows, all under a coped gable. The side elevation to College Lane includes a stone centre side-wall stack. The rear of the Guildhall features a ground-floor five-bay arcade and two windows above, again with a centre side-wall stack. Behind a crosswing is a lower range, two storeys high to College Lane and one to the rear court, slightly projected with a roof hipped forward. The rear of the court features a hipped gable to the right of the former Corn Store. An early 19th century Russian cannon is located at the south east corner of the Guildhall.

The Markets are designed with a remarkable functional Gothic layout, utilizing an open-well plan and glazed ridge lighting for the upper floor. Polychrome external arcading is visible on the lower level to College Lane and at the rear, where the sloping site creates a high plinth below the arcade. The south west angle is chamfered. From the courtyard, a two-bay arcade provides entry to the upper level. Stone stairs, lit by a panelled, four-sided roof mirroring the main hall's design, lead to the Guildhall’s entrance. The roof has hipped ends and pierced timber panels over the wall-plate. A painted stone fireplace with a commemorative plaque is present. The library below contains cast-iron columns.

Inside, the lower level features a complex, stone-vaulted design, two bays deep on each side of a central light well. The walls have painted, circular piers with blue lias pointed arches and rubble tunnel vaulting. The light well is arcaded, with three bays by two levels, and the upper floor shows slate flagging. Timber roof trusses are concealed by a 20th-century suspended ceiling. A 20th-century stair is located in a lightwell, while the original stone stair is in the south east angle.