Yarn Market, Dunster

The design of market houses varies from county to county. Dunster's is a fairly common shape - octagonal - but is quite small and has dormer windows. It has a central stone column with a lean-to roof of stone slates supported by timber columns. The design is topped off with a weather vane. In medieval times Dunster was a focus of the local Somerset wool trade, and this market house would have been a centre of buying and selling. The building we see today was probably built by George Luttrell, the owner of Dunster Castle, c.1589. It is known to have been repaired in 1647 after being damaged in the Civil War.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone

Ledbury lights

I've always thought that Christmas celebrations should not begin until the month begins with "D". This year they were in full swing well before Halloween and Bonfire Night. Herefordshire's towns have got in on the acttoo. This year Ross on Wye and Ledbury (to name those I know), were singing Christmas carols and turning on the Christmas lights on 26th November!

photo © T. Boughen

Under the Market House, Ross on Wye

The Herefordshire town of Ross on Wye has a late seventeenth century market house. It is made of red sandstone columns and arches that are open to the public and a stone and timber room above (now a gallery selling the work of local artists and craftspeople). It was originally designed to offer a covered space for market stalls, something it still does to this day. On non-market days it is a place to sit, shelter from the rain (or intense sun!), and generally watch the world go by. As I was doing just that the other day someone was using it as a vantage point for a phone call and I took this shot of the scene. I've converted it to a black and white image because the strong blue fascia of the Boots store was overpowering the composition and weakening the strong silhouettes.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

High Street and The Homend, Ledbury

Ledbury's town centre main street has two names, the High Street and The Homend, the change coming at Bye Street, a side street by the clock tower across from the Market House. High Street is one of the two most common road names in England (the other being Church Street). However, The Homend is the only such named street that I can find, though the name is used by a cottage in the nearby Herefordshire village of Stretton Grandison. The Victoria County History says this about the probable derivation: "The name of The Homend is first recorded in 1288 derived from an Old English word 'hamm'  or 'hom' probably meaning ‘land hemmed in by water or marsh’, or perhaps ‘river meadow’. Interestingly, the other end of the High Street connects with a road called The Southend.

 The first photograph shows the Market House and part of the north side of the High Street. The second shows the Market House and The Homend.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Market houses in the 21st century

As we've travelled around Herefordshire, Gloucestershire and further afield in England we've noticed that many market houses continue to fulfil their original function as a building providing a covered space for stalls selling goods to the people of the town. That is remarkable. It isn't unusual to find ancient houses and churches continuing to house people and act as places of worship. But it is much rarer to find other kinds of medieval, seventeenth and eighteenth century buildings still carrying out their original activities.

Some inns can claim the distinction as can a few town halls, places of learning and almshouses, but other examples are not common. On a recent visit to Newent, Gloucestershire, we saw the market house of 1668 (with a later apsidal addition) filled with so many stalls of hats, dresses, blouses etc that they were spilling out on to the adjoining pavements.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

County Hall, Abingdon

The prototype of the design of County Hall, Abingdon is the medieval market house (see examples here, here and here). However, in Abingdon it is on a much grander scale in a later architectural style. Its name and size derives from the time when the town vied with Reading to be the county town of Berkshire. The building was constructed in 1678 - 1682, possibly by Sir Christopher Wren. Its Baroque features include the giant Corinthian pilasters and archetypal windows. Today the town of Abingdon is in Oxfordshire and the building houses a museum.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

High St and Market House, Ross on Wye

Most UK towns have a "High Street". It is the name that is usually applied to the settlemen's first and principal shopping street. Consequently, as in Ross on Wye, today it may be a relatively smaller street that in later years was replaced or augmented by adjacent streets that could accommodate the increasing number of shops. In Ross on Wye two contiguous, larger streets were developed with shops but the presence of the old Market House (late C17, poss. 1660-1674), an adjacent market space (out of shot to the right), and the continued use of the space under the Market House by market stalls, ensured that the High Street remained one of the focal points of the town. The normally bustling scene is deserted because the shot was taken during the coronavirus "lockdown".

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Ledbury timber framing

There are two particularly noticeable buildings on the main street in Ledbury, Herefordshire. One is the timber-framed, black and white, Market House of c.1617. The other is the Barrett Browning Memorial Institute with its prominent clock tower, a competition-winning structure designed by Brightwen Binyon in 1892 and built in 1894-6. It is named after the poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, a resident of the area for many years. Pevsner was less than impressed by the building and one can certainly question the materials, colours and aspects of how the overall design sit in the corner location, as well as the dissonant note it strikes across from the Market House. What is undeniable, however, is the importance of the tower as a visual punctuation mark half-way along the main street.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Market House, Newent

The Market House at Newent, Gloucestershire, was built about 1668 as the Butter Market. Like examples at nearby towns, such as Ledbury, it is a timber-framed structure, open at ground level with a room above. Unusually, the steps to the first floor are outside (at the back) rather than underneath. The building is close studded without a centre rail half way up the wall as is common in the area. The building was restored in 1864 when an apse and Gothic-style windows were added at one end. A photograph of about 1840 shows it as it was built.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Ledbury streetscape

I recently bought a new mobile phone that features a rather better camera than my previous phone. I've taken a few shots with it, testing its capabilities under varying conditions, and have used it for a couple of images that I'd have been unable to get because I wasn't carrying any of my "real" cameras. This streetscape of Ledbury, Herefordshire, features the well-known seventeenth century Market House. However, it wasn't the building that caught my eye so much as the mottled sky and the bright splash of the red car amongst the generally more subdued colours.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Phone