Description

ST6432
6/87

CASTLE CARY CP
MARKET PLACE (West side)

The Market House

4.2.74

GV
II*

Market house with other public buildings. 1855, by F.C. Penrose. Cary stone cut and
squared, with Doulting stone dressings; Delabole slate roof between stepped coped gables
crowned with small pinnacles; central lead-covered spirelet with clock-faces set
diagonally onto ridge. In a Flemish style. 'L'-plan; 3 storeys, 7-bay main facade. Open
colonnade to ground floor, with circular non-classical columns carrying chamfered
3-centred arches; then string courses to a panelled section with pointed arohed recesses
having alternately circular and triangular leaded windows; to upper storey in bays 2, 4
and 6 are hollow-chamfered mullioned windows with three 4-centre-arched lights under
flat heads without labels. North- east elevation has two open pointed arches at ground
floor; then two pairs of small rectangular windows divided by a central shaft carrying a
1+2+1 light oriel window at second floor level having chamfered mullions and transomes,
and stepped stone roof with a gable vent over. South-west elevation has an end gable,
featuring staircase windows, and a 3-bay extension to the rear to match, adjusted to
suit the slope of the hill alongside. Rear elevation has a gabled projection with
segmental arched casements at ground floor level, a single and a 2-light rectangular
window to first floor with casements, and similar windows to second floor but with
rectangular leaded-pane lights, gable vent above: sundry later extensions to fill in the
angle including a covered walkway and fire escape stairway. Erected by the Market House
Company to replace the former house of 1616, possibly reusing the old columns, in
anticipation of increased trade after the projected arrival of the railway in 1856. The
undercroft, still enclosed by wrot iron railings, was for the market, particularly for
corn, and at the rear were several cells; above were reading and news rooms and
facilities for musical entertainments (McGarvie M, Castle Cary; Avalon Industries, 1980).

Listing NGR: ST6408832379

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Market House at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q99671018

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)