Hungerford Market was a produce market in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, at

Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Clockwise from north these are: the east side of Trafalgar Square leading to St Martin's Place and then Charing Cross Road; the Strand leading to the City; ...

on the Strand. It existed in two different buildings on the same site, the first built in 1682, the second in 1832. The market was first built on the site of Hungerford House, next to Durham Yard, the

town house A townhouse, townhome, town house, or town home, is a type of terraced housing. A modern townhouse is often one with a small footprint on multiple floors. In a different British usage, the term originally referred to any type of city residence ...

of the

Hungerford family Hungerford is a historic market town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, west of Newbury, east of Marlborough, northeast of Salisbury and 60 miles (97 km) west of London. The Kennet and Avon Canal passes through the town alongside the R ...

. The house had burned down in 1669 as is recorded in the Diary of

Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys (; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English diarist and naval administrator. He served as administrator of the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament and is most famous for the diary he kept for a decade. Pepys had no mariti ...

.25 April/26 April 1669
''Samuel Pepys Diary April 1669''
/ref> It was replaced by a new

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...

market building by Charles Fowler, which opened in 1833. The new market was unsuccessful. It was damaged when the adjoining Hungerford Hall burned down in 1854, and was sold to the South Eastern Railway in 1862.

Charing Cross railway station Charing Cross railway station (also known as London Charing Cross) is a central London railway terminus between the Strand and Hungerford Bridge in the City of Westminster. It is the terminus of the South Eastern Main Line to Dover via Ashf ...

was built on the site and opened in 1864.''Charing Cross, the railway stations, and Old Hungerford Market'', Old and New London: Volume 3 (1878), pp. 123-134
accessed: October 15, 2007

Site

Charing Cross London from 1833 Schmollinger map

The site became the property of the Hungerford family of

Farleigh Hungerford Castle Farleigh Hungerford Castle, sometimes called Farleigh Castle or Farley Castle, is a medieval castle in Farleigh Hungerford, Somerset, England. The castle was built in two phases: the inner court was constructed between 1377 and 1383 by Sir T ...

near

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

in Somerset in 1425, when it was acquired from Sir

Robert Chalons Sir Robert Chalons (–1445) was an English courtier, soldier, administrator and politician from Devon. Origins Born about 1370, he was the son of Sir Robert Chalons, of Challonsleigh in Plympton St Mary, and his wife Joan, elder daughter and co ...

and his wife Blanche by Sir Walter Hungerford (later

Baron Hungerford Baron Hungerford is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created on 7 January 1426 for Walter Hungerford, who was summoned to parliament, had been Member of Parliament, Speaker of the House and invested as Knight of the Order of the Garter b ...

Speaker of the House of Commons Speaker of the House of Commons is a political leadership position found in countries that have a House of Commons, where the membership of the body elects a speaker to lead its proceedings. Systems that have such a position include: * Speaker of ...

and Steward of the Household of King

Henry V Henry V may refer to: People * Henry V, Duke of Bavaria (died 1026) * Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (1081/86–1125) * Henry V, Duke of Carinthia (died 1161) * Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine (c. 1173–1227) * Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (121 ...

. By 1444, it was known as "Hungerford Inn". Walter Hungerford's grandson,

Robert Hungerford, 3rd Baron Hungerford Robert Hungerford, 3rd Baron Hungerford (c.1429 – 17 May 1464) was an English nobleman. He supported the Lancastrian cause in the War of the Roses. In the late 1440s and early 1450s he was a member of successive parliaments. He was a prisoner ...

, and great-grandson, Thomas Hungerford, Speaker of the Commons, were both

attainted In English criminal law, attainder or attinctura was the metaphorical "stain" or "corruption of blood" which arose from being condemned for a serious capital crime (felony or treason). It entailed losing not only one's life, property and hereditary ...

for supporting the Lancastrian cause during the

Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These wars were fought bet ...

, in 1461 and 1469 respectively. King Henry VII granted the land back to Thomas's brother, Walter Hungerford. His daughter-in law,

Agnes Hungerford Agnes, Lady Hungerford (died 20 February 1523) was a murderer and the second wife of Sir Edward Hungerford. When he died in 1522, Agnes was charged and convicted of the murder of her first husband, John Cotell. She was hanged at Tyburn in 1523. ...

, was hanged at

Tyburn Tyburn was a manor (estate) in the county of Middlesex, one of two which were served by the parish of Marylebone. The parish, probably therefore also the manor, was bounded by Roman roads to the west (modern Edgware Road) and south (modern Ox ...

in 1523, for the murder of her first husband

John Cotell John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

. His grandson, also Walter, was accused in 1540 of treason and perversion, and King

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

had him executed alongside his patron

Thomas Cromwell Thomas Cromwell (; 1485 – 28 July 1540), briefly Earl of Essex, was an English lawyer and statesman who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the king, who later blamed false charge ...

. His son, another Walter, was regranted the property in 1544. It finally passed down the family to Sir Edward Hungerford (1632–1711), created a

Knight of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as one ...

at the coronation of Charles II.

First market

Sir Edward Hungerford (d.1711) obtained permission to hold a market on the site for three days a week. Hungerford Inn, or seemingly the burned-out remains of it, was subdivided into shops and with a covered

piazza A town square (or square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true geometric square, used for community gatherings. ...

, formed the market. The market never prospered and Hungerford sold the site in parcels to the politician Sir

Stephen Fox Sir Stephen Fox (27 March 1627 – 28 October 1716) of Farley in Wiltshire, of Redlynch Park in Somerset, of Chiswick, Middlesex and of Whitehall, was a royal administrator and courtier to King Charles II, and a politician, who rose from ...

between 1681 and 1684, and Sir

Christopher Wren Sir Christopher Wren PRS FRS (; – ) was one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history, as well as an anatomist, astronomer, geometer, and mathematician-physicist. He was accorded responsibility for rebuilding 52 churches ...

bought a quarter of the property, and a quarter of the rents. In 1685 Fox and Wren obtained a license to sell grain, but achieved little increase in trade. A market house was built in the centre of the site, possibly designed by Wren himself. Hungerford squandered his money, dying a poor Knight of Windsor in 1711. In 1718 the market was sold to the royal gardener Henry Wise and remained in his family until 1830, when it was bought by the newly formed Hungerford Market Company.

New market

By the beginning of the nineteenth century, the old market had become dilapidated. In 1830 an

Act of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...

was obtained to

incorporate Incorporation may refer to: * Incorporation (business), the creation of a corporation * Incorporation of a place, creation of municipal corporation such as a city or county * Incorporation (academic), awarding a degree based on the student having ...

a company to re-establish the market. The company acquired the site of the old market, together with the adjoining houses in Hungerford street, and a few in the Strand. All the existing buildings were demolished, and a new structure was built in 1831-3 to an

design by

Charles Fowler Charles Fowler (17 May 1792 – 26 September 1867) was an English architect, born and baptised at Cullompton, Cullompton, Devon. He is especially noted for his design of market buildings, including Covent Garden Market in London. Life Educati ...

, the architect of

Covent Garden Market Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site ...

. The building contract was the first undertaken by the partnership of

Grissell and Peto Grissell and Peto was a civil engineering partnership between Thomas Grissell and his cousin Morton Peto that built many major buildings and monuments in London and became one of the major contractors in the building of the rapidly expanding railwa ...

, who later went on to build

Nelson's Column Nelson's Column is a monument in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, Central London, built to commemorate Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson's decisive victory at the Battle of Trafalgar over the combined French and Spanish navies, during whic ...

, the

Reform Club The Reform Club is a private members' club on the south side of Pall Mall in central London, England. As with all of London's original gentlemen's clubs, it comprised an all-male membership for decades, but it was one of the first all-male cl ...

