The Corn Exchange, also known as the Women's Institute Hall, is a commercial building in West Street in

Rochford Rochford is a town and civil parish in the Rochford (district), Rochford District in Essex, England, north of Southend-on-Sea, from London and from Chelmsford. At the 2011 census, the Civil parishes in England, civil parish had a population ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, England. The structure, which is now used by the local branch of the

Women's Institute The Women's Institute (WI) is a community-based organization for women in the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand. The movement was founded in Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada, by Erland and Janet Lee with Adelaide Hoodless being the ...

, 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

In 1865, a group of local businessmen decided to form a company, to be known as the "Rochford Corn Exchange Company", to finance and commission a purpose-built

corn exchange A corn exchange is a building where merchants trade grains. The word "corn" in British English denotes all cereal grains, such as wheat and barley; in the United States these buildings were called grain exchanges. Such trade was common in towns ...

for the town. The site they selected, on the south side of West Street, had been occupied by the Vernon's Head Inn. The new building was designed by Frederic Chancellor in the

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

, built in yellow brick and was completed in 1866. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of three bays facing onto West Street. The central bay featured a round headed opening containing a double door with an ornate

wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.05%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4.5%), or 0.25 for low carbon "mild" steel. Wrought iron is manufactured by heating and melting high carbon cast iron in an ...

grille in the tympanum flanked by

pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

s with foliate

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

s and surmounted by

voussoir A voussoir ( UK: ; US: ) is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, which is used in building an arch or vault.“Voussoir, N., Pronunciation.” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, June 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/7553486115. Acces ...

s. The outer bays were fenestrated by round headed

sash window A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double glazing) of glass. History ...

s which were also flanked by pilasters and surmounted by voussoirs. There was a gable above which featured a raised

apex The apex is the highest point of something. The word may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional entities * Apex (comics) A-Bomb Abomination Absorbing Man Abraxas Abyss Abyss is the name of two characters appearing in Ameri ...

containing a circular panel within a brick arch. 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. However, it continued to be used for public meetings. It was the venue for the meeting of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Essex on 20 July 1875, and the venue for a public meeting, at which Arthur Stride, the general manager of the

London, Tilbury and Southend Railway The London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LT&SR), was a British railway company, whose network connected Fenchurch Street railway station, Fenchurch Street station, in central London, with destinations in east London and Essex, including , , , T ...

, presented proposals for a new

Shenfield–Southend line The Shenfield–Southend line is a branch line off the Great Eastern Main Line in Essex, in the east of England. It links in the west to , in Southend-on-Sea, in the east. The vast majority of services connect to or from the Great Eastern Main ...

, in March 1883. A projecting clock, intended to commemorate the

Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria was officially celebrated on 22 June 1897 to mark the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession on 20 June 1837. Queen Victoria was the first British monarch ever to celebrate a Diamond ...

, was installed in the gable in 1897. During the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the building was acquired by Augusta Tawke of Bullwood Hall, who initially used it as a laundry before letting it out as a garage and repair shop. Tawke sold the building to a Miss Meeson, founder of the Rochford branch of the

in 1924. Meeson allowed it be used as a canning factory for locally produced jam during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It was subsequently used as a community events venue hosting farmers' markets, boxing matches, and Women's Institute meetings. An extensive refurbishment of the roof of the building was completed in September 2016.

References

{{reflist Commercial buildings completed in 1866 Grade II listed buildings in Essex

Rochford

History

See also

References