15 Market Place, incorporating part of the Church of St Mary

Summary

House with later ground-floor shop, late C18 or early C19 with later C20 alterations.

Reasons for Designation

15 Market Place, a late C18/early C19 townhouse with a later ground floor shop, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* an attractive town centre building that is pre-1850, and retains its original character despite alterations after fire damage;
* it incorporates important architectural elements of Hexham's early C13 parish church, other upstanding parts of which are also listed.

Historic interest:

* one of the key buildings lining Hexham's historic marketplace which form an important group of listed buildings with the priory church of St Andrew forming the west side.

History

This house was constructed in the late C18 or early C19 on the south side of Hexham's marketplace, and in part overlies the site of the north aisle of the former Church of St Mary. The Church of St Mary was the parish church of Hexham in the Middle Ages. It was constructed in the C13 and was the successor of an earlier Saxon church possibly on the same site, built by Bishop Wilfred. The date of the abandonment of St Mary's is unclear; a reference in 1634 suggests that at that time it was already a roofless shell and it was probably abandoned after the Reformation in about 1540 when the former abbey church became available. After it fell into decay, parts of the church, including the nave's north arcade, became incorporated into a number of houses lining the marketplace, including this one. The remains of the north arcade of the church are incorporated into the rear wall of the building.

An archaeological investigation in 1992 within a post-medieval coal cellar found no deposits beneath the building earlier than the C18. Archaeological recording in 1997 after a fire at the building, led to the stripping back of the known interior medieval walls, and elements of the north arcade of the church were identified.

Details

House with later ground-floor shop, late C18 or early C19 with later C20 alterations.

PLAN: mid-terrace, front rectangular block with rear rectangular block, slightly displaced to the right.

MATERIALS: the front elevation is of red brick, rendered, and the rear block is of stone rubble; Welsh slate roofs.

EXTERIOR: the four-storey, single-bay building has a shallow roof of slate. There is a large window to each of the upper floors, all of which are fitted with replacement unhorned eight-over-eight sliding sash windows. There is a shopfront to the ground floor with three fascia brackets and a half-glazed door to the right of late-C19 style, but probably a late-C20 replacement.

INTERIOR: the rear wall of the front block incorporates parts of the north arcade of the Church of St Mary. Investigations in the late C20 revealed medieval squared blocks forming fragments of the arcade wall; a C13 octagonal arcade pier of diagonally-tooled sandstone ashlar, with a modified hold water base and a capital with a roll moulding and a moulded abacus. There was also a two-centred arch of two chamfered orders and traces of a second arch. Both of the arches of the C13 arcade have been blocked up, with lancet windows inserted in the blocking; these have simple chamfered surrounds and shouldered pointed rear arches.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

239171

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Grundy, J, McCombie, G, Ryder, P, Welfare, H, The Buildings of England: Northumberland, (2002), 327--9

Other
No 15 Market Place, Hexham: Archaeological Recording, Oct/Nov 1997, Peter F Ryder
No 15 The Market Place, Hexham: An Archaeological investigation, Sept 1992, Peter F Ryder
St Mary's Church, Hexham. Part 1 Archaeological Recording at 11-13 Market Place, 2000-2001. Part 2 Other Remains of St Mary's Church, Peter F Ryder

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