Description

SU 4997 ABINGDON MARKET PLACE

583/1/180 County Hall
(Market House)
19.01.1951

GV I

1678-1683. Ashlar. By Christopher Kempster, one of Wren's masons.
Woodwork by Avery Hobbs. Two storeys, cellars and attics, with a
square staircase tower on the south side. Four bays by two, faced
with fine ashlar, Burford stone to impost level of ground floor,
mostly Headington stone above. The Hall stands on a stylobate of
three steps. Open arcaded Market Hall on ground floor, Sessions Hall
on the first floor lighted by arched window in each bay. Giant
pilasters of two storeys support entablature and wooden eaves cornice
of lead roof. Roof has pedimented dormer window above each bay and a
baluwtraded flat frond which rises a cupola with a weathervane. The
grand order, the pilasters of the ground floor arcade, and the tower
square a plinths with a simple cavetto. The order has pedestals,
moulded bases, pilasters without entasis or fluting, and composite
capitals. Its entablature has a plain frieze and carries the
modillions of the wooden eaves cornice of roof, renewed in 1896.
The proportion of this order differ very slightly from the first design,
since the decayed stone was cut away in the restoration work before
1852.
Each bay of tile grand order embraces one arch of the Market Hall arcade.
The Keystones of the round arches bear sculptured masks with symbolical
headdressed. In their present form these date from 1853. The arcades
spring from plain pilasters with moulded imposts. Round headed windows
on first floor, moulded architraves, scrolled keystone with acanthus.
box stone used in the 1853 restoration. Also repaired in 1952. The
County Hall was tile scene of many great election struggles. A.M.
Drawings in Details 1, 69-71 and Architectural Review XIII (1903),
16 and VCH: Berks IV, 433.

The County Hall with Nos. 5 to 9 (consec) Market Place form a group

Listing NGR: SU4978997051

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Abingdon County Hall Museum at Wikipedia
• Abingdon County Hall Museum official website
• Wikidata Q4667824

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

• 
  For the Record
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)