Description

BIDEFORD

SS4526 MARKET PLACE
842-1/6/165 Market House
06/04/89

GV II

Market house. 1883-4. By J Chudley of Newton Abbot.
Roughly-coursed stone rubble with dressings of red and cream
brick, red terracotta and limestone. Slate roofs.
Plan: front range in east side with main entrance flanked by
shops; the fish market and corn exchange seem to have been at
either end originally. Behind and parallel to this runs a long
corridor, open at each end, lined on both sides with small
shops formerly used by butchers (two firms remain). Behind
this again is the pannier market, described in 1889 as
occupying '10,500 superficial feet'.
1 storey; shops at the front with a low upper floor. East
front is of dressed stone rubble, divided into 9 bays by
cream-brick pilasters striped with red brick; below the
capitals are red-terracotta panels moulded with flowers.
Pilasters support segmental red-brick arches, moulded on the
underside and with scroll-keystones of limestone; middle arch,
which forms the main entrance, is taller and round, finished
above eaves-level with a stone gable having a terracotta
finial. The edges of the gable and the corbel-tables under the
eaves are of cream brick.
Main entrance has patterned iron gates; fanlight with 3
upright glazing-bars.
Shops (1 on each of the 4 bays flanking the entrance) have a
display window on the side farthest from the entrance, canted
on the near side towards the recessed shop-entrance. Display
windows have angle-shafts with moulded caps and bases;
double-doors with solid flush panels below, and round-headed
glazed panels above, surmounted by tall 2-paned fanlights.
Upper floors have fully-glazed display windows, each with 3
upright glazing-bars.
The 4 outer bays contain windows with segmental red-brick
arches matching those over the bays themselves. Each window
has 4 lights with wooden mullions and transoms. Beneath the 2
right-hand windows and the second window from the left are a
doorway and 2 shop windows; the former, half-glazed, occupies
the second bay from the right and is probably original, but
the latter are probably later insertions (that to left is late
C20).
In the gable over the main entrance is a weathered stone
plaque with date and inscription. Side and rear elevations are
plainer, though not without architectural character.
Right-hand end of front range has a tall opening (now occupied
by a shop front) with round red-brick arch, moulded on the
underside and with plain keystone; above it a gable with
cream-brick edges, the centre occupied by a round window with
red-brick surround. Both ends of the butchery have similar
arches, surmounted by plainer gables; patterned iron gates,
3-paned fanlight.
Side-elevations have segmental-headed windows and doorways
with red-brick arches, those on the Pannier Market linked at
sill and springing-level by red-brick bands. Moulded red-brick
eaves-cornice. Rear elevation is similar, but with 3
round-arched windows set in the ends of 3 gabled ranges: 2
tall gables with a shorter one in the centre. The middle
window has original glazing-bars with moulded intersections.
matching windows at the opposite end of the Pannier Market,
just visible above the roof of the butchery.
INTERIOR: the butchery origianlly had 12 shops on each side
and most of these have survived intact; a larger shop at the
north end of the west side is probably an amalgamation of 2
original shops. Each shop has either a 2-paned display window
with a single upright glazing-bar or an opening closed by
shutters; plank door to one side, the upper half opening
separately from the lower. Above the whole shop an open grille
with iron scrollwork. Cream-brick floor to passage between the
shops. Above on each side a row of wood-framed trusses with
upright glazing-bars and diagonal braces. Exposed roof-trusses
with shaped braces to the tie-beams.
Pannier Market has 5 roof-spans carried on hollow iron columns
with moulded caps and bases, the second span from each end
taller to allow for a range of windows on each side. Columns
are moulded with the inscriptions TARDREW & SONS. IRONMONGERS
& IRON FOUNDERS. BIDEFORD. 1883 and J.H. FOADEN. CONTRACTOR.
ASHBURTON. The columns support wooden roof-trusses with raking
struts from tie to principal; the 2 taller spans have
arch-braces under the ties. Cream-brick floor. The market hall
was built for Bideford Corporation at a cost of about »3000
and opened on 15 April 1884.
(Kelly's Directories: Devonshire: 1889-: P.56).

Listing NGR: SS4525826482

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26571834

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.

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  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
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  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings