Market Hall, Monmouth
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The Market Hall, in Priory Street,
Monmouth Monmouth ( , ; cy, Trefynwy meaning "town on the Monnow") is a town and community in Wales. It is situated where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. Monmouth is northeast of Cardiff, and west of London. I ...
, Wales, is an early Victorian building by the prolific Monmouth architect
George Vaughan Maddox George Vaughan Maddox (1802–27 February 1864) was a nineteenth-century British architect and builder, whose work was undertaken principally in the town of Monmouth, Wales, and in the wider county. Working mainly in a Neo-Classical style, hi ...
. It was constructed in the years 1837–39 as the centrepiece of a redevelopment of part of Monmouth town centre. After being severely damaged by fire in 1963, it was partly rebuilt and is now the home of
Monmouth Museum The Monmouth Museum, alternatively known as The Nelson Museum and Local History Centre, is a museum in Monmouth, Monmouthshire, south east Wales. It features a collection of artifacts associated with Admiral Horatio Nelson. The museum is loca ...
(formerly the Nelson Museum). At the rear of the building are original
slaughterhouse A slaughterhouse, also called abattoir (), is a facility where animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a packaging facility. Slaughterhouses that produce meat that is no ...
s, called The Shambles, opening onto the
River Monnow The River Monnow ( cy, Afon Mynwy) marks the England–Wales border for much of its length. After flowing through southwest Herefordshire, England, and eastern Monmouthshire, Wales, its confluence with the River Wye is approximately south of ...
. The building is
Grade II In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
listed as at 27 June 1952, and it is one of 24 buildings on the
Monmouth Heritage Trail The Monmouth Heritage Trail is a walking route which connects various sights in the town of Monmouth, Wales. History In 2009 Monmouth Civic Society identified 24 historic and interesting buildings in the town, and organised the production and fix ...
. The Shambles slaughterhouses are separately listed as
Grade II* In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
.


Original building and associated development

By the 1830s, the main road into the centre of Monmouth from the north, Church Street, had become increasingly congested and insalubrious. The street was narrow, and was used by most of the town's
butcher A butcher is a person who may Animal slaughter, slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesal ...
s. According to local tradition, a local
gingerbread Gingerbread refers to a broad category of baked goods, typically flavored with ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon and sweetened with honey, sugar, or molasses. Gingerbread foods vary, ranging from a moist loaf cake to forms nearly as crisp as ...
maker, Mrs Syner, was closing the shutters of her shop on Church Street one evening when the
mail coach A mail coach is a stagecoach that is used to deliver mail. In Great Britain, Ireland, and Australia, they were built to a General Post Office-approved design operated by an independent contractor to carry long-distance mail for the Post Office. M ...
to
Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
went through at a gallop. Her apron strings were caught in one of the horses' harnesses, and she was dragged along the ground for some distance. Escaping serious injury, she grabbed the coachman's whip, knocked out some of his teeth with the handle, and marched back to her shop to begin organising a petition for a new road to be built to bypass Church Street. The Borough Council then organised a competition for the best scheme, with a prize of £10 for the winner. The scheme also needed to include a new Market Hall, as the traditional site of the town's produce market, beneath the arches of the Shire Hall, faced disruption because of the need to extend the accommodation for the
Assizes The courts of assize, or assizes (), were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes e ...
.
Keith Kissack Keith Edward Kissack MBE (18 November 1913 – 31 March 2010) was a British schoolteacher and historian. He is notable for his many publications on the history of Monmouth and Monmouthshire. Life Kissack was born in Clun, Shropshire, to Rev. ...
, ''Monmouth and its Buildings'', Logaston Press, 2003, , p.xii
Monmouth Civic Society, ''Guide to the Monmouth Heritage Blue Plaque Trail'', n.d., p.10 The prize was won by local architect
George Vaughan Maddox George Vaughan Maddox (1802–27 February 1864) was a nineteenth-century British architect and builder, whose work was undertaken principally in the town of Monmouth, Wales, and in the wider county. Working mainly in a Neo-Classical style, hi ...
, who proposed a new road running to the west of the town centre, immediately above the bank of the River Monnow. Maddox's scheme was for a carriage road—now Priory Street—supported by a
viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide v ...
built upon the river bank. A new Market Hall was to be built on one side of the road, supported by the arches. The town's slaughterhouses or "shambles" would be sited beneath the arches, and the waste from them would drain directly into the river. Maddox is also believed to have been responsible for new buildings on the opposite side of Priory Street. Work began on the new road in 1834. Construction of the New Market Hall started in 1837, and it opened in January 1840. Maddox designed a crescent-shaped frontage, in a "grandiose and scholarly Greek
Doric Doric may refer to: * Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece ** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians * Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture * Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode * Doric dialect (Scotland) * Doric ...
" style,John Newman, ''The Buildings of Wales: Gwent/Monmouthshire'', Penguin Books, 2000, , pp.405–406 with an Ionic
cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, from ...
and
clerestory In architecture, a clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey) is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both. Historically, ''clerestory'' denoted an upper l ...
above the central part of the building, the whole being constructed of
Bath Stone Bath Stone is an oolitic limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate. Originally obtained from the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England. Its honey colouring gives the World Heritage City of ...
. The town's
Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...
was located in the building from 1874 and, after 1876, the first floor of the building was used as the offices and printing works of the local newspaper, the ''
Monmouthshire Beacon The ''Monmouthshire Beacon'' is a weekly tabloid newspaper covering the areas of Monmouthshire, south Herefordshire and western Gloucestershire. It has been in continuous publication since 1837. Since 1980 the newspaper has been part of the T ...
''. The curved arcade of slaughterhouses beneath the Market Hall, facing onto the river, was built of
Old Red Sandstone The Old Red Sandstone is an assemblage of rocks in the North Atlantic region largely of Devonian age. It extends in the east across Great Britain, Ireland and Norway, and in the west along the northeastern seaboard of North America. It also exte ...
. The piers of the 24 arches were slightly inclined to give additional stability. The arches opened into deep storage rooms, vaulted in brick. The Market Hall has a Grade II listing while The Shambles below have an independent Grade II* listing.


Fire and later uses

In March 1963, the entire central part of the Market Hall building was destroyed by a fire which started in the newspaper's paper store, on the first floor. Gathering the Jewels: The New Market Hall fire, Monmouth, 1963
accessed October 2013
The Borough Council, on the casting vote of Monmouth's mayor, decided that the building should be restored rather than demolished to provide space for car parking, although lack of funds meant that the upper storey and clock tower could not be replaced. A new flat roof for the single storey building, together with a
Modernist Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...
metal and glass façade at the rear, overlooking the Monnow, were provided in 1968–69 by architects
Donald Insall Associates Donald Insall Associates is a firm of architects, designers and historic building consultants. They have worked on contemporary and historic listed buildings, monuments and sites throughout Britain, and at UNESCO World Heritage Sites including ...
. Six years after the fire the restored Market Hall opened to house the Nelson Museum and the post office. It was intended that the library would also move in but that remained at the Shire Hall. Apart from the museum, now the Monmouth Museum, and post office, the remaining parts of the building have at various times housed the
county court A county court is a court based in or with a jurisdiction covering one or more counties, which are administrative divisions (subnational entities) within a country, not to be confused with the medieval system of ''county courts'' held by the high ...
, a
labour exchange An employment agency is an organization which matches employers to employees. In developed countries, there are multiple private businesses which act as employment agencies and a publicly-funded employment agency. Public employment agencies One ...
,
Monmouthshire County Council Monmouthshire County Council (or simply Monmouthshire Council) ( cy, Cyngor Sir Fynwy) is the governing body for the Monmouthshire principal area – one of the unitary authorities of Wales. The current unitary authority was created in 1996 an ...
offices, and a café. The slaughterhouses, which are visible from the railings behind the southern end of the Market Hall, remain physically intact but are disused, dilapidated, and increasingly vandalised. Many of the original slaughterhouse fittings remain in place. Various schemes have been put forward to re-use the slaughterhouses, without success. A feasibility project to investigate the site's potential was proposed by the County Council in 2009.


References

{{Buildings in Monmouth History of Monmouth, Wales Buildings and structures in Monmouth, Wales Tourist attractions in Monmouthshire Grade II listed buildings in Monmouthshire Grade II* listed buildings in Monmouthshire Commercial buildings completed in 1839 Market halls