Grange Court | |
---|---|
| |
Former names | The Butter Crosse |
General information | |
Type | Market hall |
Address | Pinsley Road |
Town or city | Leominster |
Country | England |
Coordinates | 52°13′40″N 2°44′05″W / 52.22772°N 2.73481°W |
Completed | 1633 |
Renovated |
|
Owner | LARC Development Trust |
Technical details | |
Structural system | Timber frame |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | John Abel |
Designations | Grade II* listed |
Website | |
www |
Grange Court is a former market hall in Leominster, Herefordshire, England. It was built in 1633 by John Abel, and moved to its present location in 1859. It was then used as a private house until the 1930s, and is now once again a civic building.
The timber-framed building is extravagantly decorated with carvings, including mermaids, angels, animals, flowers and grotesque people. [1] The entablature above the columns includes a number of carved texts. These read: [2]
When built by John Abel in 1633, [3] the market hall was open at ground level, being supported on twelve oak columns. [1] It was known as "the Butter Crosse". [3] It has a stone tile roof, a bellcote, and a weathervane dated 1687. [4]
The market house originally stood on the site of an earlier market building, at the junction of Broad Street, High Street, Church Street, Drapers' Lane, High Street and Burgess Street. [1] In addition to public meetings, it was used for meetings of the town's nine guilds (bakers, butchers, dyers, glovers, mercers, shoemakers, tailors, walkers ( fullers) and weavers) and Quarter Session courts, and the town council met there from 1750. [1]
Eventually, congestion caused by the building's location at an important junction led to calls for its removal. [1] The building was dismantled and stored in the mid-1850s. [5]
It was purchased at auction [6] for £95 by John Hungerford Arkwright, who offered the building to the council if they would re-erect it, but they refused. [7] He moved the building himself and rebuilt it near the priory church in 1859. [3] In the process, the ground floor was enclosed, a three-storey brick extension added at the rear, [6] and the roof replaced. [8]
At some point two terracotta panels by the Leominster sculptor William Storr-Barber (died 1934) were added to the interior. [9]
In 1939, Leominster District Council acquired the building for £3,000 through a compulsory purchase order, thereby thwarting an apparent plan by William Randolph Hearst to remove it for reuse as a gatehouse at St Donat's Castle. [3] [6]
Until 2008, it was used as council offices by the District Council, and later Herefordshire County Council. [3] In 2001, a campaign was started to raise money to restore the building. [10] The work was completed in 2013 and the building, with a modern annexe, is now a community centre (a Community, Enterprise and Heritage Hub), owned by LARC Development Trust, a registered charity [11] which purchased it from Herefordshire County Council for £1 in June 2013, as an instance of community asset transfer. [6] [12] [13] The building is Grade II* listed [4] [10] and is licensed for the conduct of civil marriage ceremonies. [14]
A bronze model of the house in its earlier configuration now stands at its original location. [15]