11 Market Square, Bishop's Castle, Shropshire

Summary

Shop with accommodation above, mid-to-late-C19.

Description

Shop with accommodation above, mid-to-late-C19.

MATERIALS: brick and rubble stone, rendered on the principal elevation with a slate roof and a brick chimneystack.

PLAN: the building stands on an east-west orientation, in line with No 9, to the east, and abutting the Town Hall, to the south. It has a rectangular footprint.

EXTERIOR: a three-storey building with a basement. The principal elevation faces north onto Market Square. The ground floor is occupied by a shopfront; it has a central recessed doorway and plate-glass windows to either side. It is framed by plain pilasters, the capping consoles to which are missing, though one, which has intricate foliate mouldings, has been removed for renovation and reinstatement. There is a plain fascia with a moulded cornice. On the first floor there are two windows bays. Each window is a tripartite sash within a moulded architrave with a cornice and pediment. On the second floor smaller, eight-over-eight sash windows are within moulded architraves. The elevation is framed by plain pilasters, and has a stepped, moulded parapet with a dentil course and central label.

The return elevation, facing west, is rendered on the ground floor and exposed rubble stone above. There is a segmental arched opening to the first and second floors, each with a sash window. There is a brick dentil cornice at the eaves.

The south elevation is brick, and there is a segmental-arched opening to each floor, diminishing in size on ascending storeys. At basement level is a wide carriageway, infilled with a multiple-light window and a half-glazed door. Above, lighting the ground floor, is a 15-over-15 sash, then a six-over-six on the first floor, and four-over-four on the second. The dentil cornice lines the eaves.

INTERIOR: the ground floor is open-plan, with chamfered timber and cast-iron columns supporting the floor above. At the centre of the rear wall is a curved half-turn cantilever stair; it is a timber structure with stick balusters and a shaped handrail. The open string terminates in a wave moulding, which meets the plaster cladding of the underside of the stair.

The first floor, presumed also to have been a shop floor, is also open plan, though the partitions have been erected around the stair, creating a U-shaped room. As on the ground floor, timber columns support the floor above. Windows have moulded architraves and panelled linings. The second floor is partitioned into a number of rooms.

The loft has been adapted to provide additional accommodation. The roof structure consists of a series of king-post trusses with a single tier of deep purlins. These have been infilled to create partitions, with the raking struts on one side cut away to enable access through the trusses.

A back-stair leads down to the basement. Deep axial beams with rough joists support the floor above, and have been reinforced with props. There is a small brick fireplace with a rough timber lintel.

History

No 11 Market Square is a mid-to-late-C19 rebuilding, or partial rebuilding, of an C18 house. Along with 9, adjacent, the building plot was originally laid out as a terrace of three two-storey houses, later split down the middle to create two units.

The three-unit terrace is shown on the town plan of 1809, and then the Tithe map of about 1840 again indicates the structure. The first edition of the Ordnance Survey, dating to 1883, shows the complex more clearly, with the building occupying the same footprint that it does today. Purpose-built as a shop, 11 had sales floors at ground-floor and first-floor level, with ancillary accommodation on the second floor and basement. Within the basement fabric appears to have been reused from the original building.

Reasons for Listing

11 Market Square is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* a purpose-built, mid-to-late-C19 shop with a well-composed classical façade and contemporary shopfront which survive largely unaltered;
* internally, open-plan shop floors are supported on an internal framework of posts and beams, enabling flexibility and movement of goods, and there is a high-quality cantilevering timber stair signalling the class of the original business.

Historic interest:

* a prominent building in the centre of the town, providing evidence of local trade and commerce.

Group value:

* with the adjoining Grade II*-listed Town Hall, and numerous other listed buildings in the vicinity.

External Links

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