, and the Lyceum Theatre, The buildings were mostly of granite. The area occupied by the new market was a strip 126 feet wide, extending 465 feet northward towards the Strand. In addition, next to the river, was a wharf, about 200 feet long, with steps down to the water. The market itself was divided into three sections. The lower level of the site was occupied by a fish market, consisting of an open court, 130 feet long, with two tiers of colonnaded galleries on each side. By 1830 the replacement of

Old London Bridge Several bridges named London Bridge have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and steel. It rep ...

meant that fishing boats could then come further upstream to deliver their catch, and the company hoped to break the monopoly of

Billingsgate Market Billingsgate Fish Market is located in Canary Wharf in London. It is the United Kingdom's largest inland fish market. It takes its name from Billingsgate, a ward in the south-east corner of the City of London, where the riverside market was origi ...

by providing a more convenient supply of fish for the West End. Fowler later built an iron roof over the open court to protect the fishmongers' stalls and two end pavilions towards the river were used as taverns. At the northern end of this lower court a flight of steps led to the upper level, which was elevated over storage vaults. The Great Hall, an aisled timber-roofed building 160 feet long, housed a fruit and vegetable market. To the north of that was another open court, flanked by colonnades and butchers' shops. New Hungerford Street led from there into the Strand. Fowler exploited the complexities of the site for dramatic effect, leading

Thomas Leverton Donaldson Thomas Leverton Donaldson (19 October 1795 – 1 August 1885) was a British architect, notable as a pioneer in architectural education, as a co-founder and President of the Royal Institute of British Architects and a winner of the RIBA Royal Gold ...

to talk of "the playful picturesqueness of the group, where court rose above court, galleries above galleries, and where the series of roofs outtopped each other." A

suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (bridge), deck is hung below suspension wire rope, cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridg ...

leading to the market from

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...

on the south bank of the River Thames was built by

Isambard Kingdom Brunel Isambard Kingdom Brunel (; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was a British civil engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history," "one of the 19th-century engineering giants," and "one ...

in 1845, and a hall for lectures, named Hungerford Hall, was built next-door in 1851. In the same year of 1851, the Swiss-Italian entrepreneur

Carlo Gatti Carlo Gatti (1817–1878) was a Swiss entrepreneur in the Victorian era. He came to England in 1847, where he established restaurants and an ice importing business. He is credited with first making ice cream available to the general public a ...

opened a stand at the market selling pastries and

ice cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as str ...

, priced at one penny and served in a shell. This was perhaps the first time that ice cream was made available to the paying general public.

Demolition

The market found itself unable to challenge more specialist markets, such as

Billingsgate Billingsgate is one of the 25 Wards of the City of London. This small City Ward is situated on the north bank of the River Thames between London Bridge and Tower Bridge in the south-east of the Square Mile. The modern Ward extends south to the ...

, and

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...

, and was badly damaged when Hungerford Hall burned down in 1854. It was sold to the South Eastern Railway in 1862 which demolished it to make way for

, which opened on 11 January 1864. Brunel's suspension bridge was replaced with the new nine-span Hungerford Railway Bridge, and its chains were re-used to complete the

Clifton Suspension Bridge The Clifton Suspension Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Avon Gorge and the River Avon, linking Clifton in Bristol to Leigh Woods in North Somerset. Since opening in 1864, it has been a toll bridge, the income from which provides fun ...

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

Vestiges

The Hungerford family are commemorated in the name of the

Hungerford Bridge The Hungerford Bridge crosses the River Thames in London, and lies between Waterloo Bridge and Westminster Bridge. Owned by Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd (who use its official name of Charing Cross Bridge) it is a steel truss railway bridge ...

, which leads into Charing Cross from the south bank of the River Thames.

References

External links

Victorian LondonBritish History
{{coord, 51.5078, -0.1244, type:landmark_region:GB-WSM, display=title Commercial buildings completed in 1833 Former buildings and structures in the City of Westminster Former retail markets in London 1862 disestablishments in England