Former Corn Hall, 7 Market Place

Summary

Former corn exchange, 7 Market Place, designed and built in 1858 by Mathias Goggs of Swaffham, converted into a labour exchange in 1958, partly converted into a coffee shop in 2010.

Reasons for Designation

The former corn exchange, 7 Market Place, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as a distinguished and well-realised Victorian commercial building in which the use of red and gault brick along with neoclassical detailing illustrates the care and attention to detail lavished on its design.

Historic interest:

* for its symbolic importance as the embodiment of agriculture's key role in Swaffham’s prosperity during the Victorian period.

Group value:

* it has historic and functional group value with many other listed buildings around the Market Place.

History

Swaffham’s significance in the medieval period stemmed from its position on the crossroads of the main routes from London, Norwich and King’s Lynn. The first written record of a market in the town, which was established on a triangular-shaped area formed by the convergence of the aforementioned roads, was in 1215 when King John issued a royal writ to the Sherriff of Norfolk to abolish it should it ‘damage the market in Dunham’. It was never abolished and expanded rapidly. The Market Place was probably open to the church on its east side, but later C17 development closed this off, while the development of The Shambles in the middle in the late C18/early C19, further reduced the size of the open space. From the mid-C18, for a period of just over a hundred years, Swaffham became one of the most populous parishes in Norfolk and one of the most fashionable centres in the county, attracting many leading West Norfolk Families. A racecourse had been established by 1628, the Assembly Rooms were constructed in 1776-1778, subsequently extended and modernised in 1817, and George Walpole, the Third Earl of Orford (1730-1791), founded a coursing club in 1786. During this period of prosperity, much rebuilding took place around the Market Place and the overall character of the town is primarily of mid-late Georgian in date, although there is evidence for C16-C17 work behind many façades. Further rebuilding also took place after ‘The Great Fire of Swaffham’, which probably started in the vicinity of the Blue Boar Inn (now the White Hart) on the afternoon of 14 November 1775, when it was set ablaze by a spark from a nearby blacksmith’s workshop. Fire soon engulfed the densely packed houses and workshops behind the inn and along London Road, with 22 buildings being completely destroyed and a further two badly damaged. The town continued to expand in the C19 when its population increased from 2,200 in 1800 to 3,350 in 1845. It also became an important local administrative centre during this period and acquired several notable buildings, including a National School (1838), Shire Hall (1839) and Corn Hall (1858).

The Swaffham Corn Exchange and Public Rooms Company, which was registered between 1844 and 1856, was established by a group of local businessmen to commission and finance a purpose-built corn exchange for the town. The resultant building was subsequently erected in 1858 on a small island site to the east of The Shambles, allegedly on the site of a public house or hotel known as the Mansion House. It was designed and built by Swaffham builder Mathias Goggs at a cost of £1,460. Along with a trading hall, the building also included a reading room, library and billiard room. Unfortunately, however, it proved to be unsuccessful as an exchange, and in 1892 was let to a guarantee company. It was subsequently used for public meetings and entertainments as well as an armoury for the Norfolk Regiment 3rd Volunteer Battalion. During the Second World War, it was used as a YMCA canteen. In 1958 it was partly converted into an employment exchange, the forerunner of today's Jobcentre Plus network, and operated as such until it closed in 2007. In 2010 parts of the ground and first floors were converted into a coffee shop.

Details

Former corn exchange, designed and built in 1858 by Mathias Goggs of Swaffham, converted into a labour exchange in 1958, partly converted into a coffee shop in 2010.

MATERIALS: of red and gault brick dressings, both in Flemish bond, and a slate roof.

PLAN: it is rectangular-on-plan, aligned north to south.

EXTERIOR: the building is of two tall storeys in a rectangular two-by-four bay block with a gault brick plinth. Each bay is defined by round-arched recesses on pilasters with minimal capitals, all of gault brick with the infill being of red brick. The ground-floor windows are two-light stone mullioned casements under polychrome segmental heads, while the first-floor windows are two-light round-arched casements with stone mullions with foliated capitals under polychrome round-arched heads. The exceptions to this are on the west side, where the third bay from the left-hand side has a tall, round-arched doorway with a projecting stone surround and round-arched sidelights, all with polychrome brick heads, while the right-hand bay at the north end has half-glazed double doors under a polychrome segmental head. Between the wall arches are punched triangular inserts, above which is a dentilled and cogged eaves cornice. The north and south ends both have a central roundel with sheaves of corn under each gable, over which are stone-coped parapets.

INTERIOR: the interior has been subdivided as office and retail space, with a staircase and suspended ceilings inserted in the second half of the C20.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

460595

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Wilson, B, The Buildings of England: Norfolk 2: North-West and South, (2002), pp679-680, p681
Swaffham History Group, , The Book of Swaffham: The Story of a Norfolk Market Town, (2021)

Websites
Information on Swaffham Corn Exchange from the Norfolk Heritage Explorer website, accessed 8 February 2024 from https://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/record-details?MNF38797-Swaffham-Corn-Exchange&Index=31918&RecordCount=57339&SessionID=b7f50b53-bd23-4f20-8673-6c86cd524b0b

End of official list entry

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