The Corn Exchange is a commercial building in Abbeygate Street in

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as ''Bury,'' is a cathedral as well as market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk District, West Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St. Edmunds an ...

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

, England. The structure, which is currently used as a public house, is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

The first corn exchange in the town was on the ground floor of the old

Market Cross A market cross, or in Scots, a mercat cross, is a structure used to mark a market square in market towns, where historically the right to hold a regular market or fair was granted by the monarch, a bishop or a baron. History Market crosses ...

in Cornhill which dated from 1584. The second corn exchange was designed by Benjamin Backson, built in

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

stone and was completed, just to the south of the Market Cross, in 1836. By the mid-19th century, the second corn exchange became inadequate, and civic leaders decided to commission a new corn exchange on the site of the old Shambles, just to the south of the second building. The foundation stone for the current building was laid by the mayor, William Henry Rushbrooke, on 18 June 1861. It was designed by Ellis and Woodard of

Fenchurch Street Fenchurch Street is a street in London, England, linking Aldgate at its eastern end with Lombard Street and Gracechurch Street in the west. It is a well-known thoroughfare in the City of London financial district and is the site of many cor ...

in London in the

neoclassical style Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassici ...

, built by Lot Jackaman in

stone at a cost of £7,000 and was officially opened by the then-mayor, Charles Beard, on 16 July 1862. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of seven bays facing onto Abbeygate Street. The central section of five bays featured a huge hexastyle

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

formed by

Ionic order The Ionic order is one of the three canonic classical order, orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric order, Doric and the Corinthian order, Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan order, Tuscan (a plainer Doric) ...

columns supporting an

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

, a

frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...

bearing the inscription "The Earth is the Lord's and the Fulness Thereof", and a

modillion A modillion is an ornate bracket, more horizontal in shape and less imposing than a corbel. They are often seen underneath a Cornice (architecture), cornice which helps to support them. Modillions are more elaborate than dentils (literally transl ...

pediment Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In an ...

with a bust of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

flanked by figures depicting agriculture in the tympanum. The outer bays featured blocked round headed windows with

architrave In classical architecture, an architrave (; , also called an epistyle; ) is the lintel or beam, typically made of wood or stone, that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can also apply to all sides, including the vertical members, ...

s and pediments supported by

brackets A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. They come in four main pairs of shapes, as given in the box to the right, which also gives their n ...

. Internally, the principal room was the main hall which was originally open but later surmounted by a glass roof supported by

cast-iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...

columns and semi-circular stone arches: it was long and wide. The use of the building as a corn exchange declined significantly in the wake of the Great Depression of British Agriculture in the late 19th century. In the 1960s, Bury St Edmunds Borough Council proposed the demolition of both the second and the third corn exchanges in order to create a parade of shops: the scheme was abandoned in the face of strong public opposition. Instead, a floor was inserted allowing shops to be established on the ground floor in 1969. This also enabled the first floor to be used as an events venue and subsequent performers included the

rock band ''Rock Band'' is a series of rhythm games first released in 2007 and developed by Harmonix. Based on their previous development work from the Guitar Hero, ''Guitar Hero'' series, the main ''Rock Band'' games have players use game controllers mod ...

, ''

Slade Slade are a rock band formed in Wolverhampton, England in 1966. They rose to prominence during the glam rock era in the early 1970s, achieving 17 consecutive top 20 hits and six number ones on the UK Singles Chart. The '' British Hit Singl ...

'', in April 1972 and the rock band, ''

the Clash The Clash were an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1976. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they are considered one of the most influential acts in the original wave of British punk rock, with their music fusing elements ...

'', in July 1978. Following disturbances associated with the latter performance, the council banned live performances in the town for 20 years. In July 2024, a local history society, the Bury Society, decided to oppose calls for a blue plaque to commemorate the performance by the Clash as the event had promoted "unruly behaviour". A major programme of refurbishment works, commissioned by

Wetherspoons J D Wetherspoon (branded variously as Wetherspoon or Wetherspoons, and colloquially known as Spoons) is a British pub company operating in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The company was founded in 1979 by Tim ...

at a cost of £1.4 million and intended to allow the first floor to be used as a public house, started on site in 2011. After completion of the works, which involved the restoration of many of the original features including the entrance hall and main staircase, the building re-opened on 5 June 2012.

History

See also

Notes

References

Further reading